Take the Skinheads Bowling and discuss Mod History

I guess parenthood has made me tragically unhip... I had no idea that Camper Van Beethoven had gotten back together, but here they are, performing that late 80s college radio classic "Take the Skinheads Bowling"
Schweet!

and along a similar vein, I recently found this info graphic, which illustrates the history of Mod culture in the US. While it doesn't specifically mention scooters, or SHARPS, it does a good job of illustrating that Nazi skins are merely an extremely vocal and attention seeking sub-genre of the subculture. I was also proud to realize that this chart is on the servers of Evergreen, my Alma Mater.

And just so's you know where I stand, here's a little message to Aryan Skins, courtesy of Jello Biafra:

"socialism for life's needs, and capitalism for life's wants"

I know I haven't been blogging lately, but I ran across this on Reddit tonight, and thought that it was meme worth spreading.

Rules for the Cult of Capitalism

Recently, my buddy Klint renamed his Technoccult blog, Renegade Futurist, and his focus for the blog seems to shifted some.
No worries, though, he's posting some awesome stuff like this "Rules for the Cult of Capitalism":

3. When the government charges for its services (taxes), this is theft. When private enterprises charge for food and rent, this is just.

4. Theft is the worst crime known to man. It is a far worse that rich people are forced to pay taxes (if their accountants can’t get them out of it) than that poor children are allowed to go hungry.

Jello Biafra's Advice to Obama

If you are up for some in depth reading, I suggest you check out this open letter to Barack Obama from Punk-Rock-Patriarch Jello Biafra. It's the sanest thing I've read in some time.

IRAQ – TRY THIS!

The closest thing to a solution I have heard was offered clear back in April 2004 by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (www.oic-ico.org). The OIC is comprised of 57 Islamic countries ranging from West Africa clear over to Southeast Asia. At their annual meeting they found six member nations (Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Yemen and Morocco) willing to pony up enough of their own troops (approx. 150,000) that our troops could have gone home! Who slammed the door on that one? Colin Powell, on the grounds that having the Islamic soldiers under UN command instead of Americans was out of the question.

WHY??!? Wouldn't a neutral force of Muslim peacekeepers make a lot more headway than the disaster we've made? Wouldn't they at least command a lot more respect, resulting in a huge drop in violence? Surely the non-stop carnage and Iracketeering we have spawned is Exhibit A that we need to get over this colonialist illusion that other countries' problems can only be solved by Americans. The OIC's proposal for US withdrawal and peace in Iraq must be revisited immediately, and also considered for Afghanistan.

Life Imitates the Illuminatus Trilology

I just have no idea what to make of this story.
In the months prior to 9/11, Israeli Art Students with loose links to Israeli Ecstasy traffickers attempted to infiltrate DEA offices; visited DEA agents at their homes; and lived near the 9/11 hi-jackers.
If you think this sounds like the ravings of that guy on the bus who smells like stale milk and wears mismatched shoes, I don't blame you. But I didn't dig this up on some paranoid site, it came from Slate.com. You owe it to your sense of geo-political absurdity to read the whole article.

Slate's informant says in the article:

"There was an embryonic understanding that there was something here, something was happening. People kept running across it. And agents being who they are, gut feelings being what they are, they would catch a thread. They'd start to pull a thread, and next thing, they'd end up with the arm of the jacket and the back was coming off, and then you'd end up with reports like you saw. The information, in its scattered form, is one thing. The information compiled, documented, timelined, indexed, is a horrific event for some of these people. Because it is indisputable."

"Agents started to realize that people were coming to their homes," he continued. "If you are part of an organization like this, you tend to be careful about your security. When something disturbs that sense of security, it's unnerving. One thing that was understood fairly early on was that the students would go to some areas that didn't have street signs, and in fact they would already have directions to these areas. That indicated that someone had been there prior to them or had electronically figured where the agents were located -- using credit card records, things of that nature. This sat in the back of people's minds as to the resources necessary to do that."

"I will tell you that there is still great debate over what [the art students] specific purposes were and are," Stability went on. "When you take an individual who picks up a group of individuals from an airport, individuals who supposedly have no idea what they're doing in-country, who fly on over from a foreign land, whose airline tickets could in some instances total a value greater than $15,000 -- and who get picked up at the airport and drive specifically to one individual's home, which they know the exact directions to: Yeah, you could say there's a problem here. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to understand that. The overarching item is that a lot of work went into going to people's houses to sell them junk from China in plastic frames."

But to what end? What was the value? What was to be gained? "Unknown, unknown," Stability said. "You could be anywhere from D.C. to daylight on that one. Even on our side, you have to take all the stuff and draw it all out and clean out all the chaff. I will tell you that from those who are working ground zero [of this case], it is a difficult puzzle to put together, and it is not complete by any means." Even the spooks are baffled; they have no answers.

Somewhere the spirit of Robert Anton Wilson is laughing his ass.

Solving Motorcycle Parking Problems

A Kent County man who got fed up with the run-around his requests for two-wheeler specific parking received from the local council, took matters into his own hands and painted the lines for a cycle parking spot himself. This story just made my morning.

He painted a space for one motorcycle and carefully added the letters ‘MC’, only to realise there was no way he could park his bike in it. “It would be a bit obvious who did it,” he explained.

Full story and a photo on MCN

Ride to Vote

The folks who organize the annual "Ride to Work" event are pushing the idea of "Ride to Vote."

Sounds good to me. Democrat, Republican, Green, or Libertarian, hop on your scooter, cruiser, electric bicycle, sport bike, or moped and vote, gul-durnit!

Love and Marriage, American Style

So this past weekend, Jes and I attended the wedding of one of her childhood friends. Perhaps you can tell from the photo above, it was a little non-traditional.
Still, it was the most beautiful ceremony I have ever seen.
The ceremony was a mish-mash of Wiccan and Native American rituals, which was surprisingly poignant and non-New Age-y.
With the recent developments in California about gay marriage, I feel like I should share some deep sociological and spiritual insight, but really I have none.
I mean, I am about to have a child with the most amazing person I've ever known, who also refuses to marry me. Perhaps that shows her good sense, or perhaps it only attracts me to her more, in the Groucho philosophy of not wanting to be a member of any club which would have me.
Jes throws out a lot of varying reasons for not wanting to get married. At this point, I'd like to have the symbolism of the ritual, and to celebrate our love with friends and family, but it would ultimately be merely symbolic.
I guess I have reached the point where I think that the gay marriage issue boils down to a church and state issue. If a certain religion doesn't want to marry gays, well they don't have to. But their views shouldn't influence the state's stance on the matter. And ultimately it is in societies best interest to allow gays to marry to raise children. I think that by the end of this century this will be as self-evident to the average person, as the stupidity of segregation and racism was at the end of the last.
All I know is, I have a daughter on the way, and my deepest hope for her is that she can be as strong, intelligent, brave, and caring as the women I met this weekend, both gay and straight. And that if/when she finds another soul with whom she wants to share her life, well I'll be fortunate enough to witness a ceremony as touching as this.

Oh, and I hope she rides off on a Vespa, like these two brides did... (hey, we all have our prejudices.)

Why the USA is Losing the Energy Race

Unless we get our act together, the US is going to find itself left behind in the 21st century. There is no denying the current energy crunch, and those who would rather debate the possibility of global warming, rather than seek solutions are short-sided and irresponsible. Yet as this perfect storm of an energy crisis is ravaging the pocket books of average Americans, our leaders are cutting spending on research into alternative energies and public transportation.
At one time we could have been world leaders in renewable energy, now we will be lucky if we start playing catch up. At this point it seems more likely, that we will soon be consumers of renewable energy technologies, rather than also being innovators and purveyors. Some nation or nations will reap considerable economic windfalls from developing and marketing these technologies. Too bad, it won't be us...

Portugal, without its own oil, coal or gas and with no expertise in nuclear power, is pitching to lead Europe's clean-tech revolution with some of the most ambitious targets and timetables for renewables. Its intention, the economics minister, Manuel Pinho, said, is to wean itself off oil and within a decade set up a low carbon economy in response to high oil prices and climate change.

"We have to reduce our dependence on oil and gas," said Pinho. "What seemed extravagant in 2004 when we decided to go for renewables now seems to have been a very good decision."

He expects Portugal to generate 31% of all its energy from clean sources by 2020. This means lifting its renewable electricity share from 20% in 2005 to 60% in 2020, compared with Britain's target of 15% of all energy by 2020. Having passed its target for 2010 it could soon top the EU renewables league.

...

It is the start of a potentially giant global industry with Portuguese firm Enersis planning to invest more than £1bn in a series of farms that together would power 450,000 homes.

Pinho dismisses nuclear power. "When you have a programme like this there is no need for nuclear power. Wind and water are our nuclear power. The relative price of renewables is now much lower, so the incentives are there to invest. My advice to countries like the UK is to move as fast as they can to renewables. With climate change and the increase in oil prices, renewables will become more and more important.

"Countries that do not invest in renewables will pay a high price in future. The cost of inaction is very high indeed. The perception that renewable energy is very expensive is changing every day as the oil price goes up."

He added: "Energy and environment are the biggest challenge of our generation. We need to develop a low-carbon model for the world economy. The present situation is dangerous."

Individual Energy Independence

Came across this story recently about a few folks who are using full electric vehicles in conjunction with solar panels.

Darrell Dickey regularly commutes to work 24 miles, one way, by bike. But when it's too cold or wet for the bike, or when he and his family travel long distances from their home in Davis, California, he drives a battery-powered electric vehicle that he charges with photovoltaic (PV) panels mounted on his garage roof.

"Five years ago, I spent about $45,000 and got a brand new car (the RAv4EV) and the solar system," he says. "We're still driving the car every day, and the solar system will continue to make fuel for whatever EV we drive in the future. For $45,000 we bought a new car and fuel for the rest or our lives."

...

Dickey says the inspiration to drive electric comes from having a child. "It would embarrass me to have to explain to my daughter why we continued to import and burn oil when we knew the consequences," he says. "Having no tune-ups and no trips to the gas station ever is just icing."

By installing a solar system atop his garage, Dickey took the next step in driving a totally clean car. "Now," he says, "I can deflect the comments that my 'electric' car is just a 'coal-burning' car. EVs are the ultimate flex-fuel vehicle. You can make electricity out of just about anything: sun, wind, natural gas, coal—even gasoline! Your fuel can be totally domestic, or in my case, totally local."

Asked how long it will take for the PV system to pay for itself, Dickey replies: "If we think of everything in terms of what it costs us in the short-term, we're screwed. It's the same argument people use against the Prius: When will it pay back in gas savings? But that only accounts for the money paid at the pump. What of the billions of dollars that leave our economy for oil, or the billions of our tax dollars that go toward tax incentives for oil companies? What of the cost of the military and the lives lost to protect our oil?" But the short answer for the solar pay-back, he says, was "the instant I turned my system on." Dickey had been paying $75 a month for electricity. He took a loan out to buy the PV system, and pays $70 a month toward that loan. "My electricity and gasoline bills are now zero, and next year when my loan is paid off, this investment will be paying me probably for the rest of my life. My PV system covers the power for my home and my car. It displaces $90 worth of electricity and over $100 worth of gasoline every month. So my estimate of how long until the system pays for itself is no time at all!"

Dickey says the Rav4EV is the best car he's ever owned. "My wife commutes in it 40 miles a day, five days a week. We drive it for our weekend outings and it does errands that are too far or too bulky for the bicycle. It has never been tuned up, and I've spent about $50 total on it for maintenance. My wife has not been to a gasoline station in seven years and 70,000 commute miles—not once!"

This story really got me thinking about how our oil dependance and internal combustion engines are like those check cashing places. On an economic scale, most of us don't have to face the endless cycle of pay-day loans to enable us to pay our bills, we are able to comfortably shake our heads at plight of the working poor who are raked over the coals of usury just to continue their hand-to-mouth existence.

But when it comes to energy, almost everyone is stuck in the same hand-to-mouth cycle. Do the math of your transportation and energy costs, and think about how long it would take you to see savings from a $45K loan like the Dickeys took out. Then think about the "collateral damage" costs of our world-wide dependence on fossil fuels.

Strange how one story can make me hopeful and enraged at the same time...

I know energy independence is possible, but right now it is as out of reach to me as a 401k and health insurance for migrant farm worker.

Vespa Expedition to Promote Kindness, Compassion, and Volunteerism

Chef Peter Ramstine is my kind of maniac. On April 1st (seriously) he began a journey through all of the state capitals and 8 Canadian Provinces on his yellow Vespa GTS. Along the way he will be volunteering where-ever he can. Look at this route!
You can view the route and schedule in more detail here.

Peter was originally inspired to start this journey after his experiences volunteering with disaster relief for hurricane Katrina.

Heck, I'll shut up and let him explain it:

I want to inspire people to reach-out to their neighbours. Not the neighbours they know, but the ones they don’t know. I want to inspire people to stop by ‘that soup kitchen‘ they’re always passing by. I want to inspire people to do ‘that thing‘ they’ve ‘always wished they could do.’

Moreover, I’m doing Vespadition because I’m personally tired of talking-the-talk without walking-the-walk. I’m fed up with watching things happen and complaining about them without doing anything meaningful to change it. I’m doing it because I’m tired of being sad at the sight of some of the things I see going on in this world. I’m doing it because I’ve decided simply that I must.

Buddha is quoted as having said: “You cannot travel the path until you have become the path itself.” I’m doing it to become the path.

I’m doing Vespadition to do it. To be kind. To be compassionate. To volunteer to help-out wherever I can to help make even the slightest, smallest difference.

Who am I? I’m no one. I’m nothing. I’m you. I’m that person who makes eye contact with you and smiles at you. I’m that person who holds the door for you.

Check out the Vespadition blog for stories as the trip progresses.

Ben Hur Enters Celestial Chariot Races with a Vespa

The first thing I was greeted with this morning upon firing up my browser was the news of Charlton Heston's passing, and the obligatory yet distasteful jokes about his "cold, dead hands."

That Chuck spent his later years as a whipping boy of the Left has always troubled me. Though I may not have agreed with all his politics, I always respected Heston. He always gave me the feeling of being the kind of man you could agree to disagree with. The snark with which many progressives have approached his passing, seems indicative of the loss of civil discourse in this country.

The Charlton Heston I'll remember is the man who marched with MLK, who starred in one of the best movies EVAH (Orson Welles' Touch of Evil) and made some of the best matinée fodder ever, from sword and sandal epics, to classic B-Movie Sci-Fi which are still quoted today.

Quinlan: Our friend Vargas has some very special ideas about police procedure. He seems to think it don't matter whether killers hang or not, so long as we obey the fine print.

Vargas: Captain, I don't think a policeman should work like a dog catcher in putting criminals behind bars. No! In any free country, a policeman is supposed to enforce the law, and the law protects the guilty as well as the innocent.

Quinlan: Our job is tough enough.

Vargas: It's supposed to be. It has to be tough. A policeman's job is only easy in a police state. That's the whole point, Captain - who's the boss, the cop or the law?

-From Touch of Evil

Metalheads for Obama

I'd like to say something clever about this, but am overwhelmed by its inherent cleverness. Sheer metal genius from Jay-Jay French, guitarist for Twisted Sister.

Flaming Lips + Cat Power = "War Pigs"!!!

Oh man! This is fantastic!

Hmmm... makes me wonder if getting blood on the American Flag is considered blasphemous pinko desecration?

Think for a sec, afore ya answer that, eh, hoss?

I'll say one thing for Bush & Co., they have heightened my appreciation of Black Sabbath and Ozzy.

For many years I wrote Ozzy off with the typical art-fags disdain for stoner-metal. But the only competition this song has in pop-culture is Dylan's "Masters of War," another of my favorites, but "War Pigs" works on a populist, mythical level... which Dylan is little too high-falutin' to ever achieve.

Ah, but who am I kiddin'? I love me some trash-talking Dylan!
Especially when he's giving the powers-that-be the what-for.
And even more especially when that trash-talkin' is reinterpreted by Pearl Jam:

Yes We Can

"There has never been anything false about hope."
You know the Dragon is always hesitant to post about political subjects.
But when it comes to the kind of hope Barack Obama is peddlin', I have only two statements:

I Kan Has?



Yes We Can!

Michael Franti and Spearhead

That last video I posted got me thinking about Spearhead.
They played at my Alma Mater during the later half of my freshman year, and my roomate Sparky had one of their posters up for the remainder of the year. The next year, when I'd cook up five gallons of my infamous Cajun Dragon's Breath red beans and rice, at least one of my room mates would start into the chorus of "Beans and Rice." There's only one vid for this song I can find online, and the sound quality isn't great, but if you choose to watch it, the lyrics are here.
Most people on the planet/ eat beans and rice
Some can’t afford beef or they think cows are nice
If you talk table manners don’t believe all they
Told ya I eat with my fingers like an african soldier
I don’t know which fork is for meat or for salad
I haven’t got a clue when they say "whet your palate"
Eat a lot a prunes it’ll keep you loose
Skin’ll turn orange if you drink carrot juice
I think beef jerky tastes like a boot
When I’m on the street I chew a licorice root
And if I have a soar throat /then I eat ginger
And I will break bread /with those who are strangers
So come into my cave / tonight I will show you
Food is for life / and life I will show you.
If you’re havin’ problems/ I invite you here
Step into my kitchen /we will cook away your fears

Now the Dragon is the furthest thing from a vegetarian. I'll meat in any color of the rainbow, but this song comes the closest to capturing my attitudes towards food and fellowship.

But as important as nutrition and cuisine are, Mr. Franti turns his exceptional songwriting and singing skills to other vital topics such as Iraq. For instance, turn your eyes and ears towards "Time to Go Home."



Definitely one of the best Iraq protest songs I've heard... at least until the end of this post.

And it speaks to Franti's great talent, that his darker songs make the hairs on the back of your neck, while at the same time he crafts light hearted ditties like "Hello, Bonjour" which still contain heavy nuggets of wisdom, but tickle your heart with effervescent bubbles of joy.



Michael Franti is an interesting cat. His Wikipedia entry has such eyebrow raising facts as he goes through most of life shoeless. And there is huge internet archive of free Spearhead live performances, following a taping policy first originated by the Grateful Dead. I guess I'll just have to forgive such blatant acts of hippiness, on account of what a badass he is.

Do you remember "Hole in the Bucket," which got some airplay back in halcyon days of the mid-nineties, the last time radio was worth a damn?
Spearhead, yup, that's right.



Seriously though, after four years at Evergreen, and seven years in Oly, I have a low tolerance for the outer trappings of wannabe hippies and trustifarians. I can't stand reggae, or most jam bands. But Spearhead still cuts through these prejudices, managing despite all my cynicism to surprise and inspire me. Finding out that Franti began in the punk scene was interesting. To me , punk was always much more an attitude, one of questioning and exploring, born of the harsh facts of how life really is for too many, and propelled by the concept that outrage and indignation can be cleansing. Somewhere along the line it seems this has reached a disconnect, and contemporary punk seems to be more about anger as an end, as a style. Still, I guess there are a few old punks out there still using anger as a means. Still willing to "Yell Fire" in a crowded abattoir.

Biker Charities and Causes

Among the booths at the NYC Int. MC Show were several with humanitarian goals.

Now if you've never known personally a stereotypical "Outlaw" biker, or any motorcyclists for that matter, this might surprise you. On the other hand, perhaps you've seen an annual parade of leather, chrome, tattoos, and baby dolls, otherwise known as a toy-ride and wondered at the surreality of the vision. Having spent alot of time around grizzled Vietnam era vets who looked like Charles Manson on steroids in my youth, such images cause the Dragon no cognitive dissonance. I'll share a secret known only to the initiated, a lot of those intimidating blokes with frightening monikers such as Snake and Blade, are just big teddy bears. Sure you don't want to cross them, by why would you? Most of these guys have hearts bigger than a 100 cubic inch V-twin.

One of the most crowded booths at the NYC show was manned by Dee Snider, front man for the metal group, Twisted Sister. I have to admit on my first pass, I was a little star-struck and didn't notice what the booth was for, which was Dee Snider's Bikers for Babies, an annual fundraising ride for the March of Dimes. You can find a video about the ride here. It's really touching stuff.

We discovered another worthy cause when Jes was drawn into the Women in Motorcycling booth. This group told us about the Pony Express Riders, who organize annual rides to raise money and awareness for breast cancer research. Check 'em out, cool ladies doing good things, and of course the fellas are welcome, too.

You might be noticing a trend, in that these biker's charities tend to use rides as their fund raisers. Heck, why just talk the talk and throw some money at an issue, when you can get a group a together and ride. Nothing captures folks attention like a large group of bikers, and you were gonna be riding anyway, right?

The last ride-for-a-cause we were exposed to at the show, and the one I would most like participate in (though I'm not sure about doing it on a 200cc two-stroke) is the MLK Memorial Million Motorcyclists Motorcade March on Washington. There is a $100 million goal to build a Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in Washington D.C., to date $84 million has been raised, ten years after the beginning of fund-raising. This is a slightly more political cause than the others, but it is one I believe is more relevant than ever. The last two presidential elections were marked by what can most optimistically be called irregularities at polling places, and these irregularities were most deeply displayed in African-American neighborhoods. Despite how you feel about the outcome of those elections, you should be enraged not just that a community whose political enfranchisement came at the cost of their blood, and the blood of concerned others, is having their democratic voice slowly and insidiously silenced. No, you should be most enraged, positively livid, that so little has been said about this smothering of liberty.

Stepping down off the soap box now.

This is What Freedom Looks Like, 2007 edition

Jimny Christmas!
There is just so much wrong with this, I don't even know where to begin.

Rebuild America First

Look out Bushie, I think you just might be on the Hag's fightin' side.

"Let's get out of Iraq,
Get back on track,
And let's rebuild America first."

I may just play this song on repeat until Jes threatens to strangle me.Has anyone started a Merle Haggard for President movement? I meant to do some special post for the 4th, but between scooter painting duties, and sheer frustration over the state of the Union, it didn't happen. Luckily, the Okie from Muskogee has managed to capture my feelings for this country quite well.

This song's been out for a couple years now, but not being a consumer of radio or cable tv, I hadn't heard it until now. Thanks to Will Shetterly for the link.

Journalistic Integrity

This made me so happy.
Life imitates Network.


Hey, MSNBC, please give Ms. Brzezinski a raise!