The Death of NAPSTER

It to me is startling how different things are today in the field of music. The pursuit of music in the words of a bass player friend and real estate agent was like religion. It was a bubble in which you lived. I used to live in that bubble, until the art of live music died. Not to offend the members of David Letterman’s band, who represent the best of the best in terms of live television music, I can’t express enough how the disappearance of live bands from television via the music networks effects the state of American pop culture. While I respect Burt Sugarman’s attempts to market the Midnight Special television performances on DVD, I simply must present the question of: “What are we paying for on cable television?” If the decision has been made that we, the paying public, are no longer afforded live music on television, then I think a band ought to signal that decision. If Time/Life has bought the privilege of being the ONLY company worthy of broadcasting or distributing our country’s musical lineage, then it she be made known. I’ll say it. “TIME/ LIFE HAS BOUGHT THE RIGHTS TO THE MAJORITY OF POPULAR RADIO ORIENTED MUSIC IN THE 20TH CENTURY!” Evidence of that easily is found on their website offering an extensive assortment of packages of popular music. That this music once was played FOR FREE on FM radio demonstrates that a cognitive decision has been made to restrict the dissemination of this music to the public. That could account for the disappearance of music on the television music channels MTV, VH-1, and BET. This occurrence can be met with a variety of reactions. One is elation to know that this music still exists and is available. One is outrage to know a corporate monopoly has taken control, much like the rest of American. One is disbelief to think our most recent pop music history has been systematically eradicated for corporate gain. If the latter is the case, then Time/Life/AOL/FederalGovernment/BET/MTV/VH1/CIA/FBI/HOSA/ObieWanKanobe and God need to find an agreement for the fair usage of this music. The bickering between Apple and Microsoft, the competition for the best digital music player, cell phone, and personal vibrator needs to come to an end in support of the continuation of the PRODUCT. The product is not the PLAYER. It is NOT the cell phone that displays digital images. It is not the Web Browser that plays YouTube video clips. All of these things are great in the emancipation of the individual’s creative attempts, but in terms of the artistry of music? Where does ASCAP stand on all these issues? Are they responsible for the canvassing of the internet for musical content? Are they collecting royalties on YouTube music clips? Napster was wrong when they decided it was okay to distribute copyrighted recorded music for free, whether it was in the MP3 or AIFF formats. We have the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to thank for issuing an injunction demanding Napster shut down its network for good. Unfortunately the record industry has never recovered, and it was five long years before the Apple iTunes Music Store appeared. My suggestion is an integrated service of online promotion and distribution of new music be devised with video capabilities. The hang up is this. Can the miniscule bubble of the internet and home computer be the host for music making? Is what is necessary to make music available from a wire and a room? Protools has all ready given the answer to this question. There is no way digital software, miniature components, and sequestered libidos can represent the scope of the human spirit. We must find a way!

SLC Punk

SLC Punk has always been one of my favorite movies. Why would a Matthew Lillard, underground, Morman, punk, indy-type film be appealing? It was appealing because it represented the harmless rebelliousness of American youth. Not too long ago there were hate crimes involving homosexuals. When a frightened community attempts to point the finger at someone, skin heads, punk rockers, and skate rats become the target. Much like how Mike Nifong rushed to a decision about the Duke Lacrosse team, down-home local people may jump to a conclusion. They called it a “Lynch Mob” back in the days of slavery. The salvation of society has always rested precariously in the cradle of reason. Reason comes from cool. Whence does cool come? It may be time for America to receive a refresher course in the art of “Cool.” James Dean. Fonsy from the TV series Happy Days. Sean Connery playing James Bond. Clint Eastwood. Possibly the easiest example to personify cool is Peter Fonda’s character in his own scripted movie of the l960’s, “Easy Rider.” Appropriately enough he and the modern day equivalent of cool played cameo roles in the recent theatrical release Wild Hogs. Paul Teutul Sr. and Jr., the master craftsmen of TLC’s successful show OCC, both appeared in the opening sequence of the movie. It was Peter’s appearance at the end of the movie that attempted to put the off track motorcycle road romp into perspective. Unfortunately as with many ADHD infected products, the message was too short to provide wisdom to an adolescent mid-life crisis movie meant to capitalize on a new show. The point was missed. Fonda’s message was short. “Get back out there on the road and discover the true nature of being a biker.” Huh? Confusion insues. Ray Liotta, the son of the returning iconic Blade, shuffles off to his bike. The message might be, “Are the Hell’s Angels cool?” While I will leave that up to history to decide, I will continue with the idea that the preservation of society relies upon cool. ADHD suggests we are not in control enough to remember taking a shit yesterday. If we can’t remember minutia like that, how is culture going to sustain and be a valuable influence to the quality of our everyday lives? The answer is, “Culture needs to be reinforced on a daily basis.” We need constantly to see the good things about our society reinforced on television and in the news. We need to see art on a daily basis, because art transcends time. Art transcends time, therefore ADHD. To produce art you have to get past ADHD, dig in and understand movements greater than yourself and your pitiful life, and provide a deeper and therefore longer lasting philosophy about life. The disposable society we have today fueled by the phrenetic pace of television is inconsequential. Why is SLC Punk cool? A couple of dorks in a mostly Mormon populated city forged an existence that was at least of interest to themselves. While it proved to be self-deprecating in the end like the hair band phenomenon of the l980s, while they were living it gave them an identity. No longer were they going to accept the labels placed upon them by traditional society. If society tried to place a disparaging label on you because you do not fit into its norms, then based upon the freedom concept upon which America was founded, we should be able to live as we please without judgment from society. Unfortunately when society does not understand more diverse lifestyles, they can get the blame for wrong-doing in dire situations. If I remember correctly it was the “jocks” in SLC punk that murdered the homosexual, not the punk rockers. Often it seems inbred incumbent assholes are sheltered from reality in America. The punks in SLC Punk were nothing more than rebellious kids that chose to live the way they wanted. Because you listen to loud aggressive music, drink beer, and acknowledge that your body wants to do more than sit in a cubicle from nine to five doesn’t mean you are worthless or criminal. As with a quickly forgotten “Goth” movement in pop culture, punks exercise the right to express themselves visually. What is unnerving to me is that most of our recent pop culture is being suppressed. Not only has the music disappeared like a mist into the clouds, visual images that are the documentation of our history have all but vanished from television. We are left holding empty chains dangling from an outstretched hand. What is supposed to be in the hand? History cannot be made until people unite. While I value the internet as a tool of research and enlightenment, it cannot and should not be used for social networking. That is a large powerful statement that is going to piss off the youth of America. In an age where many freedoms have been excised beyond control, the internet leaves one avenue of self-expression and therefore socialization. My concern is the Big Brother that watches us at home and in our schools is more present on the internet than in a free society. While the freedoms we once held as basic, clean water, clean air, the right to drive around, the right to skateboard, the right to hang out at a drive in, etc., many of these subversively have been stolen by Imminent Domain. Much like commercial real estate firms are trying to steal the Lower 9th Ward from poor black citizens of New Orleans, private interests have been systematically buying up America’s land once thought of as free. I guess little Johnny doesn’t have the right to go play in the woods anymore, since those woods are going to become condominiums for the next generation of illegal immigrants representing over population in America. When I was in high school the number we learned for the population of the United States was 230 million. What is it now, and what is it to become? The problems here seem so insurmountable it is much easier and more fun to think about other places in which to live. Why try to fix a system that doesn’t seem to want to be fixed? Should we abandon America for South America like so many young business graduates capitalizing on Globalization? Should I contemplate how to revitalize the music industry? Is it even possible? Run-D.M.C. pioneered the sampling of other artist’s recordings as the foundation for their own songs. Possibly this was the beginning of the end for live music. While the recognition of great feels in live music is a notable cause, the inability to recreate them naturally albeit with human skill has proven to be a weakness. Instead like the thousands of software designers employed by Nokia and Sony, they lack the vision, soul, historical context, and artistry to produce art. That to me is what I saw on VH-1 last night. It was an image of young people that don’t get it. They are posing, attempting to be “in the know,” while all along astutely are aware of their ignorance. Because American society has not given them the stage upon which to produce fulfilling lives, they are desperate and turn to the only comfort they have, the internet. Until we change the current excepted status quo of quality of life in America, the rest of our youth will suffer from the same ills. Many scholars of business and economy have said emphatically we as a country do not have a “Work Force.” Even if manufacturing jobs were to turn up on America’s home soil, they say there would be no one to man the posts. That is because the re-structuring of American business that happened ten years ago has proven to be a mistake. Dad, after 23 years at DaimlerChrysler, was laid off for not possessing the necessary skills to compete with a more modern work force. Doesn’t that mean that those jobs were out-sourced to India and China, and dad’s position with its pension, health insurance, and clout was terminated. “Why should we waster money on you if we can get a gook in China to do the job for 1/50 of what you do it for? That is not a violation of slave labor laws is it? Putting viable volunteering foreigners to work? Does it matter that they don’t pay income taxes and use the benefits we pay for? “ The Industrial Age in America is over. We had better try to compress our lives into the sizes of computer chips, because that today is where we are expected to live. Logan’s Run may be an ensuing reality, where the environment is so harsh with CO2 we must build yet another bubble in which to live, this time shielding us from the life giving rays of the sun. The next time I see a live band attempting to perform, I am going to envision a nerd in a dark, dank, musty basement tapping on the computer keyboard with a copy of GarageBand open on the desktop.

The Death of a Band

Upon watching a brief second of VH-1 this evening, one thing became exceedingly clear. Although I had respect for what seemed like an extremely forced performance by a band, the notion that bands once had been “good television” seemed strangely anachronistic. For a moment I felt, even as a schooled musician and seasoned veteran band musician, as if I were watching something from a different planet. There was no similarity to any past image of music-making I had ever seen. It was if a studio band isolated in a capsule and chronologically out-of-sync with modernism were being broadcast into cyberspace. The ameba that is the bubble of common human feeling was not present. What I was staring at was decades of evolution of the music industry. I saw the true death of the live band in all its failures. Upon reflection I saw an industry transformed by technology incapable of producing the real intent of live music. I saw posers, young people disconnected with the “club” experience and plugged into a band like USB cables plugged into their iPods selfishly awaiting immediate gratification of their own choosing. The democracy of live music, the freedom to dissent, and the pure visceral energy and rush of rebelliousness has been deadened by the internet. When all your entertainment needs are available on a wire, who needs a live band?

The Death of Music Television

Every evening I am amazed. As I flick through the channels that in recent history use to air Music Videos, there is nothing there but cheap, low brow, white-trash television programming. I can’t help but wonder “What in the heck happened?” As a musician it is startling to me that music just “up and disappeared” from these three networks. MTV, VH-1, and BET were founded upon the concept of playing Music Videos. Ironically “Video Killed the Radio Star,” the song by the British musical group The Buggles, was the first video shown when the ground-breaking music channel debuted on August 1, l981. It seems fitting enough that another band acknowledge the second generation of the evolution of music conveyance. “iTunes,” “Satellite Radio,” and “YouTube” killed the Music Video. Only the former half of that statement can be proven, because it is a process still in transition. Given a reasonable amount of time it would seem the masterminds behind Google will devise a way to reach an agreement with the major record labels to show copyrighted Music Videos. I welcome such an occurrence. Because I mainly am a jazz performer and classical composer doesn’t mean I don’t delight in the availability of a venue for young up-and-coming bands to show their wares. Advertisers have been unsure where to place their money, just like most manufacturers of entertainment- related goods. Since the disappearance of the “Main Stream,” a movement akin to the disappearance of Animal Chin, America’s marketers have been lost. I would like to openly suggest we invite YouTube to be the bearer of the torch. I for one have had enough of the bleak and barren landscape that is television in terms of airplay for creative music. No one can argue MTV changed FM radio, and maybe it did actually “Kill the radio star.” FM radio endured. What is it that prompted Howard Stern to “fly to the moon” and inhabit a satellite? Was Les Moonves the man really responsible for killing radio like Stern says? It is due time that the issue of the disappearance of quality FM programming be addressed. Recently when I visited a friend of mine in Nashville who is a reputable country music video producer, he remarked that there was a sudden proliferation and promotion of music in the “pop” genre. He also remarked that one particular company had purchased most of the radio stations in America. In his particular field the boundaries were being stretched. Nashville was having difficulty producing and promoting “Old School” country acts. It had become a struggle to do what they had been doing successfully for many years. The “glam” of Glam Rock and the sexuality of New School R&B videos forced their way into country music. Unlike Garth Brooks and Shania Twain’s successful “pushing of the boundaries” of country music, these new influences didn’t gel with the real connotation of country music. Real country music always has been about sadness, loss, and hardship. This down to earth content is what defined it as country music. The careless influx of media tools used in other genres of music created a weakening in country music. Much like Barry Gordy’s Motown, although a commercial success, watering down the content of country music for easy palletability is proving to be a mistake. When the roots of the music are abandoned, glossy images and raw sexuality are not enough to keep it alive. Whereas Motown kept enough of the original musical content to keep the product valid, Glam Country got lost. The desire to reach mass audiences and therefore produce only “happy” and “pretty” images and sounds still is proving to be a failure. In the decade of 9/11 and the War in Iraq such images pale in reflection to reality. There is no connection at all, and that has no potential to produce artistic music. Who is it that decided pure superficial escapism was more important than producing music with realistic and therefore human content? Who is it that decided Super Heroes, comic book characters, Ninja Turtles, Kung Foo Fighters, and Sony Playstation characters were more suitable for entertainment than history’s more down to earth personalities? The humble characteristics of Charlie Chaplain, Buster Keaton, Red Skeleton, Will Rogers, Laurel and Hardy, the Three Stooges, and the Little Rascals proved that humility was humorous. It gave America a soul. Egocentric grandstanding means nothing. Maybe it will be YouTube that picks up the tattered remains of the Music Video industry and breathes new life into it. Garage bands unite and take America by storm!

A Bridge to the 21st Century

Unfortunately 9/11 became our bridge to the 21st Century. Instead of positive growth in the economy, a myriad of new well-paying jobs, and a heightened cultural society we have reaped the opposite. Extreme Islamic Religious Fanaticism successfully drove a stake into the heart of a free America. A large-scale act of war was destined to find its way to our shores. It is naïve for Americans to think we are immune to such events, seeing as our history has been brutal. The Civil War itself characterized a stymieing amount of mass murder. President Lincoln, in his quest for the abolition of slavery, stomached a huge personal loss. Thousands upon thousands of dead soldiers piled up in the Civil War. We have these willing soldiers to thank for the freeing of slaves and the setting of a moral precedent in American politics and society. Is it always necessary for such mass sacrifice in evoking change in a country? I would think the event known as 9/11 would have been such a sacrifice. Monumental destruction and sacrifice of lives in downtown Manhattan, a cultural icon representing the very beginnings of our great country, should have served as such a sacrifice. Upon the approach of the six year anniversary of such a cataclysmic event, we are still empty-handed. Nothing has been gained. Nothing has been solved. America has only devolved upon arrival in the 21st Century. There has been nothing but a “downward spiral” Trent Reznor based the band Nine Inch Nail’s album upon. That his work as well as the musical genre known as Grunge has origins in the early l990’s would suggest one cross section of the country all ready was feeling discontent with the quality of life in America. Surely the monumental sacrifice of 9/11 should have served as an offering of peace and contentment in America. Six years later with the beginning of a new war in American history, we as a country have not benefited. 9/11 became the departure point for a violent and unsettling chapter in American history. Born in l962 I clearly remember the War in Viet Nam. Ten years of my childhood were tainted with the daily strife and violence seen on the evening news. We have Richard Nixon to thank for ending that war. We have Jimmy Carter to thank for the freeing of the hostages in Iran. We have George Bush Sr. to thank for the successful defense of an aggressive invasion attempt into Kuwait. Unfortunately in his particular situation the phenomenon of Osama Bin Laden was created. Osama went to Saudi royalty and offered his army’s services to defend Kuwait against Saddam’s invasion. He was turned down. Saddam is dead but the evil malcontent that is the source of Jihad is still calling for removal of the infidels from their native land. Nothing short of America’s exodus from the Middle East will quiet this man and his movement. Even that does not ensure other events like 9/11 are not in our future. If America could loose her pride for an instant and think about the lives of both the Iraqi and American people, we should do what he asks. It is time finally we get our bridge to the 21st Century rather than continual giant leaps into the abyss. America deserves something from the mass sacrifice of 9/11, and WE are still waiting.

The Extreme Mafia and the Domestic Urban Guerilla

An examination of the practices of Big Business in the United States in the last few years easily could be construed as an unwitting equipping of the domestic urban guerilla. Whether this has been a conscious attempt or merely the result of an irresponsible and un thought out business strategy, the consequences of this “arming of our youth” carefully should be examined. What are these so-called tools? At the forefront of urban assault is communications. Radio has always played a crucial role in warfare connecting the front line to command headquarters. The explosion of the cellular phone industry and its constant and continual proliferation has provided the most efficient and convenient modus operandi for any terrorist or coup attempt. We have almost instantaneous communication capabilities from any vantage point. The cell phone has become the radio of the future, and its rise to prominence has sealed the fate of FM radio. With ever-expanding features and integration with the Personal Digital Assistant or portable miniature PC replete with wireless internet access, the population of America has been armed with a tool of a well-organized militia. Will it be only the minds of children that see its capabilities? The features being developed are a tactical paradise, providing maps, directions, addresses and even a catchy tune to sooth the tattered and war torn breast. The terrorist possibilities of “going mobile” need to be examined. The tool of the Sony Playstation with the ammunition of the war-like violent video game inadvertently has provided guerilla training to our youth. Without ever enrolling in the military, taking a course, or opening a book America’s youth have been brainwashed with both Extreme and violent behaviors. Coupled with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder) and the immediate gratification of the internet, our youth could be a bomb ready to explode. As personified by Osama Bin Laden himself we as a country through our pop culture have produced Jihad, a malcontent, rebellious youth looking for a cause yet being abandoned by their own country and government. The neglect of our public school systems, the raping of our environment, the out-sourcing of our jobs, the protecting of the self-interests of Big Business, and then the public passing of the buck to overburdened parents has shown how our current governmental feels toward the American people. We have been being ruled by an elitist, ignorant, and egocentric group with no connection to the history of America. Conversely Extreme attitudes and ideas stemming from the Middle East funneled through Extreme Islam terrorism have infiltrated and usurped our domestic agenda. The American people have been abandoned with a subsequent culturing of our youth for potential, future, irrational and violent behavior. The profound failure of United States Immigration has opened the door to domestic violence, allowing mentoring terrorists direct access to our children through pop culture. The covert War “of” Terror on America’s home soul began with the demise of media.

Extremism and the Apocalypse

Two startling things have occurred in the last three years. Because I have been working on cruise ships, I have lost touch with reality in the United States. In many ways this has been a good thing. For the first time I was able to view the United States from a perspective similar to foreign countries. How was this possible? Ship television has to cater to over 60 nationalities, because the cruise lines employ foreign workers. This has been a major appeal of cruising, that American guests get to meet people from all over the world. The cruise ship industry could be considered the pinnacle of a successful foreign worker policy. They have had their pitfalls. Both major cruise lines have been sued for labor related issues. Luckily and to their credit they have done the right thing and settled the cases while implementing processes on the ships to correct such wrong-doing. The cruise lines have always been proud of their ability to employ and handle workers from different countries all over the world. As the American federal government should well know, immigration is a major issue. They should be able to learn a lesson from the vacation industry, which while orchestrating pleasing recreational packages for guests effectively processes and handles thousands of foreign workers. It is always startling to arrive back in the continental United States, because the quality of life in America pales to the experiences had both on the ships and in foreign ports. Most foreign workers covet their cruise jobs, because the cruise ships represent the “American Dream.” Magically the “American Dream” is floated to their doorsteps, and often without ever placing foot in the continental United States, they are able to return to their countries and buy a home. This was the premise under which past President Bill Clinton ran for office. He and Hillary believed every American should be able to buy their own home. As a newly transplanted to the Midwest doctoral student at Ohio State, this spoke to me, and I have been a Bill Clinton supporter ever since. The Clinton administration had major successes in America during his tenure as president, and I remember them clearly. The stock market rose above 10,000 for the first time in history. President Clinton, with a pragmatic approach to the federal trade deficit, put into place the means to balance America’s budget in a short period of time. President Clinton was a proponent of “multiculturalism” and effectively supported the legal immigration of thousands of Asian-Americans. Columbus, Ohio became a successful example of the possibilities of multiculturalism. Instead of one culture dominating, each culture is embraced for its positive influences on society. Hillary’s book “It Takes a Village” further supported the notion of society as a plural entity with roots in the family unit. Above all of Mr. Clinton’s successes was the careful and eloquent negotiating of an end to the civil unrest and ethnic cleansing in Bosnia. The Dayton Accord was signed in Paris, France on December 14, l995 putting an end to a three and a half year long conflict of the former Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia. During Mr. Clinton’s presidency the “American Dream” was at the forefront of political initiatives stimulating both the economy and the ingenuity and creativity of aspiring Americans. Since his presidency, startlingly, and incognito two rogue movements have seeped into American society. First there has been a conscious attempt to disguise history and therefore modern culture. Second there has been an influx of Extreme Islam ideals into pop culture and surprisingly into the federal government. It seems our current regime in government has been operating covertly behind the mask of “The War on Terror” yet in reality have been implementing policies that reflect extreme ideas. The emergence of the “extreme” left and “extreme” right are characterized by Extremism, and that term has been brought to the United States only by the Islam terrorist culture. Without our even knowing it the enemy we are supposed to be fighting has all ready infiltrated our government and culture. These ideas were presented well by Oprah Winfrey on a show dedicated to misogynistic practices by major record labels through the venue of Hip/Hop music. It is easy to discern the connection between Extreme Islam behaviors and behaviors exhibited in the newly born Modern Hip/Hop genre. Both contain strong tenants of suppressive anti-female sentiment expressing and condoning violent behavior toward women. If one looks at the mostly recent history of Hip/Hop, while freely expressing the ideas of urban violence, racism, and economic oppression, there is an evidential lack of misogynist content. That this sentiment has unwittingly crept into pop culture can only be attributed to Extreme Islam. If record executives are allowing expression of this idea through music defended by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, then it clearly is being motivated by monetary goals. Without the prospect of money being earned, this harmful socio-political dogma could be construed as terrorist acts. The War on Terror is the fight against Extreme Islam. To even allow this possibility to exist within our children’s culture is a heinous atrocity undermining the quintessence of music itself. An examination of misogyny could provide invaluable insight into criminal sexual behavior. It is well known the act of rape often is a result of the expression of dominant violent behavior rather than sexual desire. It is not rational that Islam men would commit suicide to have 70 virgins in heaven, when the very women they could and should be having sex with are being abused by themselves. Homosexual influences in Extreme Islam should be examined. The question is what kind of environment and social structure is producing this kind of extremism? If men are suffering from dysfunctional relationships with women, engaging in war-like video games, and listening to misogynistic music then our pop culture in the United States all ready has devolved into a probable breeding ground for future domestic terrorist activity. It seems the enemy has been ensconced in our big business and government accounting for these two unusual but distinct trends, the masking of cultural history and the introduction of Extremist ideas. That there was a specific time these “tactical operation” were implemented means that they were not just flukes, fads, or changes related to social behaviors. There was a cognitive choice most effectively achieved through media to introduce Extremist ideas into American society. The “War on Terror” abroad merely has been a diversion from the real enemy, affluent Extremists who systematically have been purchasing America ripe for the implementation of their own selfish, unconstitutional, unlawful, immoral, unethical, and evil agenda. That the naivety of youth culture specifically was targeted by this group constitutes criminal activity. The current youth population of America has been the target of the most conscious cultural assault in history. In education the shifting of iron clad tools of schooling from books, the blackboard, and pencil and paper to the internet effectively dilutes traditional American fact, opening the door for the widespread dissemination of Extremist propaganda. It is well overdue to look back to “l984” and pray the presidential election of 2008 will not be too late to save our kids. The Mayan belief that on December 21, 2012 the current Creation world will transition to the next could be true, and we now are witnessing the apocalyptic conjectures in the Book of Revelation. It’s a monumental concept, and maybe God is the only thing that can solve the problem.

Choice

America cannot be considered a “free” country if there are not available choices. Choice defines freedom, does it not? If we are “the home of the free,” then we as a people need to decide once and for all what those choices should be. It shouldn’t be rocket science.

Today’s Top Ten List of “Free” Choices in America (for the ignorant)

1. Can I choose to use tobacco products (both in private and in public)?
2. Can I choose to drink alcoholic beverages?
3. Can I choose to look at pornography in private?
4. Can I choose to watch violence on television?
5. Can I choose to use drugs in private?
6. Can I choose to buy sex from the Capitalist “Free Market in private?”
7. Can I speak freely in public (and private)?
8. Can I bear arms (in private)?
9. Can we organize or protest (in public)?
10. Can I burn the American flag in protest?

The Choice of Corporate America

The right of choice should not be exercised by children. The right of choice in the United States should be made by adults. The marketing of video games, television programming, and obscene music to children is an atrocity. To place the burden of responsibility on a working parent to filter inappropriate content in media, as a censor, is just to pass the buck. To say a child can just “change the channel.” To say just “Parents should actively set their television’s V-Chip. To suggest corporate America is immune to ethical and moral obligation is a misuse of the connotation of freedom in America. Parents cannot be the watchdog of corporate America for their children. Their major responsibility is “bringing home the bacon.” If they are asked to police a greed infected capitalist free market in addition to the responsibilities of rearing a child, then to whom is the buck passed? Corporate America is required to acknowledge and accept their responsibility in at least trying to educate and enlighten our youth rather than exploit them.

Teachers

When I went to graduate school in South Carolina, I was fortunate enough to nab a G.T.A. or Graduate Teaching Assistantship. This gave you a tuition wavier, provided a stipend, and allowed you the opportunity to practice the craft of teaching while you were learning new things. In this particular case, although as in Nature vs. Nuture you almost always are influenced by your surroundings, I didn’t really learn that much more about music. Just the opposite I taught what I knew to the students at USC. This was a reasonable bargain at the time. I got a Master’s degree with teaching experience for forfeiting the acquisition of new musical knowledge. I didn’t realize this until after attending a doctoral program at The Ohio State University. It seems when you up and move from the Old South five hundred miles away to the Midwest, they take you seriously. Ten G’s is serious scratch, and a music department can do a lot with that kind of money. Although with a some trepidation the music department welcomed me with open arms. It was a beautiful experience, because it is not often in life you are somewhere where you are allowed to pursue the things you love in a nurturing environment with little resistance. That’s why I have always liked college. There is the long-standing joke about people who never grow up and can only make it in the college environment. Rob Lowe jumps to mind in a movie he made, becoming dysfunctional in life’s real responsibilities, rather choosing to return to his fraternity and coach an athletic team. As a side job he would be the appropriate one to score the weed. I don’t consider myself one of these kinds of people, although I have never held a real nine to five type job. A Teaching Assistantship certainly qualifies as real work, but it is more rewarding and more fun than slinging burgers in the local fast food joint. Maybe I have been coddled in life, but nothing in my life points to this other than one thing. Eye Disease. I was diagnosed with Keratoconus at age 17. This was a vision threatening disease that required the wearing of hard contact lenses. Luckily Duke University was close by, and with their expertise I was able to be fitted for PMA hard contact lenses. I wore these for almost fifteen years. They saved my vision and my life. Usually about twenty years into the progression of the disease it decides to get worse necessitating cornea transplants, of which I had in both eyes. I was saved again! Uncle Sam stepped up to the plate and took a swing for Mr. Reichle. I believe because I was unlike other blind candidates because I was pursuing a doctoral degree, I made a good candidate for financial aid. Who better to help than someone with the lofty goal of teaching college? Both the state of North Carolina and Ohio were good to me, and because I was in school and not actively making money they paid for my surgeries. Unfortunately ten years later I must not look as appealing to the Vocational Rehabilitation Commission for the Blind. Whether I “timed out” or whether their requirements for aid became more stringent I do not know. Unfortunately what I do know is my failing eyesight is what has kept me from completing that dream of becoming a college teacher. There comes a time in life where you need to begin making money. With encroaching financial debt I decided to put my academic career on hold to dig myself out of the hole. Luckily I mostly have been successful in that goal. As a result my credit report is about as high as you can get. I was evicted from a bogus apartment complex and turned over to a collection agency. I settled that dispute with the help of Legal Aid, a free service for impoverished Americans. I paid off more than a few credit cards in full and even bought a Honda motorcycle. Over time and with determination, and with less than stable vision I have been successful. I have been working as a professional in the field of music and have been using most of the skills I learned in college at all levels. Many it seems like to address cruise ship work as a paid vacation. While I must admit traveling in the Caribbean or Mexican Riviera is better than living in Fayettenam,’ doing the job of “orchestra piano” has been the single most difficult thing I have ever accomplished. I have had moderate success in the field of music moving from a state of local popularity to one of respected academic. I have always loved and enjoyed music. It is what I am meant to do. Along the way I have found obstacle after obstacles that seem like they don’t want me to succeed financially. Whether it is competition from other musicians, the sheer need to hang on to “paying” gigs that pay bills, or simple personal insecurity eventually in a particular area I have always met with what seems like a brick wall. As you mature the thought of promoting yourself becomes less appealing. As most Christians know we ourselves don’t mean much in the scope of things. I take much more pleasure in understanding and learning about new things. Yes I still take pride in my musical offerings, but my priority is to keep my attention off myself. I have had a rather epic journey of ups and downs, and as human nature predicates it is easy to remember only the bad things. When you don’t focus on yourself like a Christian should, you are not reminded of your failures. You forget these shortcomings and rather focus on the possibility of the myriad of successes that may come. It is the only way. The drawback to this philosophy is it is not a Capitalist philosophy. Capitalism by nature demands you literally stand on a soap box and shout at the top of your lungs how great your product is. Everyday. Day in and day out. It is Capitalism with a capital “T.” Instinctively I have always known I would never fit into this mold. Subconsciously I knew from high school this fragile and easily politically-manipulated system would never bear fruit for me in particular. I don’t know why. Maybe it is because I didn’t have what it took to “hawk your wares” so vehemently. I have witnessed others do this well and instinctively, and those are the people that make it in Capitalism. I will go as far to say that failing vision is the single reason I have not found my place in nine to five America. Simply put the shortcomings in the environment, in educational levels, and in the quality of life in general in America are enough not to provide me with what I feel I have earned in the educational system. I may not be suitable as a Chief Executive Officer, but I think nine years of college with three at the doctoral level afford me a better life than teaching in the public schools in Fayetteville, North Carolina. I also realistically know that with a bum eye I don’t physically have what it takes to corral and teach the kinds of young people I see around here. Most of the nation has been made aware of the state of education in the United States by a phenomenon known as “Urban Flight.” Middle class citizens began to move away from the inner cities and to suburbs, because the quality of life was better including public education. There was a slate of Hollywood movies and television shows that depicted this often brutal predicament. Michelle Pfieffer played a tough school teacher in the movie Dangerous Minds in l995 bringing to the entertainment industry a complex and vital issue in the American public education system. Likewise in “187” Samuel L. Jackson played Trevor Garfield, an inner city teacher who had been victimized by the system. “187” was released in l997. Because there has been so little political emphasis placed on the public schools, chances are things are similar. I could never really know without actually visiting schools and observing in the classroom. With the security measures in place to thwart violence, that doesn’t seem like a realistic prospect. When I graduated from college in l985, beginning teacher’s salary was $18,000.00 a year. With the prospect of violence and bodily harm in one’s workplace, the field of teaching does not seem very enticing. I interviewed for a public school teaching job on the outskirts of Columbus, Ohio. For some reason the interview process almost seemed like a joke. The school must have been in dire straights if they called me up from the hundreds of applications on file. I had not been actively seeking a job with their school system. In graduate school you can take a course on “How to Interview.” I never took this course, and I probably should have. I still had enough common sense to know when I was being asked a ridiculous question. “Will you be willing to come after school and coach the drill team? Will you be willing to come after school and supervise the majorettes? Will you be willing to come after school and direct the stage band?” Of course you would do that, because as a band director there are student activities that fall outside the normal daytime schedule. As for volunteering for responsibilities outside your field of teaching and with a full workload, who could be expected to do that? Evidently it was a prerequisite for this particular job, and that is probably the reason why they didn’t have anybody. Cruise ships jobs are similar in that the positions that are available are usually the ones with the worst working environments. The first thing I learned from a Bachelor of Music Education degree was the “land of opportunity” in the America is full of politics and nepotism. Case closed. It’s who you know that gets you the job. Fayetteville is looking for teachers. Have I changed my mind about trading my quality of life for a life filled with intimidation, violence, juvenile delinquency, and low wages? I am still putting my trust in Uncle Sam to help me out again.

Removable 'Nads

I would like to have my testicles be removable, like batteries. When I don’t need them or I don’t want them to be effected, then I can take them off and place them on the shelf of the medicine cabinet. Then I wouldn’t have to feel an artificially induced “blue balls” from my youth. From whence does this come?

Maybe corporate America could design cyber-testicles. Of “Borgian” proportions we could buy them at the drug store. They could come in various sizes with the appropriate amount of testosterone in them. If you have a task that needs “big balls” you could choose the large ones. If on the other hand you would rather not be effected on a particular day by your sexuality, then you could choose “blanks.” Much like the emotion of love, a feeling that has the power to kill you, your sex drive can be equally as harmful. Too bad Mr. Bush will not allocate federal money for stem cell research. Interesting that he will allocate billions of our tax paid dollars to fund the killing of our troops in Iraq.

Sam Ting and Illegal Immigration

When I went out today I saw illegal immigration first hand. I went to a store. It was huge. It was a warehouse. It was impersonal. They should provide maps to the stars homes. I mean they should provide treasure maps at the door, a little stand with leaflets with an alphabetical listing of the products offered and their respective aisle numbers. Extensive search and rescue would not be needed. Grocery stores should have the “Sam Ting”.

I once met two men both named Olie Olefsen. I asked the Chinese man how he came to be named Olie Olefsen. He replied that when he went through United States Immigration he was asked his name. The man that was in front of him’s name was Olie Olefsen. When asked his name he replied, “Sam Ting.” Bucket o’ fish.

Deliverence. Who would have ever thought such a thing existed as macho red-neck fags? I am reminded of it everyday as I drive around the streets of Fayetteville. I am being politically incorrect, but sometimes “calling a spade a spade” is the only language that has enough impact to clearly represent the issue. I don’t think these guys would want to be called homosexuals. Life in Fayettenam is rough. The people that live here are tough. Smoothing over distasteful images (or PC) creates psychosis, but then so does dwelling on them in the media. There has to be a happy medium.

The streets during the work day are littered with illegal Olie Olefsens. How do we know they are illegal? Considering the lengthy amount of time it used to take to immigrate to the U.S., you can imagine poverty doesn’t help. That is what is creating the issue with immigration in the United States. When people are so poor, it is difficult to defer their situations. People come to the United States, because compared to the third world countries from which they come, we are the land of opportunity. Like government, our real state of affairs is out-of-date. We need a make over. We need to reassess our Condition of America. Are we still the land of opportunity? Are we still the land of the free and the home of the brave? When I continue to see extremely poor people driving around in beat up compact cars with hub caps missing. When I see trailers of cheap gardening tools being pulled around. When I see bros from the hood on foot. When I see Mexicans wearing tattered sheds for clothing. When I see these same Mexicans blowing leaves at trailer parks with a group of their friends sitting around for moral support. Are these the images of America we want representing the “American Dream?” America, land of the macho red-neck fag. We badly are losing the war of Nature versus Nurture. If don’t begin conserving our environment, our history, and our culture, then it won’t be long before the American we once knew will cease to exist. Mad Max and Thunderdome (not Thnderdom!) is right around the corner from where I live.

Today’s Top Ten Drug List


“I can’t stop my restless leg.” Comedian Robert Klein on Requip

Viagra, Levitra, and Cialis- Leroy, the African-American gigolo’s, three daughters.

Acid Reflux- Déjà vu about Ohio State University’s Hempfest.

Ritalin- The fire that Jim Morrison would rather not have lit.

Tagamet- Game played for rite of passage. Getting drunk on cheap beer and trying to punch Orlando Hernandez.

“This is Nacho Cheese.” What the African-American junkie said to her attempted mugger.

Ice House- Place where Adolph Hitler scored his crystal meth.

Prozac- Laney Bogg’s political affiliation

Ocean’s Elavil- What Brad Pitt said in 2001 after being stopped for a D.W.I at four in the morning.

Zoloft- Greenwich Village apartment of Paula in Matthew Mcconnaughey’s “Failure to Launch.”

Kyra Sedgwick and the American Family

Kyra Sedgwick was on a late night talk show. I didn’t know she had been married to Kevin Bacon for 20 years. I did know they have been hyping her show on TV. I haven’t watched it yet. With ignorance about her state of affairs, I pleasantly was surprised by her earthiness and could see how her show had become a success. She exhibited down- home soul from a past decade, and it was refreshing. She talked about the 8th grade Two Step, a definition of how teenagers danced when they didn’t know how. She expressed concern that today’s kids are “grinding.” Grinding has many connotations. It is a genre of music spawned in the l950’s embellished as “Bump and Grind.” Because I have played a lot of wedding receptions and dinner dances, I learned this term. This is what couples do to a l950’s circa 12/8 beat ballad. “Bump and Grind” is how the kids danced on Happy Days or in Grease. It was sexual, but so is adolescence. A few years ago there was a television show on BET called “The Grind.” It was reminiscent of “Soul Train,” and was a modernization utilizing Hip/Hop and the beach. I enjoyed watching it, because it personified youth to me. Lately I have been mulling over this very concept, the definition of youth and things considered youthful. I have a lot of youthful content, but I am not sure why. It may be I have cruised through the “Married with Children” years without being married. Would it make you more youthful to have children? I guess not, because someone in the household has to assume the authority position. Luckily I opted out of that. Does that make me an immature or incomplete person? I don’t think so. My youthful outlook has persevered ebbing and flowing in intensity. I have had my Blue Period like Arnold Schoenberg, Igor Stravinsky, and Beethoven. This was a serious period when I began losing my eyesight and had to have penetrating keratoplasties to restore my vision. Unfortunately I am teetering on the edge of that abyss again, but I am seeking medical aid. It is easy to qualify things as youthful or geriatric, because there is a chronologically-provided “generation gap.” Middle Age (not the Middle Ages) could be considered the more difficult of categories, because just like the gray area in between the answers “yes and “no,” it is harder to define. Society easily defines youthful and geriatric because of their infrastructure. Youths go to school. Geriatrics are retired and therefore stay home. There are also obvious visual clues. America’s working Middle Class is the large potpourri that should be recognized. They are being overlooked in America. Who should be celebrated more than the group that both is “bringing home the bacon” and rearing the children? A decade ago the “soccer mom” was born as the dominant force taking the place of the family unit as a whole. The traditional American family has never recovered. The image of an affluent, SUV and cell phone-equipped erudite took control and the image of the woman has never been the same since. M.I.W.L.F.’s. (Mothers I wouldn’t like to @#$%!) Feminism took over, the sexism of the l960’s was reversed, and men became the sex objects. Television shows sprung up portraying men as macho, ignorant, and submissive. This was the beginning of the decline of the “American Dream” and the neglect and miseducation of our youth. It is easy to see how Johnny could become gay with no real father and a raving controlling seeming dyke as a mother. This generation of America’s youth have been reared with few parental role models instead relying upon the computer in their dark bedrooms. I wouldn’t say having a family demands one parent stay home, but the “Harper Valley P.T.A” was a more appropriate pre-soccer mom image. America’s misguided youth are the major buying power in the country. The brunt of products are aimed at them circumventing the middle class parent. As a result we have a more immature and parentally neglected youth being bombarded by products that reinforce their irresponsible lifestyles. Maybe it is the time for parents to cut the umbilical tails to their children’s mice and tell them to, “Grow up.” It will not go down in history well if the PC or cell phone become the defining images of youth. Will it be Gidget in a bathing suit surfing, or you masturbating to your computer? I am trying to piece together what represents youth, and therefore what defines youthful practice. The history of television contains samples from many defining eras and as a result also has had influence. I have stopped watching prime time television. This television history runs the gamut from “old school,” heavily sentimental, romance movies to” Leave it to Beaver.” Television in its golden years based its depictions of the American family on real life. Now because America has no depiction of family and has become such a melting pot for illegal immigrants, the mainstream has become obscured. That is one reason manufacturers are marketing to kids. The family unit is out of date, and America has lost touch with it. It is time for a modernization complete with the “American Dream.” The conservative, clean-streeted, homogenized, pasteurized, and sanitized Republican model has been better served in a dusty library basement. American life needs to be revitalized with the prospect of prosperity, education, health care, and culture. It is a disgrace that the world’s dominant superpower is lagging behind the domestic front. In this case it is appropriate that we need a more youthful and positive outlook, overtaking stale, unchanging, and oppressive habits of “Old Money.”

The GOP, Scooping Up the Money

There has been a recent resurgence in television advertising of Americana. The Lawrence Welk show, although in an exponential state of syndication, recently featured a show with an Americana theme. The question is if Americana is related to the economy. While thoughts of carnival freak shows, boardwalk hawkers, and Appalachian crafts may not bring to mind high dollar, it can be said that the entertainment industry has been a longstanding pillar in American commerce. Hollywood was a dream in the minds of persecuted Jews that made their hopes a reality. After suffering in a gruesome mass genocide in Nazi Germany, a small group of devoted Jewish people felt they deserved something more. The phrase “Plan your work and work you plan” is operative, and not just by Martha Stewart. If life is not giving you what you want or think you deserve, you have to go out and make it yourself. While not an easy task, this could be said is the possibility of the “American Dream.” It is unfortunate fake representations of that dream must be depicted by the television show American Idol. Most people realize no one is ever going to come along and give you something. That is not what Capitalism is based upon, and we are a Capitalist nation. Planting a seed in the minds of naïve, impressionable Americans that they may become the next Britney Spears is manipulative, almost like dropping crickets into the fish tank of diver beetles. It is sadistic. (You can feel the tenets of education here!) It used to be that the educational system was the training ground for “real life.” Our educational system provided schooling in a hypothetical and nurturing environment allowing students to spread their wings without the fear of failing on national television. American Idol, while attempting to preen Simon Cowell’s record label, is doing just the opposite. If taken merely as cheap grass roots entertainment, then maybe this process is not harmful. Expecting untrained, unqualified teenagers to suddenly become recording artists and stars is ridiculous. Shania Twain spent years striving for her career, as most do in the field of popular music. It has always been common there was a protocol for “getting signed” in the recording industry. American history is littered with the success and failures of such cases. The world of immediate gratification can not take the place of history and a highly developed culture of arts. That our media in a few short years has lost sight of her lineage of culture is an abomination. Recently after purchasing Time/Life’s 60’s Gold AM Radio classics, I was reminded that this music was a part of Americana. I for one grew up listening to this particular music. I recognized many of the songs, and even after a few listenings could sing along with the recording. That reiterated to me that the craft of songwriting once was relevant to the American economy. Many say the entertainment industry based in Hollywood and the recording industry were foundations in both our culture and economy. It would be interesting to view IRS records to see what percentage of the total Gross Domestic Product the entertainment industry represented. Certainly if Netflicks is selling movie downloads for a dollar, then the integrity of our system has diminished. Napster was the culprit that set the stage for the demise of the recording industry. It is unfortunate that the free shareware of music on the internet collapsed the traditional protocol of the recording industry. Was the conscious decision by or simple allowing that record executives abandoned the core foundation of our pop music culture from the mere threat of a computer hacker incorrigible? It seems like the GOP record labels were used to resting on their laurels simply scooping in the money. When the money stops it is time to go to work and figure and why and fix it. This is why we can’t respect “Old Money.” It doesn’t take anything to collect a trust fund. It doesn’t take anything to oversee a business that is all ready in progress and making money. To begin making money from the start, that’s the test. Obviously like our formerly Republican led federal government, “Daddy’s Little Girls” are not up to the task. To let the MP3, iTunes, and the iPod usurp the recording industry is insulting. Because the method of buying music is changing can’t mean that the process of making music changes. Because the current age of “immediate gratification” suggests we live in a disposable world doesn’t mean we should. The years of development, maturing, and sheer trying are what make artistic music. Art can’t be had in RenderMan alone like current motion pictures are suggesting. It is people’s “Blood, Sweat, and Tears” that make life. The day and age that republicans sit back and collect the money is coming to an end.

Mike Nifong and the B Girl

Nothing could better represent the vile misusing of power than Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong’s plundered attempt to prosecute three Duke University Lacrosse team members for rape. His attempt to seek reelection by prosecuting and winning a high profile case is the perfect personification of what government has devolved to in the United States, whether it be the judiciary, legislative, or executive branches. We have witnessed during Mr. Bush’s tenure as president repeated self-serving and unconstitutional misuses of power by federal and regional governments. Nifong’s overzealous attempt to assign fame to himself before considering the lives or innocence of the young people he attempted to convict exposes the gross potential of attempted manipulation of our justice system for monetary gain. It supercedes the very idea of common sense used to evaluate potential criminal activity. Why couldn’t he see a “spade as a spade,” two strippers with selfish motivation and not enough maturity and self-awareness to understand the business in which they work. The potential for dangerous activity exists within the strip club circuit. If America was liberal enough to “call a spade a spade,” we wouldn’t need strip clubs at all. In most cases they only are legal fronts for prostitution. America’s ridiculous purist history will not allow us to grow up and live in the 21st century. If we were to follow the rational examples of other countries, then we could eliminate this potential hazard. All men have ever wanted was to get laid. Strip clubs are ideal Capitalist concoctions exploiting the human desires of men. Surely if prostitution was available to them they would choose to buy what they really want. Selling sexual images and possible sexual potential is only one evil tool America has used repeatedly in her short history. Mike Nifong’s botched attempt should crystallize our archaic and conservative views about sex. The desire for sex will never disappear, and in this day and age with date rape, rohypnol, and severe penalties for sex with a minor, logical avenues toward the acquisition of sex outside of marriage should be opened. Because our population has become socially dysfunctional and often morally irresponsible as a result, a mature confronting of the sex drive is necessary. If one must buy a Trophy Wife or suffer the frustration and humiliation of paying to view naked women without the probabilty of sex, then our country all ready is antiquated. If the prospect of “dancing” for a group of young, athletic, horny men did not raise concern in the two women involved, then it would seem they were financially desperate enough to follow through with the gig anyway. If their personal safety became jeopardized as a result of teen angst and necessary cash flow, then we as a country are not doing what we should to protect them. While the women’s assertions were criminal and should be punished, their underlying behavior is the more important social issue. It has been this mishandling of sexual activity in America that has caused more social problems. Certainly the advent and proliferation of internet pornography has exacerbated pedafilic behavior. The readily available images of kiddie porn are not going to thwart the desires of pedafiles but more likely encourage them. People have been finding sexual fulfillment on the internet since the web’s inception. This all encompassing process of fulfilling ones desires in cyberspace rather than in reality is disconcerting. We have lost the very skills of socialization based upon fraternization. When people used to be forced to go out of their homes and interact with other people for fulfillment, weren’t we a more socially adjusted country? Likewise this rite of passage is what forced us to grow up. Failure begat success. Film after film has been made documenting this process, adolescent longing and the pursuit of companionship and therefore sex. This was upon what our pop culture was based. It has declined because youths are no longer forced to engage in this maturing process, alternatively becoming spoiled by the immediate gratification of the computer. One only has to look at any of the myriad of TV shows based upon ridiculous selfish behavior. “Girls Gone Wild.” “Girls Behaving Badly.” “Daddy’s Little Spoiled Brat.” There is no current governmental regime capable of embracing these issues, and there is no prospect of a youth population qualified enough to even speculate running the country when “Old Money” dies.

Today's Top Ten List

Depression is a result of the simple action of disrespect from another person.

After watching VH-1 it is obvious that television production has been taken over by ignorant spoiled adolescents.

The youth of America have no idea what love is.

Women only want your money. They really want your dick, but they won’t take enough responsibility to admit it. Is this what Capitalism has cum to, holding out for the dough?

The sacred holy vessel and graven image that is the severely over-estimated vagina. Much like the housing market it is time for the vagina bubble to burst and spew forth its free gifts.

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog was the star of the Toni Awards! Did the U.S. military’s “gay bomb” get dropped here?

Let’s hear it for Letterman’s son.

They have been using that “hormone” on cruise ships for years. What better place to avoid the pitfalls of homosexuality than at sea? “Don’t ask, don’t tell.”

The “official language” means other languages could suffer discrimination.
Using the term “national language” suggests it should be used for the main language.

Why would anyone watch Jimmy Kimmel?

Diane Selwyn and Life in the Box

How do we create our own shortcomings? How do we place limitations on happiness in our own lives? How do we build jail cells in our own houses in which to self-deprecatingly suffer? I had two friends from high school that got married. No one at the time seemed to think it was appropriate. Everyone thought she belonged with someone else. (In a few people’s eye’s, that turned out to be me) No one knew who he was supposed to be with. Their marriage lasted 20 years bearing 3 well-reared children. They divorced. Because the woman in the scenario was unhappy, she thought it was appropriate to extricate feelings from twenty-five years ago. “I have always loved you,” she said to me. Twenty years later after three kids, a large house, and what appeared to be domestic success she was telling me she still loved me. We were in several plays together in high school, and in one particular show I was required to kiss her. This made my then current girlfriend madder than hellfire. Although I had to do this for the show, my girlfriend claimed we had an ulterior motive! It seems this divorced woman had flirted with me back in the day raising an ugly jealousy from my girlfriend. I was not aware of the intensity of this jealousy, so I didn’t think much about the kiss. She on the other hand was mortally wounded by the kiss. She made me pay for it. I was punished on a grand level reduced to sobbing on my knees asking her forgiveness. A few years later when I went to a summer music camp for six weeks, I began receiving hate mail from the same girlfriend. She contended I was “seeing other women.” This I had never done, so receiving hate mail instead of love letters for remaining noble to her was a blow. It was a serious predicament. Someone who loved you was both underestimating your faith in them and projecting on you an image worse than the truth! This was the first time I had experienced a neurosis strong enough to cause your relationship to fail. It wasn’t the first time in my life either. Was it worth it? People beget human emotion, and when we as responsible adults don’t control those emotions they can cause our downfall. Are feelings really worth our own decline? In this situation over time I had to make the decision that it was not worth it. We had simply grown apart and her image of me was not who I really was. For a while I could contest her assertion, but if a marriage was to be based upon the relationship I had to make the most difficult decision of my life and call it off. It wasn’t fair for her or me. Certainly the concept of love is a complex one. Mixing pubescent anxiety and sexual maturation in the formula of love can provide to be a wooly mammoth. The wisdom in this situation was our love for one another was based upon an instinctual and physical attraction rather than a cognitive one. When you are an adolescent your hormones are raging, your physical desires can be overwhelming, and we tend to go for the “quick fix.” I don’t think many teens actively think about why they love their spouses. It is often quoted that people “just know” when they are in love. That is a little strange to me, so I have had to do some searching about love. If you let your feelings dictate what you think or decide, then you as a human being are AT THE MERCY OF some unknown and potentially destructive force. Is that force God? God certainly provides us with the tools and foundation for love. It is pretty simple in that He says it is offered as the sacrament of marriage. A couple must get married to receive the boundless glories of sexual fulfillment. The problem with that is, marriage is a difficult structure. Living with a member of the opposite sex for the first time is a huge challenge by itself. Will you be compatible with the other person in a confined living space? How are you to know the answer to that if you don’t try it first? This was my very first liberal thought within the Christian framework. The Ten Commandments work, but you have to interpret them in a modern context. Similarly in current times I feel “Honor Thy Children” is more appropriate, we must use our common sense if we are to survive. I would never marry anyone that I did not really know, because the chances of the marriage failing are too great. Then the sanctity of the sacrament of marriage becomes tainted with the evil ramifications of alimony, child support, and “visitation.” To put these familial privileges in the hands of a judge in the American judicial system is a travesty. We are taking God’s gift of marriage and demeaning it. We literally are “looking the gift horse in the mouth” by not understanding, respecting, and promulgating the sacrament of marriage. Over the years I have all but forgotten this. At the age of forty-four the prospect of marriage seems an inappropriate and distant prospect. If I had only evolved to a level of adolescence then I could myself be a neurotic. “I must be a failure!” “Why haven’t I married?” “Don’t I deserve someone?” If you use your mind to see the clear reality of emotional need, then it is easy to decern emotion is not always the healthiest choice in life. Fulfillment in humanity should not come from the groin. If that hormonal instinct is the only determining factor of love, then we are operating at the most primitive level of the universe. We are merely animals attempting to procreate driven by hormonal instinct. It is the ultimate disappointment when a human being takes the beauty of an instinctual urge and fails to understand and therefore use it successfully. This creation of neurosis, the irrational misunderstanding of feelings, can be the downfall of many. Depression is such a downfall. When hit with it for the first time it can be difficult to tangle with, because it makes you feel bad. Feel. Feel. If it makes you feel bad, then doesn’t it seem necessary NOT TO FEEL? Animals have emotions, and they procreate by instinct. Humans have emotions, but it is our ability to “think” that elevates us above the animals. We have it within our capacity as human beings to understand and control our emotions. It is also imperative as the ancient Chinese philosophy of Taoism states, we must remain flexible in our lives. “Wu wei” or “without action” means “action without action” or “effortless doing.” In understanding ourselves and our emotions we are finding enlightenment from the superficial constrictions of our own human emotion. By limiting ourselves to a protocol of learned emotional responses we are building the jail in which we will live the rest of our lives. Without a conscious decision to understand and change our emotional responses we will never find enlightenment. Imagine three separate preexisting sets of protocols which are attempting to control our lives as “free” Americans. There is an organized-religion produced protocol with God. There is an “Old South” protocol dictating courtship and marriage. Without our ability to think and reason there is a protocol of human emotional response. Upon reflection of all three of these hypothesis, the notion of becoming a monk or nun doesn’t pale. It seems there are many human-created protocols in existence attempting to oppress our pursuit of happiness. Banning the freedom to ride a skateboard is one of them. There is a movie of which I cannot remember the title where a Catholic nun is raped by several drug afflicted youths. In human terms she could tragically be effected by the rape like many women are, but by virtue of her passionately felt faith to God she is able to overcome her human weaknesses and transcend to a point of forgiveness. This is because in the definition of Christianity we do not matter. It is the ability to forget ourselves and care about others that defines God. This freedom from our own self-imposed emotional restriction is what offers salvation and enlightenment. God is what allows us to transcend our seeming own human weaknesses, step outside the box, and endure. In popular culture in American “pop” music is what represents “life in this box.” David Lynch, in his film Mulholland Drive, effectively embraces this concept using a variety of visual symbols. He suggests there is a mafia in Hollywood that ultimately controls who gets cast in major motion pictures. He shows, by the effective juxtaposition of dream and reality sequences, the stark and often brutal consequences of having to live “in the box.” Betty Elms, an aspiring movie-star niece of a successful Hollywood actress, actually is Diane Selwyn, a lesbian prostitute and waitress at a local diner. Eventually she is forced to commit suicide by the emotional distress caused by her lack of awareness and understanding of the constraints of being demanded to live “in the box.” If we allow ourselves to live only at the level of the human being, it is then we can become destined for such a fate. The presence and acknowledgment of God are what allow us to transcend these emotional weaknesses and find renewed zest in life. “Pop” music uses “the box” to hypnotize its listeners, because some emotionally immature and undeveloped people may only feel safe protected by its false boundaries. Only music that embraces real human affliction will ever allow us to survive and evolve as a nation, shedding the artificial anodynes of corporate America.

Life on the Street

One reason why pollution is so disconcerting is because coupled with economic oppression you have an almost unbeatable force. Fayetteville, North Carolina is a good example of this. Most people know that Fayettenam has never been recognized as an artistic community. It is the ranch of the GI, the government issued private in the Army, who needs a place to blow off stream after coming out of the field. As such Hay St. in downtown used to be interesting. It was a strip of bars and clubs catering to the GI’s hard-earned money. Rick’s Lounge and the Korean Club were on Hay Street. Then the city decided to clean it up. Just like that in a matter of a few years, they bought out the club owners and “cleansed” downtown Fayetteville. Mind you there still are few strip clubs, they just migrated back up Bragg Boulevard toward the post. Fayetteville does have a good regional theater. There is a symphony and a couple of colleges. There is no jazz music. There is very little any music except for the miscellaneous Southern Rock bands that pop up in clubs. When I was in college we tried to infuse Fayettenam with some newer music. All of this aside if one sets out in the great wilderness that is Fayetteville, one will quickly find a harsh urban reality. Homeless people are around. Men can be seen urinating on the sidewalk. Gang bangers ride around in their pimped out SUV’s in direct violation of the state’s window tinting ordinance. It is the hood. Downtown is the junction of CSX-T railroad, the Norfolk Southern railroad, and the Aberdeen and Rockfish railroad. The are busy during the day sorting freight and putting trains together. With Ft. Bragg so close by the activities of the 82nd Airborne are evident all the time. They often train and jump at night, so around eleven in the evening the droning of paratrooper aircraft emerges. When you put these and a few other factors together it makes for a stark reality. One hundred degree heat, high humidity, war training, drug activity, and pollution provide a sizeable opponent for anyone trying to survive. Without public education many poor, underprivileged African-Americans never make it out of the projects. Groove View Terrace and Campbell Terrace are known for violent crimes. It wasn’t that long ago that two skinhead soldiers went into the hood and killed some black people just for spite. It is a rough place, and don’t let anybody tell you otherwise. Conversely there is money in Fayetteville. The majority of that money is being made off the people of which I just spoke. The military promises customers. It promises money to the community. Those savvy enough to know business or some other profitable occupation such as medicine or law rake it in. The problem I have is with the disparity between the rich and the poor. The Middle Class has always been in jeopardy in this country, and that is seen in Fayetteville. The things I often write about are the way the common man is beat down making it more difficult to get a leg up. Noise, violence, heat, poverty, and war are no match for uneducated people on the street. The behavior they exhibit is in direct correlation to their environment. When I hear people speak badly like white trash, it is because it is by that which they are surrounded. Without public education these people have NO way out or up. When the bottom line of American values begins to get raised, it can reach a point where it is no longer approachable by the common man. You today must BUY what we used to have as Americans a few decades ago. Clean drinking water, clean air, peace, and serenity now must be purchased like the ephemeral “Trophy Wife.” I am tired of having to buy everything in my life. I guess that is the result of living in a Capitalist country. As soon as you walk out the door someone is waiting to sell you something. Because of the environmental conditions you are going to want to buy it. A cold drink. Some beef jerky. A movie. It makes for good sales but a shitty life for those without money.

Pollution and Global Warming

Pollution is one thing in general that has proven to be a downfall of our country. Most energy pundits understand emphatically burning coal is the cheapest and easiest source of energy. They also know it single-handedly is the biggest polluter. The emission of “green house gases,” better known as hydrofluorcarbons, comes from burning the fossil fuel, coal. The internal combustion engine is responsible for the burning of the other major fossil fuel, petroleum. Therefore it is America’s selfish reliance upon the automobile that is a major cause of Global Warming. We are responsible. Of course one cannot overlook the other obvious contributors. Air traffic by definition is a large source of Global Warming. What is an airplane? It is a source of two distinct things necessary for contributing to Global Warming, which no one seems to want to recognize. Let’s “call a spade a spade”. Planes, trains, and automobiles. “ There you have it. There it is. It is thus.” A plane is a source of both intense heat and infrasonic pollution. It is invasive in that it produces heat and vibration that are carried upon its self-produced infrasonic wave. Similarly a diesel-electric locomotive has the exact same blueprint. It produces heat, vibration, and its own source of infrasonic pollution. The engines are different, thus the production of the infrasound wave is different. Intense noise created by the burning of fuel, the spinning of a turbine, and the production of thrust is what creates infrasonic pollution on an aircraft. The firing rate of a diesel engine is what creates it on a locomotive. The unfortunate fact is they operate under a similar protocol. Both produce infrasound continuously while they operate. “Continuous” is the operative word that brands airplanes and diesel locomotives as culprits responsible for Global Warming. Not only do they pump out waste continuously, they also possess the TWO components necessary to inflict grave climate change. The eruption of Krakatau, a volcanic island in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra in Indonesia, produced the loudest sound ever recorded in history. It circled the globe eight times and was documented by barometers along the way in many different countries. It was “heard” as far away as Perth, Australia (approx. 1930 miles) and the island of Rodrigues near Mauritius, (approx. 3000 away). A volcano is not unlike its manmade counterparts, the airplane and diesel locomotive, because it also produces these TWO distinct components. It produces the heat necessary to warm the planet but also produces an infrasonic carrier wave that pushes the heat, sound, and vibration around the globe! Considering Jet Streams, fast-flowing, relatively narrow air currents in the atmosphere, the over-taking of the responsibility of moving that air around the globe by unintentional means by man has overstepped the boundaries from which the planet can adjust. It is for this reason it has become imperative that man, the creator of the problem, become accountable for its result and provide a solution. Irresponsibility as a result of man’s greed has caused Global Warming.

The Notable Vladimir Gavronsky

The United States military briefly experimented with infrasound as a non-lethal weapon. They discovered the dispersion could not be controlled, so their weapon could not be aimed at the appropriate target without also harming the operator. Bass frequencies are also omni-directional. What is the difference between infrasound and bass sounds? Simply put infrasound is a bass sound with a frequency below the threshold of human hearing. That means the pitch is not audible to the human ear, but the strength of the wave is still the same. Imagine a bass guitarist at a rock concert playing through a massive sound system. The effect of his bass sound on the crowd is a large part of the appeal of the music. People feel bass frequencies. Over the decades an inquisitiveness with and focus upon producing great bass sounds contributed largely to the success of commercial music. If the listener wants to feel the music rather than just listen to it, it requires a focus on great bass. Conversely people wouldn’t want and wouldn’t like to hear bad bass sound, because if it sounds bad by nature of being in the bass range, it would make you feel bad. I am not positive that correlation has been proven, or if it has ever been attempted. The effects of infrasound prove such to be true, because its effect upon the human are well documented. Adolph Hitler, one of history’s most notorious perpetrators of mass genocide, used infrasound at his political rallies as a tool to incite unrest. Imagine a military political leader using two modern phenomena that are contributing to the ill health of our country. Hitler relied upon injections of methamphetamines for his “energy.” In a recent study in 2004 music being played at a concert was laced with infrasound. Twenty two percent of the total listeners negatively physically were effected by the infrasound represented by its grave symptoms. They were anxious, uneasy, sorrowful, nervous, revulsed, fearful, and had chills up and down their spines. Any evil but keen political leader could see an opportunity for his own rise to prominence with the effective use of this tool. Afflict the people with negative feelings seemingly beyond their control, then provide relief by turning off the source. “Viva Hitler!” I still am waiting for that relief in this country, except that its source isn’t the tool of an evil politician seeking prominence. It is the ignored and irresponsible waste of a powerful industry. We are invisibly and inaudibly being polluted by the toxic waste of the rail industry. Because the rail industry is the hub of our national defense, and because we are at war this is not an opportune time to raise this issue. It would be better just to prove it existence. Previous studies have said only 2% of the population negatively are effected by infrasound or “inaudible noise.” Over one fifth as opposed to one fiftieth is a large cross section of our population. Infrasound is double the trouble of ordinary noise, because although you do not hear it, it is operating in the bass frequency range commonly known as what people feel in real music. It should be asked if infrasound alone is what creates these sensations, or is it the sound or vibration that is being carried along with it. There have been studies that say mild infrasound can be pleasing. If pleasant sensations are being generated, and thus they are being carried along with the infrasound, it is easy to see how that could be considered inoffensive. Unfortunately the industry that is producing the majority of infrasonic industrial waste creates just the opposite. Their industry by nature is a powerful and could be intimidating mammoth. Before the reliance upon the diesel engine in traction technology, railroads were nostalgic. Thomas the Train is a good example of childhood literature that uses positive images of steam locomotives. “I think I can, I think I can,” is a common phrase found in childhood. Lionel train sets have been a mainstay in our cultural history showing up in department store windows beneath a Christmas tree during the holidays. This, like the rest of America, has changed dramatically in the last decade. Nostalgia has all but disappeared until recently. Is it because, like the “Trophy Wife,” human interaction is no longer seen as viable (or profitable)? If not catering to the wants and needs of people, how are we attempting to make money? Maybe the GOP is so spoiled by their trust funds and affluent history, they have lost sight of whence the money comes. If America has devolved to a country where her middle-class and poor inhabitants are simply scrambling to pay their bills, then the very idea of the American Dream has been lost. We are no longer a country that provides freedom, justice, and the pursuit of happiness. Inevitably we, like every other country, “wake up and smell the roses.” The American philosophy has to be understood, regenerated, enacted, and protected. They are our liberties, and they must shine forth. Someone must be responsible for representing these ideals and implementing them. President Bill Clinton wanted a “Bridge to the 21st century.” We at the moment precariously are teetering on the edge.

The Plantation Trophy Wife

One distinct thing that characterizes life in the American South is the “trophy” wife. One reason I eventually left the South was because like business, the prospect of romance and/or marriage was being controlled by the same Old Money. After moving to Columbus, Ohio to pursue a doctoral degree in music composition, I began to meet people who actually had lived in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Whether they had been stationed at Ft. Bragg, the local army base, or lived there by happenstance they all said the same thing. “You can’t make any money in Fayettenam.” The economy moves too slowly to support new small business. Basically the economy is controlled and therefore driven by Old Money. Things have been operating the same way for a long time. The people with the money want to keep their money, so the transfusion of new blood into the economy or New Money is shunned. Not allowed? How could this be in a free market system? As I have stated earlier our market in the United States is not free. While the opportunity of “making it big” does exist as shown by past musician/entertainers, the reality of doing well for yourself is in direct opposition to the “powers at be” who all ready have the money. Money never really is free. It costs something. Money costs money. That’s why it takes money to make money. Battling the Old South was not on my itinerary. That is why actively I chose to move to the Midwest. Academia also suggests it looks good on your resume to have lived in different regions of the country. It shows your ability to shed past skins and become open to new and continual growth as a human being. Leaving the South was one of the best things I have ever done. It was difficult for the first years. In fact it took over four years to acclimate to the Midwest. Moving away to go to school is not the easiest way to chose to change your life. It is a monumental challenge, because any previous accolades you may have received are not recognized by a new contingency of people. They will not allow you to ride on your past laurels. I learned this lesson. For a while because it is all you know how to do, you carry the torch for your past interests. Slowly but surely you lose that coat and armor and develop a new life with different intellectual pursuits. I morphed from a commercial/jazz musician to an academic/orchestra composer. Not only had my geological roots changed, my chosen music changed. Wow! When coming back to the American South I almost always am disconcerted by its lack of musical growth. While sports are burgeoning in the Carolinas, the music scene is the same as it was when I was at UNC. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a very traditional school. People who catch Tar Heel fever carry that disease forever. It is good a provincial university has an allegiance to tradition. It is part of their soul and mission statement. Life changes. Unless you continue to live in the same area for the rest of your life, it is probable your life will change. It becomes necessary to shed old traditions and embrace new challenges. There comes a time when the seriousness of life takes over and the pom poms have to be retired. It’s too bad the concept of the American South’s “trophy wife” couldn’t be retired as well. Like other tenacious traditions that define the American South such as racial segregation, the Ku Klux Klan, and the Mason/Dixon line, the trophy wife needs to evolve. My perception of the Southern trophy wife is a woman who is influenced by The Women’s Liberation Movement and has a with a desire to “wear the pants in the family.” In the decade of the l980’s “date rape” appeared for the first time. The drug rohypnol along with the emergence of HIV or AIDS tainted American sexuality forever. No longer did child-like beauty and naivete of “Free Love” wax philosophical. A few bad apples opened the door for what was to become the downfall of Sexual Liberation. A disease that exists that can cause death for those having sex is a serious deterent. God must have been thinking something specific when inventing AIDS, or was it satan? A disease that is transmitted by intravenous drug abuse and is proliferated mostly by gay sex should raise eyebrows. I remember the day “date rape” appeared. Now suddenly and without warning women had the power to put a sopeina on your doorstep the morning after a date alerting you that she had unwanted sex. Blyme!!! No longer did women have to be accountable for their own actions, whether influenced by the oil of alcohol or not. The term “No” changed forever. What in sociology had often meant “Yes” now meant “No” with the threat of an impending lawsuit! Confusion in the male psyche ensued. This overzealous legislation was the beginning of a string of laws passed trying to legislate morality. In the same decade the DUI became the DWI, and many bars in Chapel Hill closed. The place where there is more beer consumed per capita in the whole United States had to take notice. That one particular tradition has never been quite the same thanks to Governor Jim Hunt. Whether the law has had real effect on lives is a good question. From television commercials that are playing now, it seems teenage drunk driving is still a problem. Should a hippie selling dope to his friends have to spend the rest of his life in jail? I don’t think so, but that is on the books. There have been too many conservative and downright unconstitutional laws passed thanks to the GOP. It seems after the “date rape” laws were passed the traditions of romance were now being monitored by Big Brother. I can’t afford a trophy wife. I also can’t afford to go to jail. The federal government has hindered the traditional process of courtship, because courtship as we know it has never been polite. That is what makes it Romance. There are Romance languages, romance novels, and romantic songs. Our culture at one time revolved around romance. As such there was more breathing room in the process. Now it seems as if you must go to the mall to purchase the “Trophy Wife.” It stands to reason, because the Puritan Era values brought on by the Cold War have continued to this day. We have become homogenized, sanitized, and capitalized. I think the youth population of America has no clue what a relationship really is. The feeling of “love” as characterized by the Soft Rock music of the l980’s has disappeared. Grunge music changed that to rage, disappointment, and self-loathing. If one must go to the mall to buy a “Trophy Wife,” then why can’t I go to the street corner and buy a prostitute instead? The answer is because Uncle Sam won’t get his cut. Why can’t I go to the drugstore and buy drugs instead of relying on a dangerous criminal on the street? Is it because we as a culture are in denial to the real state of the human being. Could it be we are so out of touch with literature, history, and humanity in general we are living in a cyber-shell protected by Conservatives. “Get what you can, can it, and sit on the can.” Is this what American life really is? I thought it was the Easy Rider, Elvis Presley, Rock ‘n’ Roll, hot rods, Harleys, strip clubs, Putt Putt, waterslides, MTV, and jazz. Now we are being glamorized and polarized in a propaganda-like direction like a herd of sheep. I don’t want to hear that FM radio and Record Labels are not doing well. If one company (Time/Warner) systematically buys up the rights to all the music, then how is radio going to be able to play it anyway? I guess ASCAP will step in. If a huge Payola scandal continues to this day to oppress native recording artists for corporate produced “pop,” then they get what they have coming to them. America is not fickle, but if you destroy a traditional process that has become part of the history of millions of Americans, how can they show allegiance? Pop culture has been evolving too quickly for corporate America to keep up. They, like government, can no longer just take the money, because the money is not coming in. Both have to watch, listen, and think about what is happening in the world today and see how we can make it better.

"Skate and Destroy!"

"Scarred" is an MTV network program produced in the concept of Reality Television. It is real life accounts of extreme sports (of which there is also a show on another network) and the pitfalls that can befall irresponsible and over-rambunctious athletes. I use the word athlete loosely, because I don’t think mainstream media has honored the roller sports with the title Athletics. They have included snowboarding in the Olympic Games. I am mystified by this turn of events seeing as two other sports that are the foundations of snowboarding are no where to be seen in the Olympics. Both surfing and skateboarding have been reserved for the X-Games, the previous of which I am not sure it even made it. Motocross limbo, aerial acrobatics and BMX cycling are all included in the X Games. I enjoy watching them. Catching the art of surfing on video or film is a challenge too great for land-based media. Only Hal Jepson and Stacy Peralta it seems have taken on the challenge of producing surfing related projects. Why would the Olympic committee choose to include snowboarding in the Winter Olympics? It, in the last decade, has stolen the limelight away from traditional winter sports such as slalom skiing. Aerial acrobatics, because of their extreme nature and exposure on television, snuck in the back door. This may not have been a good idea seeing as the ratings for Olympic coverage have plummeted. Are spoiled rich kids the right choice as both mentors to and representatives of Americans? Upon listening to them speak, we must agree interviews are a bad idea. Until an athlete has a general command of the King’s English, it may be better to watch them rather than listen. The terms “I am stoked,” “Knarly,” and “Rippin’” may be slang phrases better left in the leisure life of America’s teen culture. American once took pride in our athletes, because the Olympic games are supposed to be transcendent. Donned in pageantry and a rich cultural history in Greece, a national pride becomes imminent from the viewing of our trained athletes well-representing our country. To allow snowboarding in the Olympics was to say “Our games are synonymous with the images of smoking weed, drinking beer, and generally having a good time." The qualities of sacrifice, discipline, and allegence are no where to be found. Snowboarders have said nothing that represents American ideals, rather conveying attitudes only of indulgence and self-gratification. Dogtown’s" Z Boys" conversely have become role models to millions of youth all over the world. In only pairs of ripped Levi’s blue jeans, blue Zephyr tee shirts, and canvas Vans the Z Boys single-handedly brought skateboarding to the forefront of America. How was this possible? Although the Z Boys were rough on the exterior, their skating exhibited artistic expression. They were using the vehicle of skateboarding as a means of artistic self-expression, for which there must have been much inspiration. Like surfing, skateboarding on this level possesses a component of spirituality unbeknownst to the masses. Carving a wave can not be accomplished without an astute awareness of and an acknowledgement that something greater exists in the universe other than yourself. This force is what provides you with the wave to begin with. Mother Nature, as provided by God, allows man to “catch a wave" striking a deal with Nature. You have respect for its venue, the water in the ocean, and it in return allows you to rent its massive power for personal enjoyment. When respect is lost or forgotten, it is only then the possibility of getting hurt arises. Awareness of God, not man, is key. The careless pursuit of immediate gratification and satisfying of the media are the building blocks of only pain and failure. MTV’s program “Scarred” is exploiting worse case scenarios, videotaping young athletes attempting to defy gravity. With pressure for satisfaction and media hype, they are sacrificing their bodies in a way that is the antithesis of Jesus's crucification on the cross. There may not be a cognitive plan that says the participants must get hurt, but the show would not exist without those accounts. It would seem, as other reality TV programming promotes, pain is now a commodity. If young Americans are sacrificing their ankles, shins, ribs, and arms for money, then we responsibly should intervene and demand the respect for and leadership of the youth involved. “Scarred” is misguided attempt at television that recklessly is "scaring" the roller sports industry with an irresponsible, renegade, and almost criminal image. If the roller sports are ever to return to the mainstream of America providing harmless enjoyment and diversion to many, then the paradying of cartoon and comic book Super Heros, Martial Arts Ninja figheters, and other computer games based images needs to be discarded for reality. The philosophy of “Skate and Destroy” must be retired and replaced with an ideology that more clearly embodies the nurturing and compassion of the human being by both the media and the American people. Is using each other for money to what Capitalism has devolved?