Occupy!! Jeffrey Sachs on getting money outa politics
Economist Jeffery Sachs is talking HARD on getting money out of politics, an absolute must in my opinion! I love what he is saying but one point to be clear on: He says “corporations should do business and not run the country”…but that is the way they do business, by running the country. We need more clarity from him (and all of us) on this separation between business and human/environmental welfare. How must this relationship be re-defined from the ground up?
Occupy!!
I’ve been watching, reading, googling, discussing….but finally went down to Occupy Boston today. It’s nothing like the scene in NYC of course, but it’s there and committed. A great vibe, plenty of discussions going on everywhere and you could just come and pick up a sign at the sign tent (many many hand made signs that people leave), take 3 steps to the left and wave it at traffic. I realize that there are many causes being represented but it’s infuriating that much of the press says something like, “they need a concrete message.” It’s pretty damn simple: …to reform Wall Street, to remove special interests from government, and CHANGE THE SYSTEM THAT GIVES 1% of THE POPULATION THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE WEALTH. Just the physical juxtaposition of a rag tagg tent city next to a the shiny bank sky scraper 50yds away says it all.
Obama said yesterday in response to the Occupy protests that, “If we want jobs, we have to have a strong financial sector.” The definition of “strong financial sector” as it stands now is crystal clear: concentrate money into the hands of a tiny few (individuals and corps) with the expectation that these tiny few will somehow take care of everyone else, give them jobs etc. I don’t understand how ANYONE (except for the few who profit massively from it) can still believe in the effectiveness of the trickle down system. Damn it, that just doesn’t work!!
We 99 percenters want, at the very least, a redefinition of what a “strong financial sector” is and (read your Howard Zinn) that redefinition will NEVER come from the top down, so….tent cities and massive marches, here they come!
Here’s a few shots I took today. I especially like the big community poster that asked both “What is right with this country?” and “What’s wrong with this country?” It’s critical and inspiring that this fair and balanced question is being asked and not just pure system hating going on.
Dragonfly Taxi recording back in the swing
It’s been a great summer and with the free time and nice vibe I’ve re-ignited my Dragonfly Taxi recording project. I’ve got 9 new tunes, mostly reggae, but with a couple of rock/rap numbers. I was fortunate enough to rally my friends, colleagues (and favorite reggae/groove playa’s in the area!) Winston Maccow (bass) and Sean Skeete (drums) to come to my studio for a long day of laying down the foundation grooves for the tunes. (That’s them in the pic.) We kicked ass and NAILED all 9 tunes in about 8 hours! Now I’m on an inspired roll building all the rest of the parts including plenty of guitar, horn, vocal, percussion and keyboard parts. A couple of days ago my bredren Maroghini came in and recorded some FINE nayabinghi (drum) parts and in a couple of days Thaddeus Hogarth is coming in to lay down the guitar parts. It’s gonna be a while before it’s all done but look out because in 2012 I’m going to be making up for lost time in terms of releasing new material as not only will this recording be released but the Rebel Tumbao recording will launch as well.
Steel Pulse show 6/30/11 review and comments
Steel Pulse is certainly one of the absolute best and tightest reggae bands on the planet and they proved it again last night at the Casino Ballroom in Hampton, NH!
I feel blessed to have been able to hang out with the band for a week in Accra, Ghana a few years back and maintain a friendship with them, especially the bassie, Amlak Tafari. The band hit the stage FULL WATTS from the very first downbeat, no need to warm up over a tune or two. After the intro medley, touching on bits of their hits and drawing huge cheers from the crowd, the band settled into a night of playing their known and not so known tunes.
The thing that I find so damn inspiring about their show is that, despite the band being over 30 years old, they keep the music fresh each time. That’s really hard. Many times bands with such a history, bands that have embedded themselves, culturally, into the ears of the world, end up becoming hollow nostalgic mockeries of what they once were. Not so with Pulse. David (Hinds – lead singa), on mic, reminded us all that “we gotta keep the fiya under Babylon’s ass.”
Also, he spent a bit of time talking about his involvement with the visionary “Dokte” (Doctor) Paul Farmer and his amazing Partners in Health organization which brings healthcare to some of the poorest of the poor communities in the world, especially in Haiti. Pulse wrote a tune “Hold On [4 Haiti]” and last year teamed up directly with PIH to help fund a project which installs solar energy panels in health clinics. Right on Pulse! That’s putting music to work with the right Babylon-Ass-Kicking people such as Farmer. Check it: //www.holdon4haiti.org
Anyway, Steel Pulse delivers a powerful, current and grooving show, all powered by a back bone of clear vision that ignites the reasons why I play music. Thanks to PULSE!!
Rebel Tumbao tracking/mixing.
Greetings all,
Such a long time since my last post. In a nutshell, I’ve finished yet another inspiring semester at Berklee and hit the ground sprinting as I turn 1000% of my attention to finishing tracking for the Rebel Tumbao recording. We start mixing this week. Hours and hours and hours in my studio. Great tracking sessions with Toussaint, laying down some HELLA lead vocals. Catherine Russell, Cleveland Jones and Darcel Wilson putting the background vocals well in place. Squantch and Angel Subero blowing the trombone parts away. Manolo Mairena rapping, singing coro’s and scraping the guiro high style. So inspiring.
