Idling at Terminal 21

Excellent article about the Occupy movement from a poor truck driver affected by the West Coast port shutdown.

Idling at Terminal 21.

Occupy movement shakes things up, wakes Americans up

It has been many years since I read Animal Farm, the book every kid had to read in high school as a warning against becoming like our Cold War enemy, the Soviet Union. But I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately.

It’s not always as easy as it should be to grasp the point of an allegory. One of my classmates wrote in a paper, “Animal Farm is a very stupid book, because everyone knows animals can’t talk.”

She obviously didn’t get it, but actually I don’t think any of us really got it, because Orwell was warning us, not just about where communism might lead, but about almost exactly what our capitalist republic has become. “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others” could just as easily apply to the 1% vs the 99%.

For months I have wanted to say on this blog what I thought about the Occupy Wall Street movement, but because I am leery of bandwagons and because my opinion kept changing, I’ve been watching and waiting. I have been by turns fascinated, inspired, pissed off, and encouraged all over again by this strange uprising.

It seems like such a jumble of people and viewpoints, yet it has a definite purpose and a strange kind of order. The movement’s insistence on staying leaderless is both a problem and a stroke of genius. A problem because it’s hard for the group to rein in strong-willed types who do things that are counterproductive. Genius because it’s impossible for the authorities to shut down. The police have tried to pick out the people they thought were leaders and arrested them, but it made no difference. I’m pretty sure nothing like this would exist without the Internet. A friend of mine refers to OWS as “the Bittorrent uprising.”

My opinion of the protesters rises and falls depending on OWS actions — they’ve had some big successes and some pretty serious failures. But there’s no doubt in my mind that they are asking the right questions of the right people.

Three years into a recession that’s beginning to look like it might become a depression or just the way things are going to be from now on, why is it that the lower, working and middle classes are suffering so much, while the richest Americans are doing better than ever? Why did the banks receive trillions of dollars after their real estate speculation bubble collapsed, but regular Americans got foreclosed? Why haven’t the people who committed fraud on Wall Street been arrested and put on trial for what they did? Why haven’t laws been enacted to keep them from doing the same thing and wrecking the economy even further?

The answer seems to be that the captains of banking and industry have become so powerful they are for all intents and purposes, our true government. Politicians merely give us an illusion of choice. They do what the rich want, and many times they’re the same people. Charts like the one below make it pretty clear that we have a problem.

I think most Americans realized what the problem was on some level. There has been a growing discontent, even rage, just waiting for an outlet. OWS has provided that.

Some of OWS’s proposed solutions include: 1) Reversing the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling that gave corporations the ability to pour infinite amounts of cash into the election process, 2) restoring the Glass-Steagall Act that used to keep investment banks and commercial banks separate, 3) making it illegal for members of congress to buy and sell stock based on insider information.

I’m not sure how far they will get with our deadlocked Congress. Democrats and Republicans are unwilling to compromise and both are pretty much bought. But I think they know by now that they’re on notice. People are getting tired of the talk and they want solutions.

The Occupy movement may have its flaws, but it has already had a huge impact. Before they came along, we were entering a political season with almost no mention of income inequality or unemployment. Now they can’t ignore it. I think when spring comes we will see a lot of protests and very different campaigns. The protesters might have been kicked out of their encampments, but they’re not going away.

I have a rule of thumb: When the police feel the need to beat up and abuse protesters, they must have been protesting the right thing. And speaking of which… The Occupy movement has performed another extremely valuable service: Exposed our rapidly growing police state.

The police tactics used on the Occupiers have been way, way out of proportion. Beatings, pepper spray, tear gas, LRAD sound cannons (look it up, it’s creepy as hell), media blackouts, journalists attacked and arrested. Our police forces have changed a lot since 9-11, and we no longer have the right to free speech that we thought we had.

The protesters aren’t perfect. I’ve fussed at them on more than one occasion. But even if they’re doing it wrong, at least they’re doing it. And somebody had to. We have a disturbing number of authoritarians in this country who think order should be preserved under all circumstances. But when you have serious problems that aren’t getting resolved through the establishment, it’s time to shake things up. The Occupiers have my gratitude for putting themselves on the line for me and the rest of the 99%.

If you want to get it from the horse’s mouth, visit the website for Occupy Wall Street’s General Assembly in New York at http://www.nycga.net/. Or another OWS website I like to visit from time to time: http://occupywallst.org/

You might also find the Occupy protest for your city and go down in person. I went down to Occupy Austin a few weeks ago, talked to a few people, heard a very interesting lecture on Gandhi from a UT professor, and sat in on a General Assembly.

And since this is a music blog, let me end this post with a link to Occupy Radio, a collection of mixes on Soundcloud featuring cool beats and samples of protest activity, newscasts, speeches, etc.

Trip hop musicians Massive Attack also put together annother Occupy Radio, a collection of mixes in support of Occupy London. I’ll make another post at some point with some songs I think embody the spirit of the movement.

Down and dirty at Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011 came along at just the right time for me. I’ve been going through a bit of a musical drought as well as a real one. (I think a lot of folks will probably refer to the weekend event as “dust fest.”)

When I first got to Auditorium Shores on Friday night, I thought the place was full of revolutionaries — I guess because my mind has been “occupied” by current events lately.

Every other person had his face covered by a bandana. After eating about my second tablespoon of dirt, I finally figured out what the deal was. The grass is gone after about a year of very little rain and the wind constantly blasted us with dust. I soon had my own bandana. It was some protection, but I still inhaled enough dirt to start a garden. Chris, my concert buddy, had to miss the last day due to allergies.

I saw a lot of great shows, but the hip hop acts seemed especially enjoyable and relevant for me. Strange, since that’s not my main genre. Public Enemy and Kool Keith kicked a lot of ass. Also really enjoyed Henry Rollins’ spoken word performance on the last day.

Friday night, Nov. 4

We arrived a bit late and missed some good acts, but I enjoyed the hell out of Public Enemy. I thought it was interesting to see how mixed their crowd was, and how white. The fact that they were even at the same festival as Slayer tells you something about how much our culture has changed since the early days of hip hop.

Public Enemy performed a many of their old favorites and were political as expected — many mentions of “Occupy” and a rant about the unjust treatment of immigrants. “Fight the Power” seemed especially relevant given the social protests going on in the country and around the world right now.

Danzig Legacy (Glenn Danzig and members of the Misfits and Samhain) were scheduled to play at the same time as Public Enemy, but were a huge letdown for a lot of fans. Glenn Danzig was a huge primadonna, bitching about the stage and making unreasonable demands.

He went on stage more than 40 minutes late. The band was just starting to get on a roll when they cut the power at 10 p.m. Then he fought with people backstage and tried to start a riot and took off in a van. Always thought he was a prick. Lucky for me, I was more into Public Enemy anyhow and didn’t bother with the Danzig show, but my friend Chris really wanted to hear the Misfits and Samhain stuff and was really disappointed, especially since he forked over $80 to get into the festival on Friday.

Another group that deserves a mention: Four Tet. Some very good electronic music that made me think of ’90s Detroit techno. Somehow it made me think of revolution. I think that’s the rabble rousing music for the Internet age.

Saturday, Nov. 5

I finally got a chance to actually see Tune-Yards. Last time I “saw” them live I only got to see the top of people’s heads, but heard enough to get me permanently hooked. I thought Merrill Garbus and company put on a hell of a show.

Dan Deacon was a good electronic artist who knew how to get people moving. He had technical problems at first, but got them ironed out. There was some crowd surfing.

M83 put on a great show as expected. Although it was a bit hard to appreciate it fully as a minor dust storm kicked up right about that time.

Kool Keith was a pleasant surprise. He wasn’t even supposed to be at the festival, but agreed to fill in when scheduled rapper Rakim broke his foot. Keith packed his performance with old favorites, including some from the Dr. Octagon days. “Halfsharkalligatorhalfman” and “Livin’ Astro” were highlights. A lot of the songs were in that wacky vein, but many, like “Sex Style,” were hilariously over-the-top obscene.

I took a bit of a break from the music and watched a few acts from Wham City Sketch Comedy, a Baltimore-based troupe that includes the aforementioned electronic artist Dan Deacon. Ben O’Brian was pretty damn funny, doing basically stand-up and messing with the audience. There was a guy dressed in an egg costume who made egg puns, who was… not the funniest guy I ever saw. There was also a depressing yet funny lecture on human extinction from a guy pretending to be a drunk professor.

Swedish singer Lykke Li put on a hell of a show. Teamed up with the guys from Peter, Bjorn & John, her show had a lot of punch. Not only did she sound great, but her show was visually arresting also, with the smoke and flapping banners.

I didn’t plan to watch Spoon. I’ve been a big fan for years, but I figured I’ve seen them a few times already and I might want to check someone else out. But they were really on fire and I found I couldn’t resist. I had to stick around for the whole show. Damn good musicians.

Sunday, Nov. 5

We got a little rain in the morning, which kept the dust down. There was also a sprinkle of rain in the evening, but not enough to cause major problems or damage my new cellphone. Speaking of cellphones, the festival had a solar power recharging station for those and other electronics. Pretty neat (I also managed to sneak a bit of juice from outlets near the food booths).

The two bands that really stood out for me on Sunday were Austra and Grimes. Austra is a synth pop and electro-rock act featuring Katie Stelmanis, a classically trained opera singer whose career took a left turn when she fell in love with acts like Nine Inch Nails.

We Were Promised Jet Packs was the first band of the day. Pretty good indie rock. Lots of energy. They seem to be going places.

This was their best:

Grimes is a witch house act featuring a woman with a little girl voice, electronic beats and noise. Her music was catchy and hypnotic. In keeping with the witch house scene, her blouse had inverted crosses and a pentagram. A somewhat effeminate looking man danced on stage alongside her. She had good songs with a lot of energy. The crowd got into it.

Budos Band was impressive, with their Ethiopian-inflected funk. I saw them for the first time in a small venue at South By Southwest and didn’t pay much attention. I have since discovered how amazing they can be and I’m not the only one — they attracted a pretty good crowd. The bari sax player got props from the crowd by talking about metal. He said one of the songs, “Black Venom” was named for Black Sabbath and Venom and dedicated that one to Slayer, the death metal act that was the highlight of the festival for many. I loved the baritone sax and horns. I kept thinking about how much my dad would’ve loved them if he could’ve lived to see them. He used to lament the rarity of band instruments in rock ‘n’ roll.

I got a big kick out of Master Pancake Theater, hosted by Alamo Drafthouse. That’s something they do at the downtown Austin location, making fun of movies Mystery Science Theater style. This time they poked fun of music videos by Pat Benatar, Eddie Murphy and Michael Jackson (they made one together and was it ever awful), Boy George, David Hasselhoff and last but not least, Henry Rollins.

Henry Rollins followed Master Pancake Theater, giving a very entertaining spoken word performance. He talked about politics, his days in the punk band Black Flag, eating rats in India and traveling to Vietnam and North Korea. He didn’t mention Occupy Wall Street as I had expected, but he challenged the young people in the crowd to take charge of their destinies and become the world’s next leaders.

After that, I was pretty much tuckered out. I caught a little bit of the VERY popular Slayer show, but I wasn’t feeling it. Not enough of a metal head. Not for that kind of metal anyway. All in all it was a success as far as I’m concerned. The dust was pretty hardcore and I think having a 10 p.m. noise ordinance curfew at a music festival is ridiculous. But anytime I can make even one discovery it’s worth the money, and I made several.