hyssop

The bittersweet final Open Studios for 319 A St. is October 17, 18, 19. I’ll be open, and the plan is to finish the 13-track Modern Medicine LP to commemorate the occasion. I’m also very happy that Family Dinner For One will be joining me in my studio for the weekend, so plan to stop by and get some tunes and some threads…

DJ Premier and Big Shug are at The Good Life Saturday 9/13

Big Shug – My Boston (Prod. by DJ Premier)

If you’re passing through BCN, looks like there’s an interesting exhibit at the CCCB about J.G. Ballard:

 Interesting interview with prominent British psychoanalyst Hanna Segal in The Guardian. Excerpt:

“Generally, we delegate what you might call the ‘mad’ functions – fighting, religion – to subgroups: the army, the church. But those subgroups must be under the control of the working part of the group. My point is that when mad things start happening, it’s when subgroups get out of control, and particularly when they combine: God, money and the military is a particularly deadly recipe.” The Iraq conflict, she argues, was about “the need for an enemy”, and “a religious fanaticism linked to, and covering up, mass robbery”.

Today, Segal believes, our collective sanity is threatened by “a delusional inner world of omnipotence, and absolute evil, and sainthood. Unfortunately, we also have to contend with mammon.” And since we tend to submit to the tyranny of our own groups, “speaking our minds takes courage, because groups do not like outspoken dissenters.” The battle now “is between insanity based on mutual projections, and sanity based on truth”. And all we, as citizens, can do is “struggle to expose lies, and strive for the preservation of sane human values”.

She is not convinced she will ever see that battle resolved (”This is my last interview,” she says gaily. “You’d better do a good job.”) But the important thing, she insists, adopting the vivid symbol she first found in Cormac McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic fable The Road, is to “keep a little fire burning; however small, however hidden. I find this extraordinarily helpful: we live in a mad world, but for those of us who believe in some human values, it is terribly important that we just keep this little fire burning. It is about trusting your judgement, and the power of love. A little trust, and a little care”.

Over the weekend, police and FBI agents raided houses of people in Minneapolis suspected of planning protests at the RNC, threw people on the floor, pointed assault rifles at them, and confiscated laptops, journals, etc. These people had committed no crime, and were planning to commit no crime, and were trying to exercise their rights to free speech and assembly guaranteed in the Constitution. In addition protesters and journalists are being arrested, pepper sprayed, and intimidated at the RNC because want to voice their opinion, or are simply in the way (and taking pictures) while others voice their opinion. I’ve tried several times over the weekend to put my outrage about this into words, and I can’t right now. Greenwald is once again right on top of this, and has lots of video and links.

Hyssop – The Police Protect the Stores (samples David Henderson, Ruckus Poem Part 1)