What is more patriotic and sensible:
1. To support Saudi sheiks, corrupt military dictatorships and multinational oil polluters?
or
2. Supporting America's farmers and improving the quality of life through cleaner air?
Somebody tell me.
This new legislation is to be enforced starting May 5, 2005. Stores in the United States will no longer be permitted to carry music recorded by Cuba-based musicians.
A government spokesman also confirmed the development of a new program to track file-sharing of mp3 and other electronic formats, and to issue law-enforcement agencies the power to seize any computers or other digital media containing the prohibited Cuban music.
There is not yet word on the prohibition of Che Guevara t-shirts and fashion items, although sources have mentioned talk of such a ban.
But seriously, check these interviews (part one, part two)with Assata Shakur.
We have lost another elder, Pancho Quinto, master drummer, olubatá and rumbero, on February 11, 2005.
Here is an obituary in English.
Last week Lazaro Ros, singer, musician, priest, living encyclopedia of folklore and rhythm, entered into the spiritiual plane.
While his music, wisdom, and talents were crucial to the maintenance of the body of knowledge of the Yoruba tradition in Cuba and the Americas, his talents can be appreciated by anyone.
Yesterday, at Spoken Words Cafe, members of the community, accompanied by the batá of Carlos Gomez, came out to celebrate and honor the legacy of Lazaro Ros. Thanks to Chief Dayo who opened his beautiful space up to us, and may the energy and aché continue to multiply.
The cycle of life and death continues. While spirits departed smiled down on us, little children clad in white, ran through the room, as a pregnant woman danced the steps of the orisha.
Here is the obituary en español.
Gracias, Baba Lazaro. Seguimos aprendiendo las canciones aunque nadie las canta como Usted.
I can't help but write how much I love the music of the El Michels Affair, listening to their version of Isaac Hayes' "Walk on By."
I have seen this group play since they were 16 and I have always loved their music. Keep it going.
The Style Wars site is up and is the most beautiful website I have seen so far in my life.
The Mindfully website is equally overwhelming in the quantity and breadth of health and environmental information they have.
Time to dig deeper! (click)
So, the new future-biodiesel machine is down from Massachusetts. I decided to get it even though I don't drive stick shift very well. It's something that I need to learn in my life sooner rather than later, and it's not fair to mess up somebody else's car learning. Thanks again to Nick for the lesson.
As I rode the Amtrak up to upstate New York, the weather got nastier, changing from hard rain to snow. We were going to meet up near the train station (and NY Thruway), but he didn't have a ride back to his house, 30 miles off the highway. I began to imagine the worst, me by myself, stalled out in a snowbank, unable to get the car into first gear. To make things worse, the snow tires that he was including happened to be in the trunk, not on the car.
Fortunately, everything worked out well. I shifted fine in the snow, but stalled out a few embarrasing times at the toll-booths. I need some more practice before I take it into the city:
I also started shopping around for biodiesel.
There is a company in Newark, NJ that sells B100 biodiesel at $2.73/gal plus tax, while a Brooklyn/Staten Islan based company is selling it at $2.50/gal. Curiously enough, one of the people told me that the IRS is out to get people making their own fuel. Of all the people to chase down...
More later...
Just when you thought I had given up. Benevolent winds have blown my way and I have the funds to get a 2000 Volkswagen Golf TDI (turbo diesel) and the next round of biodiesel is on.
I am planning on converting it to run on SVO (Straight Vegetable Oil) and WVO (Waste Vegetable Oil) sometime soon, but in the meantime I will be buying B100 (100 % refined vegetable oil that can go straight into an unmodified diesel tank) now available in New York!!
The rub? The car is a manual-transmission aka stick shift and I don't drive stick very well. Thanks to my friend and musical collaborator, Nick Movshon, I had a great lesson today around the industrial blocks of North Williamsburg and Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
So it looks like I will be committed to living in the Northeast for the next few months, as my mom's cancer has taken a turn for the worst. I sent out an email to several friends and acquaintances in New York a few days back and a number of people responded, who happen to be going through the same thing--seeing a closed love one fight with cancer.
The whole experience makes me realize the extent of the epidemic, and the reality that cancer has taken the lives of too many, too soon.
I think about all the money that is made on the cancer industry, from all the well-meaning people who provide compassion and kindness and draw their salaries, to the developers of the drugs and the pharmaceutical companies, who make billions off of "miracle drugs" which don't cure, but merely treat the cancer, to the industries which spit and belch out carcinogens in to air, water, and food we take into our bodies, to the government officials, who accept millions of dollars for looking the other way and convincing people like me that we're "safe."
I worry about using my cell phone too much. I worry about my laptop getting hot in my lap, the electromagnetic waves centimeters from my vital organs. And I know I'm not going to get the truth from the government when I look for that information.
We didn't get it about 9-11, or Iraq, or Vietnam, or Russia, or Bush's service record, or the ballot-counting in the elections, or anything.
That is why, I, in good conscience, will not file or pay federal income tax this year for the eighth year in a row, and will instead reinvest that money into projects which forward education and sustainabile living in communities where I live and work.
I spent the last few days at Cal Earth, working with my teachers on learning some earth plastering techniques on the Earth One building.
Stay tuned for the fancy photo album. Here are a few photos to pique your interest:
(Mark Harmon teaching me plastering techniques with 90% soil, 10% cement mix)
(Walking on the roof of the Eco-Dome at sunset)
