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click HERE for NUTMEG's latest streaming CLASSICAL-ISH radio show on MAKERPARKRADIO.NYC with (repeat!) special guest artist SI GOLRAINE painting live on air. definitely also check out the last time this was done by checking out the MAY 2019 episode HERE.
don't forget that you can also access other MAKERPARKRADIO.NYC shows like MAKE HER SPACE, NOWHERE FAST, THE SYNTHESIZER SHOW and DEER GOD RADIO here at our website. and if you haven't done so already get the FREE PHONE APP for IOS/ANDROID and enjoy listening to MAKERPARKRADIO.NYC 24/7 at your convenience! 
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NATASH KHAN (a.k.a. BAT FOR LASHES) is a BRITISH singer-songwriter of partial PAKISTANI descent known for her lush DREAM POP sound and terse lyricism that are often biographical allegories.
in my mind she is the next progression in modern pop music that has emerged out of the UNITED KINGDOM post-BRITPOP as she is the very physical embodiment, much like M.I.A. (SRI LANKA) and STORMZY (GHANA), of an exceedingly multi-cultural youth culture. and from this web of diverse second-generation immigrants comes new cultural touchstones that reflect with authenticity on the changing definition of BRITISH identity. but aside all that her music is dense and thought-provoking. well worth investigating. 
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years ago when i was working abroad and my family was living in PITTSBURGH of all places, members of my family went to a speech by OXFORD UNIVERSITY EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY professor RICHARD DAWKINS. i believe it was at CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY or the CARNEGIE LIBRARY, but again, i wasnt there. it was interesting for them because during the post-speech Q&A, several young people would stand up and say where they were from and the room would chuckle. apparently they were from rural backwater towns in central PENNSYLVANIA or OHIO and everyone knew what was coming. they talked about how their families/parents/neighbors were all creationists and JESUS freaks who didn't believe in CLIMATE CHANGE or basic SCIENCE. how should they talk to them?
DAWKINS wrote THE GOD DELUSION (HOUGHTON MIFFLIN HARCOURT, 2006) as a means of dismantling the very idea of supernatural creator being and how to go about engaging in said arguments with sound, factual, logic and SCIENCE-based arguments. just as importantly he outlines the oppositions arguments, which are largely if not wholly founded in establishing perceived, so-called shortcomings of the SCIENTIFIC METHOD. essentially anything science can't prove, god can. how convenient, right? the counterargument is such a con and obviously intellectual insufficient and downright counterproductive. but i get it, because it seems CHRISTIANITY and western thought is about progress when it comes to material comforts and economic efficiency, yet rigid and conservative when it comes to the complexity of human relationships and behavior. on both accounts if you don't play ball you are deemed an outsider, a loser. noted GERMAN philosopher FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE famously stated that "God is dead" but what he was essentially stating was that the idea of creator being was an invention made by mankind and essentially all human creations are fallible in nature. Thus the idea of God by definition is a term that doesn't stand up to scrutiny. now i read THE GOD DELUSION years ago, but its core arguments against the idea of GOD have never left me, in fact they've only grown in relevancy since the BUSH administration with the rise of the TEA PARTY and TRUMPISM. now we face an existential threat with the COVID-19 pandemic and people are still throwing around the idea of GOD's WILL as an excuse for their horrendous decision-making. and i don't see anything changing. these people don't read. they don't think. they don't question. only believe in this gold calf of a president (don't think they'd get that reference either, not like they actually read the bible). ugh. great book. well worth the time and effort. immediately rewarding in providing proper context to analyze these sorry lunatics. 
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when AMERICANS think of public radio the dry, educational shows associated with NPR usually come to mind. these shows, much like their PBS television counterpart, are meant to enrich and cultivate thoughtful dialogue on a myriad of subjects.
this is not the BRITISH model at all. they have a celebrated station dedicated solely to news called the WORLD SERVICE, but they also have a number of stations dedicated to the arts, including BBC6 which is dedicated to modern ALTERNATIVE MUSIC (i.e. INDIE ROCK, TRIP HOP, ELECTROCLASH, ALTERNATIVE ROCK, INDIE POP, PUNK ROCK, etc). the professionally mixed live performances are particularly well produced and include the likes of TRICKY w/MARTINA TOPLEY-BIRD, IGGY POP, THE PIXIES, LIZZO, JOHNNY MARR, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, BEAK> and STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS as notable past performers among many many others. definitely worth a listen. 
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THE FALL was always the least approachable of what i consider, and i trust i am not alone here, the three great MANCUNIAN bands that arose in the wake of the PUNK movement (the others being JOY DIVISION and THE SMITHS). part of the reason for such was that i could never get my head around MARK E. SMITH, the leader and sole permanent member of THE FALL. JOY DIVISION and THE SMITHS arrived seemingly fully developed and benefited from sonically adventurous yet classically tuneful music that had a definite perspective courtesy of their legendary frontmen, IAN CURTIS and MORRISSEY respectfully.
SMITH is lyrically another beast entirely. his music is less structured and more chaotic (partly due to the constant shuffling of lineups) and his lyrics are highly obtuse. in fact i wouldnt even call the music made by THE FALL songs, they are more diatribes. makes perfect sense to me that bands like AT THE DRIVE-IN worship this group; both share a manic need to juxtapose impenetrable yet evocative poetry with intense sonic experiments that broaden the vocabulary of ROCK AND ROLL. even makes sense that THE FALL during their career wrote music and performed with a ballet company. the documentary THE WONDERFUL AND FRIGHTENING WORLD OF MARK E. SMITH (BBC, 2005) attempts to explain this paradox of a frontman. he is highly literate, yet in essence he is most effective when communicating an aggressive attitude and swath of base emotions behind visceral yet obtuse music. a commentator in the film puts him in the company of CAPTAIN BEEFHEART and CAN. i tend to agree. his is an example of someone that makes complex music made to be pored over, analyzed and argued over, much like that of CURTIS and MORRISSEY. but his music is often in your face and hard to pin down as it is often a flurry of dissonance whizzing by you. essentially it is music for thinking people. in other words: music nerds. notable participants include that of FACTORY RECORDS label owner TONY WILSON, legendary radio presenter JOHN PEEL and MARK E. SMITH himself. all three have since passed on in the years since so this documentary is an invaluable resource. this film is definitely worth checking out if you have any interest in PUNK ROCK, POST PUNK, INDIE ROCK or experimental music in general. 
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in my previous career as a teacher i witnessed the transition of evaluations from being mostly observational and face-to-face in nature by superiors to that of analytics based on student performance. at the time i found the process rather opaque and was left unaware in any open, transparent manner what the goals or metrics being utilized were and to what extent they impacted my score. i was not alone in this criticism and it has only gotten worse in years since.
WEAPONS OF MATH DESTRUCTION (BROADWAY BOOKS, 2016) by data scientist CATHY O'NEIL gets into the ethical pitfalls that are besieged on disadvantaged populations by algorithms that essentially maintain the hegemonic status quo of the power set. essentially algorithms have been utilized by corporations and government entities to make sense of impressive large amounts of information, known as BIG DATA, to make predictions about nearly every facet of our lives as individuals and effectively perpetuate inequality. these predictions are the bases of models that are used to define us in terms that effect how we are policed, how we are sentenced, at what rate we are sold insurance or business loans, how we are evaluated in school and so on. basically there are examples abound in this book about the pernicious feedback loops that essentially create self-perpetuating prophecies that are nearly impossible to escape. its like the famous quote by science fiction writer ARTHUR C. CLARKE, who once noted that "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." because of the immense complexity and inherent opacity of these processes within these calculations, we are left to assume that they are upheld to scientific rigor. this assumption is incorrect. these algorithms push forward the prejudices and assumptions of their creators. they are fallible and should be susceptible to outside audit, something that has yet to happen due to legal and political intransigence. in totality it is a multi-tiered problem that is quite staggering in scale and beyond depressing. given the rapid rate in the innovation and effectiveness of surveillance technologies over the past 40 years, we are only in the infancy of such. what O'NEIL is calling for is a rethinking of how we use these algorithms. essentially she is advocating for the moral use of them, which seems almost naive given the effectiveness of the monetary benefits to those that employ them. she cites examples by social workers in identifying and addressing specific populations that may be at increased risk needing their services. if used in a benign fashion in order to assist people then there may be hope, but i am skeptical. the incentives in our society are just too great and our social fabric too weak that i fear this is already an arms race that will define our lives here on out. this book was next level terrifying, yet written in a sober, methodical fashion that was by no means overwrought or alarmist. its a siren's call like PAUL REVERE in the night warning us all of an impending danger. my fear is we are all asleep, or worse, checking our social media feeds. 
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join us tonight at 8PM EST for an all new episode of DEER GOD RADIO on MAKERPARKRADIO.NYC as we get into the kinetic, forward propelling and rhythmically ingenious production work of TIMBALAND. this will be a fun show.
past episodes of DEER GOD RADIO as well as other MAKERPARKRADIO.NYC shows like MAKE HER SPACE, NOWHERE FAST, THE SYNTHESIZER SHOW and CLASSICAL-ISH WITH NUTMEG are available here at the DEER GOD website. and if you haven't done so already get the FREE PHONE APP for IOS/ANDROID and enjoy listening to MAKERPARKRADIO.NYC 24/7 at your convenience! 
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click HERE for the latest episode of THE NOWHERE FAST SHOW on MAKERPARKRADIO.NYC as host TOM FERRIE presents a new playlist consisting entirely of recent vinyl acquisitions. check it out!
remember that past episodes of THE NOWHERE FAST SHOW as well as other MAKERPARKRADIO.NYC shows like DEER GOD RADIO, MAKE HER SPACE, THE SYNTHESIZER SHOW and CLASSICAL-ISH WITH NUTMEG are available here at the DEER GOD website. and if you haven't done so already get the FREE PHONE APP for IOS/ANDROID and enjoy listening to MAKERPARKRADIO.NYC 24/7 at your convenience! 
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LYKKE LI is a SWEDISH singer-songwriter who has a definite classical pop sensibility with her work but throws in some INDIE-inspired off-kilter sonic textures and odd time signatures in the mix to keep it interesting.
since discovering her work in the early 2010s she has proven herself to be a highly gifted artist i've come to look forward to hearing new material from. in a more just world her profile would be of larger scale stateside, but regardless take a moment to check out her music. definitely worth it. 
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legendary songwriter, musician and THE WHO creative visionary PETE TOWNSHEND is a hard one to pin down, especially after having read his memoir WHO I AM (HARPER COLLINS, 2012). on one hand he is on a shortlist of songwriters (others being JOHN LENNON, PAUL MCCARTNEY, MICK JAGGER, KEITH RICHARDS and RAY DAVIES) that sparked the BRITISH INVASION in earnest and permanently transformed music in the ENGLISH speaking world in the 1960s. the scope and naked literary ambition of his rock operas including TOMMY and QUADROPHENIA sought to expand the concept of an album beyond a collection of songs that no doubt found adherents in everyone from PINK FLOYD to GREEN DAY. genius is thrown around quite a bit these days, but arguably the creative output by TOWNSHEND makes his case for him.
on the other hand he comes off repeatedly like a stuffy, pretentious, self-obsessed, pedantic, domineering asshole who literally goes on for hundreds of pages about the relevance of his solo albums and half-baked musical theater projects and, most damningly gives little to no space in this book to his bandmates. not to mention this mindset also led him to rationalize dumb decisions that led to his 2003 arrest for charges i wont go into. i don't know what to make of his devotion to ZOROASTRIAN mystic MEHER BABAR, who claimed to be god in human form. all i can say is that TOWNSHEND is a supremely gifted silly person, makes total sense why in later life he identified so much with BILLY CORGAN. full disclosure: i am familiar with the main records by THE WHO, but by and large i am a bigger fan of their contemporaries THE BEATLES and THE KINKS. not even close. not trying to take anything away from TOWNSHEND's achievements, but all the same just wanted to let you know where my biases lie. it would seem that most readers are searching for something beyond the recounting of events or achievements when consuming a memoir. they are looking for some insight into he mindset of the subject. TOWNSHEND painfully sets up his narrative by talking about the pain and isolation of being part of the post-WWII generation that had to break away from parents who, understandably, sought safety in conformity and limited ambitions after nearly being obliterated by the NAZIS abroad and at home. i would have loved for him to go into how his lyrical and musical content was impacted by such. his father was in a big band and TOWNSHEND as a child spent summers watching him play at beachside gigs for tourists. how did that affect his view of the audience/performer divide? was he jaded or excited by the act of performing? there are so many enticing nuggets he throws out there only to be disregarded in a never-ending avalanche of details about real estate, money, cars and boats and will-he-or-wont-he get divorced that just drag on and on and on. for me this memoir unfortunately suffered from his ego, which he fully admits is huge, since it seems he is trying to settle for posterity his role in THE WHO and the history of western music in the 20th century. don't get me wrong, he's there as a prominent creative and deservedly so, but by denying the reader anything interesting concerning his bandmates or collaborators just diminishes the power of his own personal glory, which is undoubtedly his goal in this book. i also found his need throughout the book to root the value of his work by the judgement of ROCK CRITICS to be lame, especially when he would throw demos at them for feedback. the fact that he also contributed considerable funds to build the ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME is beyond pathetic. who gives a shit what JANN WERNER and his enablers think is good music. nobody cares about the ROCK HALL or THE ROLLING STONE magazine. good i got that out. overall, this book was a bit of a disappointment. if you are looking to get an insight into the BRITISH INVASION era or rock history in general, i would highly suggest you consider KEITH RICHARD's excellent LIFE (LITTLE BROWN & CO, 2010) memoir (review linked HERE) which both recognizes the efforts of unsung and forgotten heroes (i.e. sideman) of ROCK AN ROLL and also soberly waxes poetic about the evolution of the form from a knowledgeable firsthand perspective. 
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in the wake of the suicides of both CHRIS CORNELL of SOUNDGARDEN and CHESTER BENNINGTON of LINKIN PARK in 2017, a conversation about MENTAL HEALTH in the METAL community was long overdue. obviously in a music genre that seemingly openly cultivates an exaggerated, almost cartoon-like, depiction of masculinity, the idea of publicizing a sense of self-reflection and being vulnerable is quite revolutionary. and that was what this 2018 four-part video series produced by REVOLVER MAGAZINE sought to accomplish. raising awareness about MENTAL HEALTH treatment, as well as the adjacent issue of SUBSTANCE ABUSE (which really only exacerbates the former).
JOHN DYER BAIZLEY from BARONESS, JESSE LEACH of KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, ZAKK WYLDE of BLACK LABEL SOCIETY/OZZY OSBOURNE and ROBBIN FLYNN of MACHINEHEAD all present testimonials about how they went about addressing issues surrounding their MENTAL HEALTH, whether that be ANXIETY, DEPRESSION, ADDICTIVE BEHAVIOR or issues of self-worth leftover from their formative years. the courage on display is astounding and it will no doubt pay forward in terms of raising awareness and elevating the consciousness of their audience. not only that, i think this conversation will save lives. period. i've written before and spoken on the air about the fact that the most impactful thing JAMES HETFIELD of METALLICA has ever done is being open about his issues surround MENTAL HEALTH and ADDICTION. when he returned to rehab in 2020, after years of sobriety since his previous stint in 2001, it took real bravery to take ownership and responsibility of his problems. and stop the machine to address such. the fact that his band supported such and didn't let financial or non-health related considerations influence his decision is a testament to their values and an example of human empathy. this has long not been the case. people will stay on the road so that the crew will get paid. because of that, the grind and pressures of the road and the music industry have claimed actual lives and anything that contributes to an atmosphere of less toxic masculinity in METAL is great, long-overdue thing. if anything, i think it may actually assist in attracting a more inclusive and tolerant audience as well as fostering a more empathetic touring industry. how METAL would that be? 
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the cultural roots of the SKINHEAD subculture are rather fascinating. the fact that in our modern nomenclature the term has a dark, far right-wing, xenophobic connotation ironically belies its origins in a cultural moment that brought a diverse confluence of cultures and styles together. its a term with many embedded identities that is at war with itself. its a subculture that is complicated and serves as the perfect metaphor for the UNITED KINGDOM's complicated relationship with its former commonwealth and itself.
DON LETTS' film THE STORY OF SKINHEAD (BBC, 2016) explores the SKINHEAD subculture and its inherent contradictions. the story begins with the UNITED KINGDOM's policy in the wake of WORLD WAR II of allowing inhabitants of its greater commonwealth entry and work visas to work in the island's borders. this set off shortly thereafter beginning in the 1940s what is now known as the WINDRUSH GENERATION, former inhabitants of the CARIBBEAN (JAMAICA, TRINIDAD & TOBAGO, etc) that begin working in ENGLISH factories and living in council estates. DON LETTS hones this narrative squarely with his own, as he was raised in SOUTH LONDON on a council estate by JAMAICAN-immingrant parents from this generation. what happened was that despite their parents closeted racism, white kids on these council estates in LONDON began to adopt the style and music of their JAMAICAN counterparts. poor white urban identity in some circles became intwined with CARIBBEAN immigrant culture. eventually this movement, which didnt have a name, but later got deemed SKINHEAD by outsiders, was largely innocuous as it was mainly a subculture based around white appropriation of black culture. the fact that eyes were raised by an older white generation didn't stop these kids, and its debatable whether or not they shared in their parents XENOPHOBIC-leaning views. it must be said that racial jokes about PAKISTANI immigrants were common on the radio at the time and the education system was far from progressive, with educators often being explicitly derogatory towards the dress, speech, mannerisms and culture of immigrant children. racism was in the air and open on some level during this time in BRITAIN. eventually shops emerged to cater to this subculture and it spread north. by the 1970s haircuts and fashions changed as the original SKINHEAD culture merged with northern football culture. this new identity helped solidify a new uniform for the emerging football hooligan and their street gangs of fellow team supporters. violence and gang-mentality entered the picture as these squads with face off against rival supporters, but the ethos was still tentatively not explicitly race driven. again, its complicated. definitely some cognitive dissonance going on here. it may be that some elements that had far right-wing sympathies based on those that preexisted in the northern white working class population itself, but none that were rooted in the SKINHEAD subculture per se. enter the NATIONAL FRONT. this WHITE NATIONALIST political party used football (as well as youth events, dancehall parties, self-published newspapers, etc) as a means of attempting to convert young men to their side in the late 1970s and early 1980s. those that embraced their XENOPHOBIC, RACIST views forever altered the meaning of the SKINHEAD subculture. it been infiltrated a segment of poor northern white kids. 
but culture shifted again. this time to PUNK ROCK which largely embraced REGGAE and its bedrock political messages wholeheartedly. but it wasn't a good fit for the SKINHEAD kids that went to their shows. too artsy. too posh. SHAM 69 bridged that gap. but unfortunately their gigs were infiltrated by NATIONAL FRONT SKINHEADS that caused SHAM 69 frontman JIM PURSEY to abandon the band and move on.
the 2 TONE SKA and OI PUNK movements of the early 1980s that came next didnt fair much better. famously they couldnt find gigs because of the fear around their following, which absurdly included NATIONAL FRONT SKINHEADS. this was much to their chagrin, since they named the movement 2 TONE as a means of delineating that they were on the side of multiculturalism and racial equality. OI PUNK was just a newer, more aggressive form of PUNK ROCK that placated to a generation of militaristic SKINHEADS looking for a community. again the NATIONAL FRONT infiltrated both to the point that it rendered them dysfunctional. this was especially the case after the SOUTHALL RIOTS OF 1979, in which SKINHEAD youth burned a pub in SOUTH LONDON in a largely asian community. OI was banned by MARGARET THATCHER and most of the bigger (non-racist) bands folded up, leaving only those funded by the NATIONAL FRONT in their wake. it was a coup for the ultra right-wing. this in turn led to the SHARP SKINHEAD bands who were a reaction to these NATIONAL FRONT funded racist SKINHEAD bands. the SHARPS were explicitly anti-racist and that movement continues to this day. its super interesting how this youth culture got hijacked and its "uniform" which was based on JAMAICAN style from the 1950s is now synonymous with WHITE NATIONALIST and NEO-FASCIST movements from POLAND, GERMANY, the UNITED STATES and even MALAYSIA. i even saw this in THAILAND where they sold NAZI paraphernalia in common markets with "SKINHEAD" gear. its truely bizarre and endlessly fascinating. i have one other thing to add. this contradiction of "loving" the music but "hating" the people is something that is not unique to the NATIONAL FRONT infiltration of certain segments of SKINHEAD culture. i've heard that contradiction by white AMERICANS my whole life. its a form of cognitive dissonance rooted in a potent cocktail of hubris and ignorance. the idea that you understand a people and a culture better than they do. its very AMERICAN and it deprives minority populations of controlling their own identity, which was probably the point in the first place. but what do i know, im only a former teacher. i saw this shit firsthand. great documentary that brilliantly raises some unnerving issues about cultural appropriation and how hate can be used to subvert and infiltrate youth culture. endlessly fascinating. 
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you think you know how bad things are with nature, and then you read THE SIXTH EXTINCTION: AN UNNATURAL HISTORY (PICADOR, 2014) by ELIZABETH KOLBERT, WILLIAMS COLLEGE fellow and staff writer on environment for THE NEW YORKER. and now you are officially overwhelmed and depressed.
where KOLBERT excels is in her ability to provide context to the geological time scale involved in any discussions surrounding the evolution of life and extinctions. the problem is not that change hasn't happened in the past that has resulted in mass extinction, it has. the problem currently is the rate of change. life in this context does not have the time to evolve or adjust to new parameters and the implications are disastrous. it is as if the rules of nature have been one way for millions of years and then humans post-INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION have shifted the climate and environment to the point that old rules dont apply. this emerging geological age we live in now is called the ANTHROPOCENE and it is marked by GLOBAL WARMING, OCEAN ACIDIFICATION, HABITAT FRAGMENTATION, the flattening of global biodiversity through the creation of a NEW PANGEA where foreign predators are introduced via international trade and commerce among other mechanism. in the end they all result in human initiated incursions that are projected to result in an historic sixth mass extinction that will be visible for millions of years via the geological record. that is not to say that the world wont continue. it will. new speciation and relations between organisms will emerge and continue to run unabated in a future post-human era. it is just that our presence and the collective choices of mankind have resulted, from our inception, in the death of countless species. it is really quite remarkable and it is a testament to her ability as a writer to paint these problems with such crushing force. these mechanism of extinction are all introduced with her describing a visit to a relevant locale (PERU, ICELAND, WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS, BRASIL etc.) and elaborating for us about what is special about the plant and animal residents of this era and the unique parameters that brought on their evolution and specialized rituals and adaptations to the area. and then we learn how humans, usually unintentionally, have affected their ability to live. each time in a uniquely destructive manner. arguably the most depressing thing about this book is that it isnt empowering. it is not about our individual choices that have gotten us here. this destruction is all seemingly hardwired and inevitable. it is essentially part of our nature as humans. as long as we prosper we will continue to impact the planet and these irreversible mechanism will continue to run unabated, destroying life and leaving our world that much less diverse and rich to leave to future generations. it is our creativity and ability to pass on knowledge via communication systems that have led us to live apart from nature, apart from evolution. it is our ability to innovate that led us here. in 500 million years since complex organisms rose up, this is the first mass extinction of geological scale predicated on the influence of a single species. and that is our true legacy as humans. not art. not technology. just death. this is an incredible book that i could not recommend any more passionately. it presents deeply disturbing and affecting ideas that linger and claw at you long after finishing the book. 
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check out HERE this recent streaming video episode of DEER GOD RADIO focused on the influential NATIVE TONGUES movement in HIP HOP from the late 80s, early 90s.
past episodes of DEER GOD RADIO as well as other MAKERPARKRADIO.NYC shows like MAKE HER SPACE, NOWHERE FAST, THE SYNTHESIZER SHOW and CLASSICAL-ISH WITH NUTMEG are available here at the DEER GOD website. and if you haven't done so already get the FREE PHONE APP for IOS/ANDROID and enjoy listening to MAKERPARKRADIO.NYC 24/7 at your convenience! 
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click HERE for the latest episode of THE SYNTHESIZER SHOW on MAKERPARKRADIO.NYC where Reed and Vince present a new playlist of electronic music from MASSACHUSETTS!
as always, you can access all past episodes of THE SYNTHESIZER SHOW via the DEER GOD website as well as those of MAKE HER SPACE, NOWHERE FAST, DEER GOD RADIO and CLASSICAL-ISH WITH NUTMEG. and if you haven't done so already get the FREE PHONE APP for IOS/ANDROID and enjoy listening to MAKERPARKRADIO.NYC 24/7 at your convenience! 
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i've had an interest in LATIN and SPANISH music in essence since learning i would be moving to VENEZUELA three months before the end of my time as a PEACE CORPS volunteer in ALBANIA. it was during that period that i discovered artists such as EL GUINCHO (SPAIN), ANA TIJOUX (CHILE), BOMBA ESTEREO (COLOMBIA), LA VIDA BOHEME (VENEZUELA), JAVIERA MENA (CHILE) and SOL PEREYRA (ARGENTINA) among others.
i will always have a soft spot for SPAIN (as i was born there) and ANDALUCIA's MALA RODRIGUEZ has an intensity that i really dig. her lyrics reference female empowerment and personal liberation which makes her unique in the world of HIP HOP. definitely worth checking out whether your SPANISH is up to par or not. BOOK REVIEW | "DO WHAT YOU WANT: THE STORY OF BAD RELIGION" BY BAD RELIGION WITH JIM RULAND10/15/2020 
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with the rise and proliferation of RUSSIAN DISINFORMATION, CLIMATE SCIENCE DENIALISM, the SOCIAL MEDIA BOTS, AMERICAN WHITE NATIONALISM and rampant cable news sanctioned XENOPHOBIA being experienced across the UNITED STATES, its likely that there has ever been a more prescient time for a book about SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA HARDCORE PUNK ROCK legends BAD RELIGION than our current TRUMPIAN post-fact moment of existential peril. when i consider their influence and legacy, ironically what comes to mind is how throughout their career they seemed very much focused on the present. HARDCORE PUNK ROCK, especially those that descended on the original LOS ANGELES/HOLLYWOOD scene in the early 1980s once the SOUTH BAY, ORANGE COUNTY and the bland extended SUBURBAN wastelands of places like OXNARD and the SAN FERNANDO VALLEY (where the members of BAD RELIGION resided) joined the party all were inherently aggressively transgressive.
but BAD RELIGION was different. as pointed out repeatedly in their recently published autobiography DO WHAT YOU WANT: THE STORY OF BAD RELIGION (HATCHETTE BOOKS, 2020), written by current and past members of BAD RELIGION with help from scribe JIM RULAND (who also collaborated on KEITH MORRIS' 2016 memoir, review linked HERE), the band was focused on using the template of PUNK ROCK as palette to project their musings and observations about how the world works. the two central figures in this narrative are singer GREG GRAFFIN and guitarist BRETT GUREWITZ, who met through a mutual friend in high school. their songs explore a strident philosophical strain that puts them in concert with the humanist tradition dating back to the enlightenment. again, its beyond timely that their songs as treatises about issues both political and personal are being presented again in an era where lies and untruths have smothered both our political dialogue and our self-conception as AMERICANS. but i should back up. the book covers their origins, development and ability to move forward despite constantly revolving line-up shifts, music industry cycles and regressive political climates. their independence and longevity is largely due to the relationship of GRAFFIN and GUREWITZ. famously GRAFFIN pursued a side academic career as an EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGIST, receiving his doctorate from CORNELL UNIVERSITY no less, and his availability based on these pursuits both determined the schedule of the band and provided GUREWITZ the time and space to both run his independent label EPITAPH RECORDS and write songs for the band. as fan, i always wondered how that arrangement worked. through this book i learned that when the band jumped to ATLANTIC RECORDS it disrupted both GRAFFIN's academic schedule (as he made himself more available for extensive touring) and GUREWITZ' ability to pull double duty with the band and label, leading to his departure. eventually the band came to a balance after fulfilling their major label contract after four albums to return to EPITAPH and allow GUREWITZ the freedom to produce and write songs, but not tour. this arrangement has been going on now for the better part of twenty years and counting and no doubt has resulted in their longevity and current status as elder statesmen. for me they are the LENNON/MCCARTNEY of PUNK ROCK. i also feel that what JOE STRUMMER attempted to convey with limited success is what they both actually achieved as songwriters. this is partly due to their songwriting prowess and production abilities, but i also feel it is due to their creativity and profoundly inquisitive nature. i think longtime fans will be pleasantly surprised to learn how many songs were written by GUREWITZ that most no doubt assumed were GRAFFIN compositions. GRAFFIN is renowned as the PUNK ROCK professor but GUREWITZ is very much his equal and this book sets the record straight on that accord. great autobiography the presents them and their message of bringing intelligence and intellectual rigor to PUNK ROCK lyricism that is often maligned and derided, especially during the HARDCORE scene that birthed them. if you are interested in PUNK ROCK or meaningful music that asks its listener to think for themselves, then definitely check out this book. otherwise just go listen to KID ROCK. or KANYE. 
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thank god for AMEOBA RECORDS.
no doubt this series was meant as a way to garner interest in the sheer sea of available for purchase records, tapes, cds, dvds, posters, books, zines and various merchandise at their flagship stores in HOLLYWOOD, SAN FRANCISCO and BERKELEY, but man is it still cool to see what cultural artifacts jazz up influential musicians. i only went to AMEOBA in HOLLYWOOD once when visiting a childhood friend of mine in nearby ORANGE COUNTY (where i grew up pre-NIGERIA). AMEOBA for me was like visiting MECCA. it was a sacred place, they literally had everything. i remember i got an out-print (at the time) copy of PRINCE's SIGN 'O' THE TIMES (PAISLEY PARK FILMS, 1987) concert film for cheap. really too bad the place closed doors so some asshole could put up some condominiums. just what the world needs. regardless, id put AMEOBA up there with the greatest stores ive ever walked into, which come to think of it, the only one that comes close at the top of my head is the FNAC CHAMPS ELYSEE in PARIS. anyway, its always cool to hear musicians talk about music, so below are the episodes with SUNN O))), GARBAGE, THE MELVINS, WAYNE KRAMER, DELTRON 3030 (DAN THE AUTOMATOR & DEL THE FUNKY HOMOSAPIEN), JOHNNY MARR, MASTODON, CHUCK D, BILLY BRAGG and HIGH ON FIRE among many many other notable musicians, past and present. enjoy. 
photo manipulation by nacrowe
if you are fan of music then you already know about NILE RODGERS. he is arguably one of the great composers, arrangers and musicians of the 20th century with a list of musical collaborations that spans from DAVID BOWIE, SISTER SLEDGE, DEBORAH HARRY, MADONNA and BRYAN FERRY to AVICII, DURAN DURAN, DAFT PUNK, GRACE JONES, THE B-52s and even his legendary 70s outfit CHIC. he is very much a musician's musician and no less a guitar-playing connoisseur than JOHNNY MARR named his son after him. just let that one sink in for a moment.
but until recently his public profile was behind the scenes in production. the documentary NILE RODGERS: THE HITMAKER (BBC, 2013) is attempt to change all that. filmed during a break from rehearsing for a worldwide CHIC tour at time he was fighting prostate cancer, this film very much feels like an opportunity for the man and his admirers to give their props should the worst happen (thankfully he survived and continues to work to present day). and survive the dude has. raised by heroin-addicted, bohemian parents in MANHATTAN, he grew up intimately aware of street life and drug culture along with the lexicon of music by devouring his parents JAZZ and CLASSICAL vinyl records. their is an aspirational quality to the uplifting, kinetic rhythms of CHIC and their escapist messaging to the audience of the emerging DISCO scene all over NYC. their is an almost symbiotic relationship between his guitar work and the pulsing, driving FUNK rhythms of bassist and collaborator BERNARD EDWARDS. They rode that initial wave in the late 1970s until the xenophobic, anti-BLACK and anti-LGBT DISCO SUX wave effectively stopped them in the their tracks. this led to his production career which was jumpstarted by DAVID BOWIE with the "LET'S DANCE" record basically has sustained him since as an in-demand writer, arranger, composer, guest musician and producer. what i appreciated most about this film was how past collaborators spoke of his uncanny ear to see space in a mix where he could contribute a guitar line or texture. these small contributions are the details that make a record pop and although maybe unnoticed by your average listener, these are the sonic details that musicians strive to achieve in the studio. they notice. participants included that of BRYAN FERRY, JOHNNY MARR, DEBBIE HARRY and CHRIS STEIN of BLONDIE, JOHN TAYLOR of DURAN DURAN, STEVE WINWOOD, LA ROUX, NORMA JEAN WRIGHT of CHIC and NILE RODGERS himself. I think it is touching that this documentary was showcased before his biggest hit in decades, "GET LUCKY" by FRENCH electronic duo DAFT PUNK, was released to worldwide admiration. just proves the dude always has something up his sleeve. 
photo & text by nacrowe
i think for a lot of AMERICANS, myself included, there has been a desire to understand what happened on election day in 2016 and what led our country to such a precipice that a troglodyte like DONALD TRUMP could even come within striking distance of the reigns of power.
WHY WE'RE POLARIZED (SIMON & SCHUSTER, 2020) is an attempt by former WASHINGTON POST columnist and VOX founder/editor-at-large EZRA KLEIN, utilizing copious published studies, opinion pieces, political science treatises and statistical and behavioral analysis to answer the basic conceit of what forces have led to our current state as a society and a democracy that appears to be in a state of rapidly unraveling. it is a multi-pronged analysis but essentially there are two basic ideas that buttress his whole argument. the first is the concept that we all have multiple identities (race, gender, sexual orientation, class, geography, education, occupation, sports team preference, etc) that can be activated in order for us to respond in defense. a benign example is the abuse i get from RED SOX fans who are friends of mine every time the YANKEES lose a consequential game (and oh they know how that irks me). what is interesting is that many of these identities are stacked with regards to a particular political party. this wasn't always the case. pre-CIVIL RIGHTS ACT the AMERICAN electorate was not "sorted" as it is now with regards to these stacked identities. it used to be that people voted split tickets, meaning that they would vote a REPUBLICAN for senator and a DEMOCRAT for president, or mayor/education board/dogcatcher. it used to be that some DEMOCRATS were more conservative than some REPUBLICANS and vice versa, the political affiliation not being specific to a set of policy preferences. in a sense, local concerns ruled their priorities. while we were not divided as now, this was due largely to the fact that the DEMOCRATIC party allowed the DIXIECRATS to rule unabated with their draconian and racist methods of suppressing the BLACK vote through intimidation and state-sanctioned violence. the modern era of polarization happened as a result of this agreement ending with the CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1965 and the basic handing of the south to the REPUBLICANS. ok, enough history. so what? basically with the advent of television, then cable news and later the internet and all its omnipresent mobile apps and social media and associated flood of voter information, we are now living an age were the business models of technology promote and actively seek out to activate these stacked identities and manipulate us collectively at scale. its quite remarkable. we are essentially polarized by interests that seek to manipulate us for financial and political advantage and the mechanism are these deeply rooted identities that create an atmosphere where you are no longer voting policy, you are voting identity. he makes other points about structural issues surrounding our democracy that relate to various outmoded parliamentary processes that diminish our ability to compromise and promote instability, but i will save that for interested readers. needless to say this is a wonky book that i did not do just but recommend fiercely to anyone interested in the mechanisms of government and how they affect how we self-identify as AMERICANS. this should be required reading in high schools. 
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June 2021
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