Paranoia Paradise,

With where I live being close to Essex, and the impending eviction at Dale Farm, my local council have decided to build barricades, I say barricades…. they’re piles of chalk, at the entrances to several of the parks in the town, in order to block access to any travellers moving in. What an eyesore, these piles of chalk are, and not just that the kids have been practising their writing and drawing skills or making a mess depending on your point of view on the pavements and paths with chalk they’ve got from the piles. Still that will be washed away in the rain, unlike the local councillors, and journalists with their paranoia and sensationalist scaremongering. In 1930's Germany the Nazi's came for the gypsies first….and people did nothing. In 2011 Britain, people are doing something....persecuting them! Sounds and looks like we're living in a Fascist State!!!!

IGGY POP - Live Zombie!

No music for ages, then just like waiting for a bus two come along at once ….Yep here’s some more Iggy Pop for you good people. This ones from 1982, not Iggy’s best year, some might say it was cursed. On a trip to Haiti early in the year Iggy upset a voodoo priest when he got up and danced during a voodoo ceremony. Things went down hill from there with a series of bizarre events like a car crash and the death of a dentist for whom Iggys girlfriend was working for on the island, in order to raise the cash to fly home, as Iggy had given all their money away! At the end of the year after a brief stay in a Mental Institution Iggy hit the road to promote the not very well received album Zombie Birdhouse, which features the playing and production of Clem Burke and Chris Stein of Blondie. This live recording from Toronto in Canada on 28th Oct 1982 was originally issued as a bonus disc with a re-issue edition of Zombie Birdhouse, and finds Iggy in fine frazzled‘n’fraggled form, during the tour his band members including Blondie Guitarist Frank Infante found Iggy “more crazed than ever.” Enjoy! You'd be crazy not to!!

IGGY POP - Garden of Evil (Vinyl Bootleg)

This collection from Iggy Pop was originally released as a bootleg album in Germany with only 600 copies pressed. I aint got a copy, but found that some kind soul had uploaded it to a torrent site, so here you go! The tracks on it are what you’d call Oddities; Iggy squealing like a pig for a few seconds, and a bizarre appearance on a 1974 American radio show. Outtakes; from his post Bowie daze albums New Values, Soldier and Zombie Birdhouse, and Rarities; the title track to the film Repo Man, well I’ll leave you to decide that. Personally, I’ve been playing this quite a bit recently as it’s an interesting and enjoyable listen, even the track Ig The Pig surpasses his recent Swift Cover insurance ad work. Why Iggy Why???? You indeed are a dog with your money in your pocket!

A Snapshot and Some Scrambled Scribblings.

So then 10 years since 9/11 has been and gone. No Al-Qaeda celebratory attacks on the West then, despite the anticipation. The war on terror will only be won when people have conquered their fears. So long as people believe they have something to fear they will continue to be scared. It’s a way to control the people. Fear sells, and people are buying. After the first Gulf War, The Hummer became the motor vehicle of choice, to many Americans, it made them feel safe and secure. Sales soared and other similar large vehicles started being mass produced across the world, 4x4’s, off road vehicles etc. Now it’s all about surveillance systems, to keep people safe in their place of work, at home and on the streets. Fear has invaded our freedom. Big Brother might tell you he’s watching out for terrorists, but the reality is he can watch out for whatever he wants. Electronic tags for kids, keeps them safe from paedophiles, military technology produced for the paranoid consumer market. You’re never alone with a mobile phone.
Rejoice and come all ye faithful consumers, to Britain’s largest retail cathedral, Westfield in Stratford East London, right near the 2012 Olympic Stadium. 10,000 jobs have been created, and it’s great for the economy apparently. Some might say it’s good that people are employed producing and selling all the products. I say there’s too much stuff, without all the products there’d be no need for the pursuit of money to spend on products, because there’d be less stuff in the market place to purchase.
Just because things create jobs it doesn’t naturally mean it’s good. Clothes for young children….it’s taken years for people to realise that it wasn’t good to dress children as mini-adults in clothes that sexualized them at a young age. The writing was on the wall with the Spice Girls and their branded girl power. Shit sells!
Playing with peoples fears for profit. The fear of getting old, going bald and body insecurity. The market is full of anti aging creams, beauty products for women to hide behind and cures for hair loss. Why bother….deal with it we get old we go bald and then we die! What a waste of money trying to slow down the process. The only reason people feel the need to feel good about themselves, is because all the time they’re being made to feel bad about themselves through big businesses partners in crime….The media, with its images of the beautiful people and adverts for the ugly products! Talking of ugly people and products….Wayne Rooney pays £30,000, twice what I (and millions of others) earn in a year on a hair transplant….and still looks like a cunt!
I know the seasons are getting messed up with the changing weather, but as far as I’m aware Christmas is in December. So why then are supermarkets and shops getting their displays ready and Christmas stock out in December? (One of today’s Sunday papers is seducing people with the offer of Fabulous Free Christmas Gifts if you join their Christmas reward club.) Let me guess….It’s good for the economy! Well….Fuck their economy!! I aint religious, but this takes away any meaning from anything other than complete consumption capitalism. That’s the only god people worship, and the powers that we let be are happy for it to be like this. Shopping is the heroin of the people. A blind devotion and addiction to a hollow and empty gospel where nothing means anything anymore, and the only bible is the Argos catalogue.

The 10^th anniversary/remembrance of 9/11 is nearly upon us. Time flies when yer having fun! A lot has happened in the 10 years since war was declared on terror. The global economy for one has taken a battering. It doesn’t take an economist to work out that wars are expensive, or a mathematician to tell us that the estimated cost of post 9/11 wars $4 Trillion is a lot of money. I’m neither an economist or mathematician, but I think that this sort of expense by the USA and the UK over the last ten years may have had some effect on the present global financial crisis. That and people living beyond their means Which begs a question Who’s actually winning the war on terror? when people with the fear of unemployment are too scared to spend on the high street, in case their families finances come crashing down around them. Apparently this lack of spending isn’t good for economic growth. Politicians preach austerity but paradoxically still want people to part with their pounds and pence. Fear of terror has seen civil liberties threatened in the name of security, while around the world societies foundations are shaking. So what do our leaders do? They get us involved in more military action in Libya, great….there goes a few more million pounds/dollars up in smoke. Well….lets hope the cost in human life from the Twin Towers, to the civilians and soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq has been worth it. Somehow I don’t think it will have been. Human life is cheap in global politriks and there’s plenty to spend, and other terrors to be sorted out in a world where political leaders are the real terrorists. Iran and North Korea in 10 years time?

More Rambling Rantings.

The ethnic cleansing, or eviction as the powers that be are calling it of the ‘illegal’ Dale Farm travellers site in Crays Hill Essex is just another example of Britain’s slow slide towards being a rather un-free democracy.
The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act of 1994 made it impossible for travellers to travel, and took away the duty of councils to provide sites for them, so they have been buying land and building communities on it, often without planning permission, but when a large percentage of planning applications by travellers are turned down, is it any wonder they build illegal homes, especially as other ‘green belt land’ has been developed for housing. Seems like there’s one law for some people and another for others. We can see that with the disproportionate sentencing by the courts for those involved in the recent riots, compared with what MP’s received for ‘looting’ our money under the guise of expenses.
Here are a few more examples of how our democracy is being threatened.
Post riot paranoia has seen the banning not just of a English Defence League march, but any marches in London for next 30 days. Parliament Square peace camp being shut down. An official counter terrorism notice has seen The Met Police encouraging people to report anarchists to the authorities.
The clampdown continues. Just because we have a ‘democratically elected government’ doesn’t mean we are not getting closer and closer to living in a totalitarian dictatorship, it’s just that the majority of people can’t see it, or are happy being told what to do and what to think, or they are too scared to do anything. Unlike the various people gathering at Dale Farm to support the travellers, or the Pro Palestine protestors who managed to disrupt the broadcast of the Israeli Symphony Orchestras performance at the recent BBC Proms.
Human Rights at times favours the rights of some people over the rights of others and Health and Safety legislation which removes any need for individual common sense or free thinking from some situations. Treat people like they’re stupid and it wont be long before they become stupid. Take away freedoms in the name of safety and security and people won’t question anything. Label and demonize section of society as being bad and the people will believe it’s all right to have their freedoms reduced, I mean who cares if you’re followed home by CCTV because if you’ve done nothing wrong what have you got to worry about? not a good climate for people to be living in….one of fear that has been sold to them as security. Where the only people that remain secure are those in positions of power. What would really scare them is if all the groups of people who want to protest, the ones they’ve kept divided in order to rule, put their differences aside became united as one and took to the streets against this and any future government that refuses to listen to the people. Vive Le Difference! Vive Le Revolution!
The artwerk/flyer that companies this post comes from the Old Punks Never Die website.