Two Ton Strap; Infatuation Therapy

The Secret Museum
Michael Mooney and Jim Webb

INTERVIEW WITH TWO TON STRAP

Group history, please.

We've been friends since the late ’90s. Kevyn, Danny and Max grew up in Dixon, and Kan, originally from Japan, spent his youth in the valley of San Cristobal. Later, after Kan lived on the couch ... for months ... the band was formed. "Restless nights," says Kan. Max and Kevyn used to play with Omar Rane and Rita O'Connell until they got fired and replaced by significantly better musicians. What up, Norm!

Obviously, some rootsy countrified influences are discernible in your music. Are you Mekons fans?

We don't know who they are ... now we feel like real tools. It's surprising that anything in our music is "discernible." (What does that mean?) Our major influences are hangin' out and friends. And we're boozers. Also, the band Handsome Molly was a major influence on our music and our drinking.

Favorite tipple?

PBR and a shot of Beam.

Banjo: open G tuning?

The banjo was custom-made for Kan by Brooks Masten (brooksbanjos.com). If anyone knows how to tune a 4-string banjo, fuck you.

You have some very nifty gig fliers. Who's responsible?

Our good friend, Taos resident Sarah Hart of Hart Print Shop (hartprintshop.com), designs and prints all of our flyers on recycled beer boxes. "She's an incredibly talented woman and we're blessed to have her in our lives," says Kevyn Gilbert. “With her help, we also make all our own shirts, underwear, beer koozies and other stuff.”

Can you offer some thoughts on the allure of Dixon, N.M.?

"Stay the hell out of our town, yuppies," says Koko. "Except for the studio tour, when we'd like your money."

I've been listening to your music on MySpace, but the player produces a hyper echoey wobble, like Lee Perry and Martin Rushent on Ether fighting for control of a Pogues session. I'm sure it's just my computer. You should hear it though.

Sounds like maybe it IS your computer. Call Gizmo Productions (575) 758-9522. We record all our own music. A lot of our online material is from live shows.

Does everyone write?

Everyone does a bit of writing—some as group songs, some written solo and brought to the group.

What's your schedule looking like this season?

Check our website: twotonstrap.com. We're too lazy to book our own shows. If someone else wants to do that, please call (575) 613-5914. Shadows and Dreams excluded. Fuck you. "Thanks for paying our bar tab, Brendan!"

Dreams? What was that about?
"Hey bartender. D’ya know how to make a redeye?"

4 ounces Beer
1 ounce Vodka
3 ounces Tomato Juice
1 whole Egg

Recording plans?

We record intermittently at Milton Records, and will be recording our full-length EP with Dave Costanza, hopefully.

Kannaroo—group effort or simply Kan?

Simply Kan. June 19. Sunshine Valley. Lots of bands. Free show. Free camping. Free love. kannaroo.com.

You are one of the more higher-profile Rock bands in the area. What is your take on the local music scene, and what can be done to improve it?

"Stale? Watered-down? Unoriginal?" says Max.
"I'm improving the scene!" says Kan. "Come to Kannaroo."
"They should change our name to the Brent BEAR Band," Koko pointed out, "because we're about to pull a grizzly on their asses."
“If you're tired of the same-old, same-old, come out to Kannaroo. Don't be a tool.”

Thank you, Two Ton Strap.

-Michael Mooney
manbys.head@yahoo.com

INFATUATION THERAPY

Most of you probably have at least one or two hobbies that you spend some of your free time pursuing. You might be into gardening, playing golf or any number of other healthy diversions that help us cope with the pressures of everyday life. I’m sure you think you are pretty well adjusted and these leisure activities wouldn’t be considered an obsession or compulsion. But has your hobby ever crossed the line into a full-blown infatuation?

An infatuation can frequently occur within a hobby, as an intense period of concentrated interest that can last anywhere from a few weeks to several months. One example might be of someone who enjoys reading, suddenly having to track down every known book from a particular author, and refuses to read anything else until they’ve finished them all. A person that finds decorating their home rewarding could also exhibit some obsessive behavior by needing to find an accessory for their kitchen or living room, and then proceed to visit every antique shop/flea market within a hundred miles of where they live in search of the “perfect” piece. Hikers can feel compelled to reach all mountain summits over a certain height in the state they live in. These obsessions can go in any direction and are really endless in their possibilities. I bring this up because we may not share any of the same interests, but we can all understand each other’s need for the enthusiastic pursuit of personal happiness.

The infatuations that infrequently take control of me are usually (but not always) music related. Countless times in the last 40 years of buying and listening to music, I have found myself needing to hear every album or CD a band has released. I’ll also have to track down all books written about that particular group or artist, and travel to see them perform live. Some early infatuations lasted for years (Grateful Dead), other times it lasts only three or four weeks (Rockabilly legend Charlie Feathers). Then I return to my normal listening habits. I have also done an extended immersion where, 24/7, I play nothing but a certain artist or group. A music immersion is a “burst” within an infatuation. An example of a musical immersion would be when you wake up and the first music you put on the stereo, ipod or computer is your current infatuation. You listen to their music while driving your car; it continues to be played at your place of work and is also heard when you get home in the evening. I’ve gone weeks with an immersion (Muslimgauze), until I feel that I have an initial understanding of their sound and history. Through the years, immersions have happened when an artist that I’m not familiar with (guitarist Derek Bailey) interests me, or there is someone I already like but realize I need to hear the rest of their extensive catalogue (The Fall). Currently, I am infatuated with the Blue Note jazz record label. Specifically, I’m immersed in everything they released from 1957 to 1967 by sax men Hank Mobley and Tina Brooks, pianist Sonny Clark and guitarist Grant Green. I’m not new to this period of jazz, but have realized that I had missed a lot of great music from that era by concentrating on established performers like Art Blakey or Dexter Gordon. This current immersion has been going on for about three weeks, and it could continue for quite a while—or it could end as quickly as it began.

With all this talk of infatuations, obsessions and immersions, you probably think I’ve got a lot of personal issues to deal with on my end. You may be right, but the next time you spend every waking moment of a weekend skiing, or spend all day shopping endlessly for the perfect pair of jeans or a hanging flower basket for your patio, you have also experienced an immersion. We can debate the merits and labeling of all these different activities, and I obviously would never advocate getting lost in drugs or other destructive actions. The only thing I know for sure is that it’s the people who don’t have any healthy interests that are the ones who puzzle me the most. So much of our lives have to follow a daily routine, we all need something that keeps things interesting, an activity to look forward to. If you find your current lifestyle getting stale, may I suggest you start immediately in the fanatical pursuit of something. Life is short, and there are so many things to get wrapped up in before it’s all over. I can’t wait until tomorrow; you never know when a new infatuation might begin.
Jim Webb
webbjuice@comcast.net

Gimme Five

THE SECRET MUSEUM:
Jim Webb & Michael Mooney

Jim Webb writes:

Mike--

After spewing forth some verbiage recently on mega selling bands Bachman – Turner Overdrive and Grand Funk Railroad, it seems like the right time to unleash our personal Top Five most underrated bands/artists. The only qualifier I would like to add to my list is that for me they not only had to be making great music that is overlooked by the masses; but also consistently played by me. I have bought and enjoyed a lot of cult favorites through the years (Big Star, Magnetic Fields, Tortoise for just three), but that doesn’t mean they were regularly played after initially checking them out. How much you actually listen to a given cd has to be the ultimate measure in anyone’s personal rankings of favorites – whether the group / musician is known or unknown. To summarize the immortal words of our ex-Secretary of Defense and neighbor Donald Rumsfeld – “There are known unknowns, and unknown unknowns.” I will apply Rumsfeldian theory in a musical context, rating each musician / group after a brief description of their work.

1.) Bill Nelson

Bill is a very talented guitarist who was the leader of U.K. 70’s rock band Be Bop Deluxe, and has been releasing his own solo recordings since the early eighties. Prolific would be an understatement since he has forty -eight full length cd releases since 1991. He works in a variety of styles from three minute slices of electro- pop with vocals, to half hour instrumental tracks that weave electric guitar with washes of synth and percussion that always have a strong melodic content. A one man band that works out of his home studio, his music never has an overly slick feel to it, and he always gets a great sound on his recordings. His piece de resistance for me is his 6 cd box set released in 2002 titled Noise Candy. When is the last time someone released six hours of new material? It covers the full gamut of his sound palette from guitar dominated rock tunes, to futuristic cosmic cowboy music and everything in between. With that many releases over the last fifteen plus years, one of his knocks is that parts of his recent work start to sound too similar. Anything he’s done since ’91 is very consistent, and the current period from 2002 to the present will be remembered as The Golden Age of Nelson. Bill’s still going strong though at age 61, and even with his extensive back catalogue I’m still greedy for more.

Rumsfeld Rating – Known Unknown.

Bill has been around the block, and some people might remember him from his Be Bop Deluxe days, but he hasn’t been played on American radio or done a proper tour of the U.S. since the 70’s.


2.) The Bevis Frond

Nick Saloman is The Bevis Frond. He’s another guitar maverick from England who has been making music since the late seventies. Nick is a totally different kettle of fish than Mr. Nelson. Saloman is a throwback to the late sixties when psychedelic guitar ruled. I’m not talking about the clean guitar leads of Jerry Garcia, but a blazing fuzz thrash that at times explodes out of your speakers a la the MC 5. Miasma was the first release in 1986 and was soon followed by Inner Marshland and then Triptych. If Jimi Hendrix style guitar is your cup of tea then hop aboard, and I’m not talking about the Stevie Ray Vaughn variety of safe blues rock, but the anything goes guitar freak outs that made America the home of the free in the sixties. Nick is a solid songwriter and guitarist whose recorded work is only hampered by his limited vocal range. Some people might say his early four track home recordings are too lo-fi in quality, and that he seems to be trapped in his bedroom with a lava lamp playing endless guitar solos. I’d counter that he’s simply stuck to his guns, and hope he finds a way to keep making great music. Any of the first three cd’s are worth hearing, and Through the Looking Glass, New River Head, North Circular, and Son of Walter are also prime examples of Nick Saloman’s musical creativity.

Rumsfeld Rating – Unknown Unknown

A few rare club tours in the early 90’s but The Bevis Frond are a classic below the radar group.

3.) Muslimgauze

Bryn Jones was a 22 year old white male from Manchester, England when he began his musical odyssey in 1983. He was heavily influenced by the Israeli / Palestinian conflict, and was outraged at what he considered to be Israeli racism and human rights violations against the Palestinian people; he vowed to champion their struggle. He taught himself to play various hand drums, and then became highly skilled in the intricate rhythms and patterns of Arabic percussion. All of his subsequent cd and song titles referred back to the Middle East conflict, and referenced events, Arab towns and Islamic imagery that are all bound up in this continuing struggle. The music besides frequently having a Middle – Eastern flavor is heavy on a pounding percussion bed that lets various tape loops and recorded Arab voices drift in and out of focus. Repetition plays a large role in the sound world of Muslimgauze. Repeating percussion tracks add to the hypnotic quality of his work, but the flipside to this is that some tracks just go on far too long without enough variation. Another musician with a large body of work, Muslimgauze has over one hundred different releases. At one point I had every one. Obsessive, check. Compulsive, check. I’ve since whittled it down to my key 30 or so titles (does that make me more normal?)Some are more stripped down bass n’ drum oriented (Lo Fi India Abuse), others more unrelenting in their rhythmic attack (Arab Quarter). My favorite are the cd’s that combined his intricate percussion with voices floating in and out of the mix like a dry wind blowing over the Sinai ( Al Zulfiquar Shahed, Return of Black September). If you only wanted to try one, I would go with the three cd effort titled Fatah Guerrilla. You get a little of all his different styles on this one, if you don’t like Muslimgauze after hearing this – don’t even try any of the others. Bryn died of a rare blood disease in 1999 and in my opinion the vault releases that have come out since then are for true fanatics only. They are sparser of the rich ideas that were abundant on some of his work that was released while he was alive.

Rumsfeld Rating – Unknown Unknown

Muslimgauze only ever played a handful of live dates, very little media coverage

4.) Jackie Leven

He released his first LP Control in 1971 while living in Madrid (Spain) under the stage name of John St. Field. It has since become a sought after folk, psychedelic classic for its haunting tales with unusual vocal arrangements. He was also the main writer, vocalist in the band Doll by Doll that was active in the U.K. rock scene from 1978 to 1982. After a brief attempt a solo career he retreated into a haze of drug and personal issues that took a number of years for him to sort out. He returned to the music scene with his 1994 release entitled The Mystery of Love, is Greater Than the Mystery of Death and has been averaging about one new cd per year since then. What puts Jackie on this list? A great voice and a unique vision that compels him to write about what most other singers have ignored. His songs will at times confront issues of loneliness and despair, or choices made in life with a frankness that will be too raw for some. There is a beauty to his words that makes me want to mention his influences like poet’s Rilke or Akhmatova over other modern day solo artists who simply churn out their personal dairies in boring detail. Leven’s way of doing things is definitely outside the box since he has Robert Bly and other guests regularly recite poetry on his cd’s in the space between the recorded songs, and he has also never toured the United States. If you’ve had your fill for a while of American songsmiths like Lyle Lovett or John Prine (whom I both like), or can’t seem to get into Dylan and the old warhorses anymore, give Jackie a try. He isn’t always soothing if you only want some happy music after a long day at work, but for discriminating tastes Jackie might just become your new favorite bottle of singer/songwriter wine. Personally I wish he would rock out more, we’ve seen that side of him in Doll by Doll, but that part of his music seems to be in the past. In thirty years of listening to him I’ve rarely gotten tired of hearing about his many traveled roads and the experiences on them.

Rumsfeld Rating - Known Unknown

Jackie has a small but devoted following in Germany, Norway and the U.K. When is that loveable fat bastard going to do a U.S. tour?

5.) The Flower Kings

Good god, how did a progressive rock band from Sweden sneak into the top five? Two words – Roine Stolt. He is the lead guitarist, sometime vocalist and chief songwriter for this group that began in 1994. All of the classic 70’s elements of Yes, Genesis and King Crimson are present in their sound, but that never bothered me like it has some of their critics. If Stolt and Co. can unleash an epic that is as good as Yes’s Close to the Edge (Stardust We Are), what do I care who their influence was on a given track? They do have a 59 minute song titled Flower Power, so some warnings need to be issued. If you have absolutely played out your Genesis and Yes cd’s, this is your band. I think their best period is from 1999 to 2002 which includes Space Revolver and the two cd release Flower Power. Their more recent work (Paradox Hotel) just hasn’t had the great songs that made their earlier releases so strong. This is not overplayed music by Prog-fusion tech heads that lacks passion or feeling. Roine Stolt writes in a variety of styles, but usually has great melodies attached to his down to earth lyrics. Too bad only their European audiences (and a few rare U.S. club tours) have been able to see what they’re up to.

Rumsfeld Rating – Known Unknown

The Flower Kings have played Europe semi - regularly and the occasional Prog Festival in the U.S.

The next time I’m in Taos I’ll see if Don Rumsfeld wants to get together for a scotch, and listen to some of these cd’s. What he thinks about them at this point is an unknown unknown.-Jim Webb
webbjuice@comcast.net
________________________________________________________________________________________

Michael Mooney writes:

Jim-

Here are five regular rotation selections from me (chronological):

1. Mellow Candle (Swaddling Songs- 1972) - Rumored to be the worst-selling LP in the history of Deram Records, Swaddling Songs is one of the Great Lost Albums of Rock. Sort of Prog, sort of English Folk, and sort of neither, it’s a one-of-a-kind recording that, for me, conjures up that in-between time of the early 70s (before the rot set in) when anything was possible. I probably play this CD more than any other. Reissues abound.

Also recommended: The Virgin Prophet (demos)

2. Kleenex (aka LiLiPUT) - The best Punk group not from the English-speaking world, Kleenex personifies everything that was right about the late 70s DIY musical revolution: fun, spirited, and slightly ridiculous. They should have been huge.

Kleenex’s Complete Recordings are readily available as a double disc set from Kill Rock Stars, and it’s great.

3. Microdisney – Ironic before irony became just another stupid pop culture device; creators of yuppie-baiting yuppie music. Cathal Coughlan and Sean O’Hagan joined tuneful Pop with trenchant lyricism and created the anti-80s. Self-loathing but proud, spiteful yet compassionate, Microdisney foretold a future that, unfortunately, appears to be coming true: “No faith, no love. Nothing.” Whistle while you work.

The best: Everybody Is Fantastic (1984), We Hate You South African Bastards retitled Love Your Enemies for CD release (1984); The Clock Comes Down The Stairs (1985); Peel Sessions (1989)

The other two: Crooked Mile (1987), 39 Minutes (1988)

4. Ian Masters (Pale Saints, Spoonfed Hybrid, E.S.P. Summer, I’m Sore, Friendly Science Orchestra, Wing Disk, Ashioto, Sore & Steal, etc.) For 20 years now Ian Masters has been creating some of Pop’s most adventurous music. Best of all is 1992’s In Ribbons, Pale Saints finest moment and one of the greatest recordings of the last 50 years.

Also recommended: The Comforts Of Madness (1990), Mrs. Dolphin (1990 EP compilation)- Pale Saints; Spoonfed Hybrid (1993), Hibernation Shock (1996)- Spoonfed Hybrid; E.S.P. Summer (1995); new Sore & Steal out soon.

5. Fovea Hex (Neither Speak Nor Remain Silent- 2006/2007) - Mellow Candle composer/vocalist Clodagh Simonds returns with a stunning 3-EP series (Bloom, Huge, Allure), and help from notables like Fripp, the Eno brothers, Carter Burwell, and Andrew McKenzie. The theme here seems to be Loss, and that notion is reinforced by the ambient solemnity of the recording. It’s hypnotic and quiet, yet also deceptively musical. Above all, though, is that delicately beautiful lived-in voice. I could listen to Clodagh Simonds sing all day long, and normally begin every Sunday by playing this set in sequence. Available individually or complete from Janet Records, Dublin.
-Michael Mooney

West Bank is a Volatile Place

Music by Muslimgauze

Political Songs For The Dying West

The Secret Museum
Michael Mooney & Jim Webb

Sing to Me of War

Anarchy! Go apeshit
Let them know you're sick of it
Write your congressman, tell him he sucks
He's only in it for the bucks

Anarchy burger!
Hold the government
Anarchy burger!
Hold the government
-The Vandals

Inspired by recent reportage at the Horse Fly, Jim and I decided to list some notable political songs. Turns out there are way too many of them, though not enough on a local level (how could there be?), so we’re going with a double LPs-worth of more or less idiosyncratic protest songs. Everybody sing along.

1. Summertime Blues- Eddie Cochran (1958)
Creepily subdued (cheerful even, and more effective for it), teen impotence and Rock
and Roll rage begin here.

2. Dead End Street- The Kinks (1966)
Lou Reed’s favorite Kinks song, it reached #5 in the UK. No chance of doing the same
in the USA. This is why:

There's a crack up in the ceiling,
And the kitchen sink is leaking.
Out of work and got no money,
A Sunday joint of bread and honey.

What are we living for?
Two-roomed apartment on the second floor.
No money coming in,
The rent collector's knocking, trying to get in.

We are strictly second class,
We don't understand,
Why we should be on dead end street.
People are living on dead end street.
Gonna die on dead end street.

On a cold and frosty morning,
Wipe my eyes and stop me yawning.
And my feet are nearly frozen,
Boil the tea and put some toast on.

What are we living for?
Two-roomed apartment on the second floor.
No chance to emigrate,
I'm deep in debt and now it's much too late.

We both want to work so hard,
We can't get the chance,
(Dead end!)
People live on dead end street.
(Dead end!)
People are dying on dead end street.
(Dead end!)
Gonna die on dead end street.

Dead end street (yeah)
Head to my feet (yeah)
Dead end street (yeah)
Dead end street (yeah)
Dead end street (yeah)
How's it feel?
How's it feel?

3. Monster- Steppenwolf (1969)
John Kay’s history of America in 9 minutes, 16 seconds:

We don't know how to mind our own business,
'cause the whole world's got to be just like us.
Now we are fighting a war over there.
No matter who's the winner, we can't pay the cost.
'Cause there's a monster on the loose,
it's got our heads into the noose (sic).
And it just sits there... watching."

4. Won’t Get Fooled Again- The Who (1971)

5. Feel Like A Number- Bob Seger (1978)
Bob doesn’t like being numerated. Neither do I.

6. Clampdown- The Clash (1979)

7. Big A Little A- Crass (1980)
A reasonably catchy “Introduction to Anarchism” via Religion, Royalty and Margaret
Thatcher. Sung by Steve Ignorant, it goes like this:

Big A, little A, bouncing B
The system might have got you but it won't get me

External control are you gonna let them get you?
Do you wanna be a prisoner in the boundaries they set you?
You say you want to be yourself, by christ do you think they'll let you?
They're out to get you get you get you get you get you get you get you

Hello, hello, hello, this is the Lord God, can you hear?
Hellfire and damnation's what I've got for you down there
On earth I have ambassadors, archbishop, vicar, pope
We'll blind you with morality, you'd best abandon any hope,
We're telling you you'd better pray cos you were born in sin
Right from the start we'll build a cell and then we'll lock you in
We sit in holy judgement condemning those that stray
We offer our forgiveness, but first we'll make you pay

External control…

Hello, hello, hello, now here's a message from your queen
As figurehead of the status quo I set the social scene
I'm most concerned about my people, I want to give them peace
So I'm making sure they stay in line with my army and police
My prisons and my mental homes have ever open doors
For those amongst my subjects who dare to ask for more
Unruliness and disrespect are things I can't allow
So I'll see the peasants grovel if they refuse to bow

External control…

Introducing the Prime Sinister, she's a mother to us all
Like the dutch boy's finger in the dyke her arse is in the wall
Holding back the future waiting for the seas to part
If Moses did it with is faith, she'll do it with an army
Who at times of threatened crisis are certain to be there
Guarding national heritage no matter what or where
Palaces for kings and queens, mansions for the rich
Protection for the wealthy, defence of privilege
They've learnt the ropes In Ireland, engaged in civil war
Fighting for the ruling classes in their battle against the poor
So Ireland's just an island? It's an island of the mind
Great Britain? Future? Bollocks, you'd better look behind
Round every other corner stands P.C. 1984
Guardian of the future, he'll implement the law
He's there as a grim reminder that no matter what you do
Big brothers system's always there with his beady eyes on you
From God to local bobby, in home and street and school
They've got your name and number while you've just got their rule
We've got to look for methods to undermine those powers
It's time to change the tables. The future must be ours

Big A, little A, bouncing B
The system might have got you but it won't get me

Be exactly who you want to be, do what you want to do
I am he and she is she but you're the only you
No one else has got your eyes, can see the things you see
It's up to you to change your life and my life's up to me
The problems that you suffer from are problems that you make
The shit we have to climb through is the shit we choose to take
If you don't like the life you live, change it now it's yours
Nothing has effects if you don't recognise the cause
If the programme's not the one you want, get up, turn off the set
It's only you that can decide what life you're gonna get
If you don't like religion you can be the antichrist
If your tired of politics you can be an anarchist
But no one ever changed the church by pulling down a steeple
And you'll never change the system by bombing number ten
Systems just aren't made of bricks they're mostly made of people
You may send them into hiding, but they'll be back again
If you don't like the rules they make, refuse to play their game
If you don't want to be a number, don't give them your name
If you don't want to be caught out, refuse to hear their question
Silence is a virtue, use it for your own protection
They'll try to make you play their game, refuse to show your face
If you don't want to be beaten down, refuse to join their race
Be exactly who you want to be, do what you want to do
I am he and she is she but you're the only you

8. This Ain’t No Picnic- Minutemen (1984)
D. Boon feels like a number:

Working on the edge
losing my self-respect
for a man who presides over me
the principles of his creed
punch in punch out
8 hours 5 days a week
sweat pain and agony
on Friday I'll get paid

Hey mister don't look down on me
for what I believe in-
I got my bills and the rent
I should go pitch a tent
but our land is not free
so I'll work my youth away
in the place of a machine

I refuse to be a slave

This ain’t no picnic!

-Michael Mooney (#A07187)
mooney@taosnet.com


1. Sixteen Tons- Tennessee Ernie Ford
This classic 1955 Number One tells of a coal miner’s (and all workers in general) fate;
you try to scratch out an honest living, but no matter how hard you work, you still wind
up in debt to someone. I dedicate this song to all the Taos County miners who lost their
jobs- I hope they find new work quickly.

You load sixteen tons and what do you get?
Another day older and deeper and debt
Saint Peter don’t you call me, ‘cause I can’t go
I owe my soul to the company store.


2. Rain on the Scarecrow- John Mellencamp
As far as I’m concerned this is easily Mellencamp’s best song. A tune about small,
independent American farmers and the difficulties they have in surviving in today’s
world. Why does our Government constantly bail out the The Banks and other financial
institutions in dire straits of their own making, while thousands of ordinary people
simply get crushed (through no fault of their own) and lose everything? Written in
1985, this song is even more relevant today.

Scarecrow on a wooden cross, blackbird in the barn
Four hundred empty acres that used to be my farm
I grew up like my daddy did, my grandpa cleared this land
When I was five I walked the fence while grandpa held my hand

Rain on the scarecrow, blood on the plow
This land fed a nation, this land made me proud
And son, Im just sorry theres no legacy for you now
Rain on the scarecrow blood on the plow

The crops we grew last summer weren’t enough to pay the loans
Couldn’t buy the seed to plant this spring and the farmers bank foreclosed
Called my old friend Schepman up to auction off the land
He said, “John its just my job and I hope you understand”
Hey, calling it your job, ol’ hoss, sure don’t make it right
But if you want me to, Ill say a prayer for your soul tonight
And Grandma’s on the front porch swing with a Bible in her hand
Sometimes I hear her singing Take Me To The Promised Land
When you take away a man’s dignity he can’t work his fields and cows

Well theres ninety-seven crosses planted in the courthouse yard
Ninety-seven families who lost ninety-seven farms
I think about my grandpa and my neighbors and my name
And some nights I feel like dyin’ like that scarecrow in the rain


3. No Human Rights for Arabs in Israel- Muslimgauze
Muslimgauze was the musical brainchild of a British-born white male named Bryn
Jones. All of Jones’ hundred plus releases dealt with Arab causes, and specifically
the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. He became a fervent anti-zionist after Israel’s
1982 invasion of Lebanon and was a tireless supporter of the Palestinian cause. This
song from a 1995 release contains Middle Eastern percussion with
electronic/ambient pulses and occasional have snippets of Arabic dialogue drifting
throughout. Jones died in 1999 at age 37 of a rare blood disease.


4. Black Cloud of Islam- Roy Harper
Written in 1989 by legendary U.K. singer/songwriter Harper (close friend of
Pink Floyd & Led Zeppelin, among others). Roy explains that it’s a rant against
organized religion and those who would use God’s name to justify violence, though
the song’s considerably more pointed than that.

I'm sick to the teeth of the news on the screen
of Hezbollah scum and jihad the obscene
whose men plant the bombs and then live feeling free
to watch women and children be killed on T.V.

Which Satan delivers a child a death curse
in the name of a worn out collection of verse
I've not read the book so I cannot recite
but I'd bet Salman Rushdie is just about right
underneath the black cloud of Islam

What kind of publicity needs so much blood
that's not for some sad diabolical god
selling himself as a two-bit Macbeth
as the expect in sentencing cousins to death
and what kind of god can this be anyway
that you have to prostrate to him five times a day
with hate in your heart and a gun in your hand
is force the only thing to understand
underneath the black cloud of Islam?

And the butchers who've got all this blood on their hands
are the ones who need god to be stood where he stands
blessing this kidnapping, murder and war
with books written hundreds of ages before

and woman in veils walking paces behind
doesn't sit easy in my mind
it speaks of oppression and no other choice
that rigid compliance with the loudest voice
underneath the black cloud of Islam

You can put a lead bullet clean through this guitar
'cos I'm not overjoyed with the story so far
sharing a world with the nutters of god
is as good as being six feet under the sod

Words that are written are all here to say
and these are the latest there are anyway
and I am the prophet so don't believe me
I'm the same as the old ones expect that I'm free
to give you a piece of my mind which is this
you're the worst of Jehovah’s blind witlessnesses
with your feet in the door of the deepest abyss
which is underneath the black cloud of Islam


5. Rich Man’s War- Steve Earle
It’s difficult to choose just one from Mr. Earle, but this is my favorite track from his 2004 release The Revolution Starts Now. This song begs the question- Would George Bush have sent either of his two young daughters to fight in Iraq?


Jimmy joined the army ‘cause he had no place to go
There ain’t nobody hirin’
‘round here since all the jobs went down to Mexico
Reckoned that he’d learn himself a trade maybe see the world
Move to the city someday and marry a black haired girl
Somebody somewhere had another plan
Now he’s got a rifle in his hand
Rollin’ into Baghdad wonderin’ how he got this far
Just another poor boy off to fight a rich man’s war

Bobby had an eagle and a flag tattooed on his arm
Red white and blue to the bone when he landed in Kandahar
Left behind a pretty young wife and a baby girl
A stack of overdue bills and went off to save the world
Been a year now and he’s still there
Chasin’ ghosts in the thin dry air
Meanwhile back at home the finance company took his car
Just another poor boy off to fight a rich man’s war

When will we ever learn
When will we ever see
We stand up and take our turn
And keep tellin’ ourselves we’re free

Ali was the second son of a second son
Grew up in Gaza throwing bottles and rocks when the tanks would come
Ain’t nothin’ else to do around here just a game children play
Somethin’ ‘bout livin’ in fear all your life makes you hard that way

He answered when he got the call
Wrapped himself in death and praised Allah
A fat man in a new Mercedes drove him to the door
Just another poor boy off to fight a rich man’s war

6. War- Bob Marley & The Wailers

The lyrics came from a speech that Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie gave before the U.N. General Assembly in 1963.

Until the philosophy which holds one race superior
And another inferior is finally and permanently
discredited and abandoned -

Everywhere is war -
Me say war.

That until there no longer
First class and second class citizens of any nation
Until the color of a man's skin
Is of no more significance than the color of his eyes -
Me say war.

That until the basic human rights
are equally guaranteed to all,
Without regard to race -
Dis a war.

That until that day
The dream of lasting peace,
World citizenship
Rule of international morality
Will remain in but a fleeting illusion to be pursued,
But never attained -
Now everywhere is war - war.

And until the ignoble and unhappy regimes
that hold our brothers in Angola, In Mozambique, South Africa
Sub-human bondage have been toppled,
Utterly destroyed -
Well, everywhere is war -
Me say war.

War in the east, War in the west,
War up north, War down south -
War - war - Rumors of war.
And until that day,
The African continent
will not know peace,
We Africans will fight - we find it necessary -
And we know we shall win
as we are confident
in the victory

7. Beds Are Burning- Midnight Oil
A passionate song about the native Aboriginal tribes of Australia, and how they were forcibly moved off their ancestral lands and relocated. Seems like a common solution used around the world when Das Kapitalists need more space.

Out where the river broke
The bloodwood and the desert oak
Holden wrecks and boiling diesels
Steam in forty five degrees

The time has come to say fair's fair
To pay the rent, To pay our share
The time has come, A fact's a fact
It belongs to them, Let's give it back

Four wheels scare the cockatoos
From Kintore East to Yuendemu
The western desert lives and breathes
In forty five degrees

How can we dance when our earth is turning
How do we sleep while our beds are burning
How can we dance when our earth is turning
How do we sleep while our beds are burning


8. Armalite Rifle- Gang of Four

U.K. band from Leeds in 1978 unleashes an anti-gun diatribe against both the police and the I.R.A. Ties in nicely with America’s current ongoing battles between hunters/ gun enthusiasts vs. citizens against semi/automatic weapons. The I.R.A. labeled its favorite gun “The Widowmaker”.

Armalite rifle- police and IRA
Armalite rifle- use it everyday
Breaks down easy, fits into a pram
A child can carry, it do it no harm
Armalite rifle and the holy trinity
It’s used against you for Irish jokes and the BBC
Armalite rifle- please skew the aim
Armalite rifle- use it everyday
The rifle does harm, it shoots for miles
If a bullet gets you in the heart, destroys your insides
Armalite rifle- police duty eh?
Armalite rifle- use it everyday
It’ll do you damage, it’ll do you harm
Blow your legs off, blow your guts out
I disapprove of it, so does Dave
It’ll do you damage, it’ll do you damage
Damage damage damage damage damage

Next time- our favorite Bubblegum Songs.
-Jim Webb
webbjuice@comcast.net