The YZA

Right after Sept 11, 2001, public buildings in New York experienced heightened security. I remember being able to walk in and out of NYU Medical Center to go to a doctor’s appointment without any sweat before Sept 11. After Sept 11 — lots of sweat. They roped off all but one door to the main building (the building is enormous and takes up several city blocks), and when you entered through the main door, there were “choke points” created by more velvet ropes, forcing every visitor to squeeze through a tight spot that was monitored by an inattentive security guard. It was all an illusion of security — anyone could still walk in and out, but you had to walk right by a security guard to get in. Hope they don’t smell the C4!

Anyway, I noticed that all that is gone now, as of just a couple months ago. Was seven years a long enough time for them to realize the farce of the heightened security craze across the country? This Atlantic article does a nice job illustrating what a joke security is (link). Now I can only hope that New York City cops will realize how overconfidentally obnoxious they look when they parade their cars around the city.

You know, from what I have heard, the reason that Axl Rose has delayed releasing the Guns n’ Roses album Chinese Democracy was because he was nitpicking every detail, hiring guitarists to redo what other guitarists had already recorded, perpetually unhappy with what it sounded like. His megalomania fused with perfectionism and resulted in a music that could never please him.

Well I guess he finally decided to give in cuz it seems like the album might actually get released this year. I just listened to the title track from it streaming on radio station Q104.3′s website (link here). I guess in order to prevent people from recording the stream and distributing the song as an mp3, every so often a woman’s voice comes on and says “Music on demand” in a sultry kind of voice. It happened about three or four times during the song, and the first time it happened I thought for a second that it was Axl’s attempt at something arty. Anyway, all that blood and sweat perfecting his song, and some woman is talking all over it the first time thousands of people hear it. Poor guy.

At least he’s getting a little bit of mainstream press. On the page on which it’s hosted, you still have to scroll down on the interface to see the link to the interview (there are other “news items” listed)! At the top though: “The death of album art”. Somehow that’s more important than listening to Nader talk… and to be honest I almost clicked the link to that segment (and I probably would have forgotten all about Nader’s interview too). But goddamn if he isn’t still the most progressive and passionate political candidate. Vote Nader, damn it!

I think I might have to get operated on tomorrow. I have a painful swelling in my neck, and it seems that I’m going to have to be hospitalized to take care of it. That sucks for me. This same thing happened to me three years ago this month (though I think it was worse then). I hate that I’m only 29 and I feel that my body is failing me already. I’ll probably be dead by the time I’m 50, so I might as well live it up.

My band spent 12 hours in the recording studio today working on some songs, and we tracked the basic tracks for them (and they came out pretty well). More on that if I don’t die.

I am not sure I understand why music fans are interested in hearing remixes of songs. I don’t even really understand what a remix is.

I know that you can take the separate tracks of a song and mix them differently (different levels for each track, different equalization, etc.), but it sounds like people are adding different drumbeats or ornamentation to the songs, and maybe restructuring them as well, adding new parts and such.

Why would anyone want to hear that, and why would anyone be motivated to do that to someone else’s music? I’d much rather spend that time working on something that is wholly my own creation. Maybe there’s something I’m missing… If there is, please let me know. And if you can point me to a remix of a tune that is better than the original, I would love that.

The Military-Industrial complex is winning! The Prison-Industrial complex is winning!

I’m watching Ralph Nader talk live at Cooper Union (on the internet). He’s the only viable presidential candidate as far as I can see. He’s the only person running that has any integrity and isn’t afraid to confront the issues in an honest way. It’s amazing to me how many of my peers that I consider intelligent people have just gobbled up the bullshit spewed by Obama and McCain and the rest of the syndicate.

In spite of his sometimes awkward speeches, he still warms my cockles. Goddamn I wish I lived in a world where they would let him debate (or hell, even let him INTO the debates!). I highly recommend An Unreasonable Man, a terrific film about Ralph Nader and all he’s done for the US.

I guess I’ll start things off right: I’m going to just start writing and documenting my life somewhat publicly just so there’s some record of when I’m abducted and disappear. Then legions can read my writings and identify the code telling them where I went and what I knew and what they can do to save me. Of course, there will be no saving me — I’ll be killed by my captors pretty quickly after abduction, but my spirit will live on, and others will rise up.

You guys should all watch both Zeitgeist movies. They make conspiracy theories seem way more plausible by presenting evidence and arguing with air-tight logic. Can you fuck with it? I can’t fuck with it. It has fucked my mind and I want to believe in the Venus Project as a reality. Anyway, you can watch both movies on Google Video, or better yet, download both films via Bit Torrent.