Festivals and corruption (Barcelona's never been so much fun)

Finally, I have succeeded in getting around to buying tickets for Primavera Sound (June 1-3). After three years of humming and hawing, I bit the bullet and bought two three-day passes to see such luminaries as Lou Reed, Motörhead, Lambchop, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the Flaming Lips and er… Baby Shambles.

EDIT (6th April): I've just realised that I really hate the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I now think they're the worst band I've ever heard. Were they made by robots?

This year, we're also seeing the Rolling Stones (May 27th, Olympic Stadium), and we'll be revisiting Benicassim for a scorching FIBERFIB 2006. At FIB, we're looking forward to seeing the Strokes, Scissor Sisters and numerous bands I'm supposed to like but don't really know much about. I don't much like Morrissey or his old band, but (the) Pixies should be fun. I'm expecting some more acts to be added to this lineup as we get closer to the summer.

Meanwhile, spring has sprung. ERC and CiU have been caught using some very naughty party funding tactics in the Generalitat. Hmmm… if they were a little more sophisticated they could have used the UK Labour party's "yes, it's a problem and we'll legislate to stop it" line, but unfortunately they look a bit stuck for the moment. This is one of those cases where they're so patently in the wrong that no one, not within the party or sympathetic to it's aims can defend them. Drop it, apologise, move on.

I've added some new features to thebadrash.com

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March 30, 2006 | Filed Under Catalonia, Music, Politics, Site news, Spain | 3 Comments 

Que! What?

Barcelona has a handful of free newspapers which are handed out to commuters on the metro, left in shop doorways and cafés or dumped on porteros' desks. As might be expected, the free newspapers vary somewhat in their quality, ranging from Metro (a global giant in its field) and the new (and politically uncertain) ADN to the impossibly silly Que!

[I've never really been happy with the Spanish expression 'que!' because it seems wrong to me. As ought to be obvious, I'm no linguist… but the exclamation mark in 'que!' really pisses me off. I understand that it's something which is said in an exclamatory way, but it's also definitely a shortened question. There's another publication, some sort of prensa rosa deal, called 'Que Me Dices!' - more of the same, but somehow even worse. If I said in English "What the hell are you talking about?", it would obviously remain a question, however exclamatory or rhetorical. Linguists, please explain.]

Que! is a brightly coloured, giant headlined monster. It consists of the sort of right-wing, sensationalist campaign-driven 'news' 'coverage' which makes The Sun look good. Normally they'll approach the main story of the day with a no-nonsense, loudmouth style leader which sounds like it has been written by one of the portly and high-volume matrons who live in my apartment building. "String 'em up!" and "It's the immigrants" are hypothetical examples. Incidentally, when there isn't much to complain about, the paper will invent a campaign of its own and stick to that for weeks if necessary, until a juicy atrocity comes along.

Today's three page campaign is about 'the crisis of delinquency' among the country's children. Ostensibly about the implementation of a new law that allows courts to jail parents of criminal children (cos that'll sort things out), the paper has an interesting slant on things. Accompanying the story are a range of statistics and pictures of delinquents. Every single picture features 'eastern European' or 'Roma' people. While there's no doubt that some eastern Europeans and Gypsies commit crimes, there was no evidence given as to what percentage of delinquency cases are related to people of Romanian origin. The clear intention was to link the two in the minds of bleary-eyed readers on their 8am commute to the city.

That is to say, the entire article discussed one problem - the increase in anti-social beaviour among Spain's youth - but the pictorial told a very different story indeed. This sort of semi-overt racism is commonplace in the pages of Que! and El Mundo, and does nothing to cure the growing problem of racial prejudice in Spain. I should note that there is a specific story relating to some Romanians being in court today for running thief gangs in Madrid, but that this was not the focus of the main article which dealt with 'delinqunecy' in general.

So, not only is Que! rubbish, but it's also full of racially suggestive messages. perhaps not that surprising, but well worth pointing out as often as possible. Personally, I'm hard pushed to find a single newpaper I like in Spain or Catalonia.

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March 28, 2006 | Filed Under Catalonia, Politics, Rants, Spain | 2 Comments 

Everywhere there are mentalists

You can guarantee that every time you hear about a movement, philosophy or nutcase on the news and think to yourself "can the world get any madder?", there is someone else thinking "wow, I can do that… and more!". Probably while suffocating themselves or eating mercury.

From The Guardian:

Anti-abortionists inspired by the militancy of the movement in America are adopting tactics associated with animal rights extremists in an escalating campaign of intimidation.

The latest victims of harassment by a group called UK Life League are the pupils and teachers at a Catholic girls school in Surrey. The head teacher of Woldingham School, Diana Vernon, has been accused of "child abuse" for providing sex education for her 14- and 15-year-old pupils as required under the national curriculum. Activists are being encouraged to bombard Ms Vernon with hate emails.

The guy leading this campaign is a militant 'pro-life' campaigner whose claims to being a vicar seem difficult to prove. When asked if he thought there as any risk in publishing the details of a girls' school on the internet, he helpfully responds, "There has been 40 years of pro-life activism in this country and there has been no violence yet". Nice.

Mr Dowson prints images of aborted foetuses on his website and encourages supporters to send pictures of them to hospitals across the country.

Asked how he obtains the pictures, he said: "Some of the images came from other websites, some I have gleaned myself looking through hospital bins. I have searched through hospital bins in Liverpool, Birmingham and Glasgow and took the contents away to photograph."

But Marie Stopes UK, which has been the subject of many demonstrations by supporters of the UK Life League, has challenged Mr Dowson over the images. "That kind of waste is incinerated within hospitals. It has not been possible to access it in hospital bins for 20 years. These images come from American websites, and some look as if they have been tampered with," it said.

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March 27, 2006 | Filed Under Politics, UK | Leave a Comment 

Spring music selecta

This is what thebadrash.com is rockin' to this spring:

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Dr Alimantado - Best Dressed Chicken In Town

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Silver Jews - American Water

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Royal Trux - 3-Song EP

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The Howling Hex - 1-2-3

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Neil Hamburger - Raw Hamburger

(looking at it, everything except the reggae is from one record label too… visca Drag City!)

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March 22, 2006 | Filed Under Music | 4 Comments 

Blair - genius or lunatic? Or both?!

Simon Hoggart's sketch in The Guardian today sums it up well. In fact, it's one of the best columns I've read for some time.

…at his press conference in Downing Street when the assembled hacks more or less accused him of running a private, secret and corrupt slush fund, and suggested it was time for him to resign. Other politicians might get angry. Some would bluster. Some would wheedle evasively. Blair looks as if it's a perfectly natural thing to say, even if he disagrees with you, as in: "No, I didn't think Brokeback Mountain went on too long," or, "Honestly, I've never found that Chinese food keeps me awake at night." There is a cyborg quality to him; you can almost hear the clang as the bullets bounce off. Are the attacks causing internal haemorrhaging? I don't suppose so. Asked directly this week he implied strongly that, since his programme for the future was now laid out, his "direction of travel" clear, there was no reason at all for him to resign.

It really is incredible that Blair resists all the legitimate accusations of corruption and demands for his resignation. But party coruption is the least of his crimes.

The lies he told to Parliament should have brought about his impeachment. The way he forced the BBC to take the blame for publicising his lies was obscene. The death of Dr David Kelly - whether by executive order or by extreme pressure - is the tragic evidence of what happens if you 'get sucked in'. The anti-terrorism legislation he has introduced (which began prior to September 11th 2001) has resulted in the stopping-and-searching and sometimes detention without charge of hundreds of thousands of people - mainly black and Asian males - hardly any ever charged with a crime. Figurehead policies (gun control, health service reforms, ASBOs etc) have either not happened or have been executed in a shockingly inept manner.

There's no doubt that Blair has been a better Prime Minister than, say, William Hague or John Major. But the honeymoon can't carry on for a decade. It's time he faces charges for the criminal activity which has been the mainstay of his regime.

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March 19, 2006 | Filed Under 'Terror' | Leave a Comment 

Paris riots

This article in the Spain Herald seems to be completely missing the point on so many levels, it's amazing the guy actually knew enough words to write it. Perhaps it was ghostwritten? Anyway, he's wrong about the riots, he's wrong about New Orleans, and he's wrong about socialism. Oh yeah: and the government of France is not socialist, so what does that have to do with anything? Mentalist

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March 18, 2006 | Filed Under Politics | Leave a Comment 

Petroeuro: The Euro is more interesting than it seems

I'm slow on the uptake… but it seems that the whole Iraq/putative Iran war is to do with the Euro. In short, the US is allegedly waging war to prevent the Euro from usurping the Dollar as prime oil trading currency.

Anyone who knows anything about history will give this theory a decent read. It's what they'll be reading in textbooks in fifty years' time. If there are text books then.

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March 17, 2006 | Filed Under General | 1 Comment 

George Wheeler - Hero of Spain

George WheelerI've just heard of the sad death of George Wheeler, one of more than two thousand brave British men who disobeyed their government and crossed the Pyrenees to fight the Fascist rebels in the Spanish Civil War. There are very few of these heroes still living.

George Wheeler was the author of "To Make the People Smile Again: A Memoir of the Spanish Civil War", regarded as one of the finest English memoirs to emerge from the disastrous war. The Guardian published a profile on him a few years back.

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March 17, 2006 | Filed Under General | Leave a Comment 

Rolling Stones

Found this review of a Rolling Stones' concert this year. It sounds like a ruddy nightmare. Not sure if I'll bother going to the Barcelona show, if it's all immodest girls and pot smoking.

Lots of females were present who were not dressed modestly.  I have not seen that much immodestly since the Pink Floyd concert in 1989.

During Satisfaction, females came alive.  They stood up all around us and danced as if they were possessed.  Many were stoned or drunk.  Three attractive ladies were shown on the big screen and they immediately flashed.  The camera guy I'm sure set it up.  The girls don’t act that way at Eagles, Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, and McCartney concerts.

The pot smoking was also quite prevalent and I had not seen or smelt that much weed since the Eagles’ “Hotel California” and Paul McCartney’s “Wings Over America” tours in the 1970s.

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March 15, 2006 | Filed Under General | Leave a Comment 

Bush doesn't pay his advisors enough?

This story, if he proves to be guilty, is remarkable… maybe Bush could help remedy the situation by paying his advisors more and underwriting Christian evangelism less.

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March 11, 2006 | Filed Under General | Leave a Comment 

It's like the world has gone completely beserk

From The Times:

AN EXAMINATIONS board is including references to “creationism” in a new GCSE science course for schools.

The OCR board admitted that a biology course due to be introduced in September encourages schools to consider alternative views to Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.

The OCR chap on the radio has just explained that this is a part of making science more accessible. Why should it be more accessible? Why should GCSE science lessons be any more fun than the occasional Bunsen burner 'accident'? It's like all the progress that society has achieved over a hundred years or more is now being rolled back by faith-based initiatives and making things more fun.

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March 10, 2006 | Filed Under General | Leave a Comment 

Guantanamo download

Peter Winterbottom's film about the Tipton Three was just screened on Channel 4. The three British men who were kidnapped by American forces, tortured and held against their will for years, helped to make the film which won an award at this year's Berlin International Film Festival.

The film was more shocking than I'd expected: the treatment of these people being held without charge or a shred of evidence against them was simply inhuman. This film should be watched by everyone. Channel 4 allow you to download the film from their site here.

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March 9, 2006 | Filed Under General | 1 Comment 

Uranium and the social reaction

For those who, like me, aren't au fait with the reasons for our future attack on Iran (let's not kid ourselves about this: there will be a military attack), I found some interesting information about uranium enrichment. Much as the British Ambassador to the UN just said that there was 'no fuel value' in enrichment, it seems that in fact many reactors do use uranium enriched to the degree that Iran wants to enrich their fuel. The problem is that to enrich to this level takes Iran a step or two closer to the highly enriched uranium used in weapons.

I don't think I'm falling into Condoleezza Rice's trap when I say that it does look like Iran wants to build an atomic bomb. I don't much like the regime in Iran (the anti-Semitism in particular is thoroughly vile), but I would question the right of the US, Israel, France UK et al to prevent Iran from having the bomb. As far as I'm concerned, atomic weapons are inherently terrible… it looks to me as if Iran not being allowed to have the bomb is just an example of how the West views itself in comparison to other regions. Our governments treat Muslim powers as if they are intrinsically wicked, unstable and risky whereas we are all responsible, non-threatening and can be trusted with a bomb.

This regionally specific attitude has been at the heart of British, French and American foreign policy for hundreds of years. It doesn't seem to have worked that well, and it reminds me of Howard Becker's social reaction theory (aka 'labelling'). If I remember correctly, the theory says that when you label an individual or group as criminal, irresponsible or - to use sociological terminology - deviant, it is likely that they will respond to this label by behaving in a more deviant way. Is it any wonder then that the more we condemn and attack and mistrust those we disagree with, the more they seem to scare us?

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March 9, 2006 | Filed Under 'Terror', Politics | Leave a Comment 

Barcelona versus Chelsea - revenge is sweet

No doubt, Mourinho will blame it on everyone but his players.
Barcelona are through, Chelsea por la calle.

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March 7, 2006 | Filed Under Catalonia | 2 Comments 

Harmolodics

Aged 13, free jazz was something I couldn't understand. It sounded to me like Iggy Pop's description of punk rock: it sounded to me like "a load of trashy old noise".

I hadn't realised that it was in fact "the brilliant music of a genius".

That genius, Ornette Coleman, is one of the key proponents of free jazz and the inventor of harmolodics, a music theory associated with the avant-garde music scene, dedicated to freeing composers and performers from the rigid structures and rules prevalent in the western tradition.

It is a theory employed in rock music too. Yes, this is about Royal Trux. Talking about harmolodics, Neil Hagerty says:

"harmolodics is not a comprehensive controlling or rigid philosophy (at least not to rock and roll) but almost a substitute for that language and efforts to control music (which is an entirely abstract thing) and make a metaphor of it. It returns the composition back to the musician and allows each musician to select functions for their labours rather than solicit a class of intervention because of the misconceptions that always arise when music meets commerce."

Harmolodics, together with jazz as a whole, deserves recognition as one of the great gifts America has given to the world. It's about music without the rules, and it sounds all the better for it. For me, its influence on Royal Trux's music is magnificent: they forced me to listen to music in a new way. I still find it hard to completely understand it, but harmolodic theory lies behind some of my favourite music. So let's hear it for Ornette Coleman and harmolodics!

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March 6, 2006 | Filed Under Music | 3 Comments 

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