MESSAGE BOARD IS UP, HOSTING MOSH'N BREW CYCLE CREW AND RANDOM OLD RECORDS PODCAST FORUMS, TOO

So you should GO CHECK THEM OUT!!! (and post on them!)

Sorry for the lack of updates, but I injured my lower back and I am not a happy camper. Anyhow...

Random Old Records Podcast is run by my friend Zach, of local band Fernald.

Mosh'n Brew Cycle Crew is a vicious bicycle gang. They're also my posse. Which is good, because I never know when I'm gonna need someone riding a fixed gear tall bike to save my ass... :)

Upcoming:

- Bathe in Bleach CD (got a copy from them) and show review.
- An Article on Homophobic Violence.
- Reviews of the latest Grouper, Negative Reaction, Girl Talk, and the new M. Ward, Kylesa, Mastodon, and Napalm Death albums. They're all probably going to be one paragraph each or so.
- Stuff about an all-black proto-punk band from the 70's, called Death. Their album was finally released recently. Possibly some information on similar bands later...
- AND MORE!!!

Dude, You're Gay

I had a really good conversation tonight with a close friend of mine who outed himself to me. He's not keep it a secret from people or anything, but the discussion was very enlightening. It really helped me understand him better and where he's coming from. A lot of what we talked about concerned gay culture within the context of the punk rock scene, as he's very much a part of it and I am involved in that subculture, as well.

Just my mentioning this probably betrays my naivete, but... rather than identifying himself as bisexual (which he called a "semantics game"), he said that identifies himself as queer. The reason for this was that he is also attracted to transgendered people of any type. I'd never heard someone say that before, as I'm used to people saying that they're either gay, bisexual, or transgendered. The idea of someone not limiting themselves to that had never occured to me.

One of the things he lamented was how so many gay youth are expected to go to gay bars, where alcohol is mixed with sexual experiences and they're expected to use party drugs. He doesn't feel comfortable mixing intoxication with sex in any way, shape, or form and I have to say that I feel the same. Part of that has to do with the fact that he doesn't take part in drugs, alcohol, or smoking (a stance I take, as well), but it's also just the fact that that can really fuck you up and wreck your life. It's sad to see so many kids falling into this trap, especially considering that gay bars are known for serving underagers (and getting away with it). A common reaction to that, I would imagine (especially from religious conservatives), would be "Well, that's just what comes with the territory of being gay," and that's pretty sad. It doesn't matter if someone's sexual orientation is the result of biology, conditioning, or making a choice. The fact of the matter is, it's hard for people in the GLBT community to connect and socialize with others because of those obstacles. And that's a real shame.

One thing that he found to be a source of hope and excitement, however, especially regarding the aforementioned, was the resurgence of punk bands that are "in your face" about being queer. I can't recall the names of them offhand, but some that I know of are Condenada, Faggot, and Limp Wrist. This is notable because despite the expectation of people in punk and hardcore being accepting of homosexuality, homophobia is very strong in it and the words "gay" and "faggot" are regularly used to mock and degrade people (something that, after tonight, I feel like I should stop doing). And it's not so much a matter of those words offending someone and them not being "P.C."... it's the fact that it makes people who actually are homophobic feel like it's acceptable for them to act the way that they do at shows. The same thing goes for racist jokes to a certain extent. And I could go on and on about how I've seen that happen at moshcore shows for several years and how disgusting it really is. A similar incident happened a show not long ago, where a band said, during their set, "This song is called 'I'd Rape Someone Like You Just To Traumatize You'." Considering that, by conservative estimates, one out of every three women will experience sexual abuse at some point in their life, that's not too cool. Especially considering that a good number of people at the show were females, and a high percentage of the ones involved in punk and hardcore have been sexually abused. Not to mention the number of males who have been sexually abused at some point in their life, many of whom connect to punk and hardcore, as well. Saying something like that is really alienating, not to mention hurtful. But it's much more than just how the words offend people. It's the feelings, beliefs, and mindset behind them that are the real issue.

shalom,

tim

3-Way Baked Potato From Skyline

I had a Skyline baked potato (chili and cheese on it). After going to the bathroom for the fourth time, I decided to never do that again. ungh...

8 of Top 10 Porn-Consuming States Voted Republican in 2008 Election

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Business/story?id=6977202&page=1

Porn in the USA: Conservatives Are Biggest Consumers

8 of Top 10 Porn-Consuming States Voted Republican in 2008 Presidential Election

By EWEN CALLAWAY
Feb. 28, 2009

Americans may paint themselves in increasingly bright shades of red and blue, but new research finds one thing that varies little across the nation: the liking for online pornography.

A new nationwide study (pdf) of anonymised credit-card receipts from a major online adult entertainment provider finds little variation in consumption between states.

"When it comes to adult entertainment, it seems people are more the same than different," says Benjamin Edelman at Harvard Business School.

However, there are some trends to be seen in the data. Those states that do consume the most porn tend to be more conservative and religious than states with lower levels of consumption, the study finds.

"Some of the people who are most outraged turn out to be consumers of the very things they claimed to be outraged by," Edelman says.

Political Divide

Edelman spends part of his time helping companies such as Microsoft and AOL detect advertising fraud. Another consulting client runs dozens of adult websites, though he says he is not at liberty to identify the firm.

That company did, however, provide Edelman with roughly two years of credit card data from 2006 to 2008 that included a purchase date and each customer's postal code.

After controlling for differences in broadband internet access between states – online porn tends to be a bandwidth hog – and adjusting for population, he found a relatively small difference between states with the most adult purchases and those with the fewest.

The biggest consumer, Utah, averaged 5.47 adult content subscriptions per 1000 home broadband users; Montana bought the least with 1.92 per 1000. "The differences here are not so stark," Edelman says.

Number 10 on the list was West Virginia at 2.94 subscriptions per 1000, while number 41, Michigan, averaged 2.32.

Eight of the top 10 pornography consuming states gave their electoral votes to John McCain in last year's presidential election – Florida and Hawaii were the exceptions. While six out of the lowest 10 favoured Barack Obama.

read the rest of it here

Black Metal... SWEATPANTS?!??

WTF???

UNBLEEDING.COM IS UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We've just launched a real website for this. There's not much to it yet, but there's some stuff to help give you an idea of what we're about. Check it out!!!

shalom,

tim

Bathe in Bleach - New Powerviolence Band from Cincinnati, OH

They finally did a proper demo recording and put it up for download. Production is drastically better. The CD copy will have tracks that are not available on the download. Their drummer is a fucking monster. Check them out and catch them on tour (they've only played one show here so far! talk about hitting the ground running!!!) in Southwest Ohio:

Mar 3 2009 7:00P	Dayton Dirt Collective W/ RUDYRAYMOORE, Mard and Liver Rott	Dayton
Mar 6 2009 9:00P	Legion Of Doom W/ Who Goes There and edhochuli	Columbus
Mar 7 2009 9:00P	Tee’s House W/ You’ll Get Yours	Cincinnati

Download demo

Myspace

Kim Nixon - acoustic folk from Berlin, Germany (originally Norwood, OH)

This is a longtime friend of mine, Kim Beyer. She moved from Norwood, Ohio to Berlin, Germany after marrying Matthias Beyer from Germany. For music, she uses her maiden name, Nixon. Her former project (also acoustic), Brownhouse, was done with her sister, Carrie, and friend, Chris Flinchbaugh. For this, however, her husband plays piano with her. She's heavily influenced by Cincinnati band Over the Rhine, but has a higher vocal range than Karin and I much prefer her music to OTR's. She's already got an EP out and has a CD coming out soon on Twelve Strings. You can check her out on myspace at:

Kim Nixon

Apologies for the Lack of New Posts

I'm just going through a lot right now.

In the meantime, check out an MP3 blog I run now called fuck, it's grind. There's been a delay in updates there, too, so don't think that I'm neglecting this for that.

shalom,

tim

Bolivia Adopts Socialist Constitution, Gives Rights to Indigenous Groups, Kicks out U.S. DEA Agents

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/02/bolivia_and_its_new_constituti.html


February 4, 2009

Bolivia and its new constitution

On January 25th, Bolivia held a referendum to adopt a new national constitution, one that dramatically shifts the country, reversing discriminatory practices and granting many rights and self-determination to the 36 indigenous nations within Bolivia. After a lengthy count, officials announced that the referendum passed with over 60% of the vote. Much political and legal work remains to implement the changes, but soon most of the country's natural resources will be state-owned, land ownership will be capped at 12,000 acres, and Morales will be able to run for a second term. Challenges still lie ahead, as Bolivia remains South America's poorest country, and - after recently expelling all agents the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency - it has lost preferred trade status with the United States. President Evo Morales welcomed the constitutional win by saying "Here begins the new Bolivia", claiming the changes would work to "decolonize" Bolivia.


click for photos:

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/02/bolivia_and_its_new_constituti.html