TV on the Radio in Person

Memo to the Showbox: If you are going to open your doors two hours before any music, please let us know that in advance. Otherwise, we will assume you're following standard operating procedure (doors an hour before opening acts) and will arrive accordingly. And then you end up with a grumpy crowd on your hands who have just been given an unexpected extra hour to drink. No one wants that.

Such was the scene at the Showbox Friday night, when Seattlest arrived at 8:45pm for what we thought was a 9pm show---only to be informed at the door that opening band Celebration wouldn't be going on until 10pm, with headliners TV on the Radio at 11pm. We were pissed, but bided our time by having a couple Smirnoff™ Jolly Ranchers, a drink that varied in ingredients as well as size depending on which bartender was pouring. The version we preferred included every flavor of vodka (except for vanilla), plus a splash of soda and cranberry. Juuuuuuuuice!

So we waited over an hour for the music to start, and when Celebration finally began their set (right on time, thankfully), we were less than impressed. We'd sum up lead singer Katrina Ford in four words: Poor Man's Karen O. Seriously, all she did was tone down the Yeah Yeah Yeahs singer's vocal stylings and theatrics. Her flouncing-about schtick got old real fast, and the only thing at all compelling about her performance was her left nipple poking through her shirtdress. Besides that, meh. Perhaps Celebration is better in recorded form, because we couldn't care less about them live.

We were greatly relieved when Celebration's set was done and TV on the Radio took the stage. Their setlist was evenly distributed between their stellar debut Young Liars EP, the mixed results of Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes, and their forthcoming, terribly-named Return to Cookie Mountain. Handsome lead singer Tunde Adebimpe, unlike the Celebration chick, was way compelling to watch---we think it's the deep Peter Gabriel-esque vocals coupled with his dramatic, lithe limb-flailing delivery. We're a big fan of guitarist Kyp Malone as well. His harmonizing falsetto always comes as a surprise, given his afroed and big-bearded look. And then there's David Andrew Sitek, otherwise known as "the white dude," who played a guitar with dangling metal chimes and sang along with Tunde, despite not having a mic. TV on the Radio saved two of our favorite songs for the encore, performing a driving, intense version of "Staring at the Sun," while Sitek broke things down beatbox-style on the sweetly unconventional love song "Ambulance."

TVotR always gives an energizing performance, and this show got us really excited for the new album. We'll be doing a countdown till Cookie Mountain is available, all the way to June 20th. To quote Jack Bauer, "Dammit!"

Photos care of Gavin Radkey.

Djivan Gasparyan - Endless Vision

Djivan Gasparyan

Maître incontesté du doudouk, instrument symbole de l'Arménie. La réputation de Djivan Gasparyan a largement dépassé les frontières de son pays.

Endless Vision

Ce disque est le témoignage d’un dialogue rare et précieux, d’une conversation profonde entre deux maîtres de musique enregistrée live au palais Niavaran de Téhéran en 2003. L’hôte se nomme Hossein Alizadeh. Virtuose du tar, le luth iranien, ancien chef et soliste de l’orchestre de la radio-télévision nationale, il chemine depuis des décennies dans les méandres de la musique classique persane. Pour l’occasion, il a troqué son tar pour un instrument très peu utilisé, le shurangiz, un luth à six cordes muni d’une table en peau.

Son invité n’est rien moins que Djivan Gasparyan, le maître du duduk, l’instrument arménien proche à la fois d’une clarinette et d’une bombarde qu’il a fait découvrir au monde entier via ses collaborations avec Peter Gabriel ou le Kronos Quartet. Derrière les deux hommes, l’ensemble Hamavayan, des voix, des percussions, d’autres cordes.

Le concert débute par une ouverture somptueuse d’Alizadeh, puis les voix s’imposent, envahissent l’espace. L’heure est à l’exploration sereine de nouvelles voies entre les traditions iranienne et arménienne. Sur des compositions d’Alizadeh, sur des improvisations, sur un poème exaltant l’amour contre la raison, sur une superbe chanson signée Gasparyan, Endless Vision est une ode envoûtante à la musique et à la vie.

Jean-Stéphane Brosse/ Mondomix

Look, you can see the roof of our house from here. In the water

Wondering what the map of Britain, Europe, the rest of the world will look like when the icecaps melt? Don't worry, there is (inevitably) a Google Maps page that shows how the coastline will look at various sea-level rises. Try it out at Alex Tingle's Flood Maps page (suitable background music: Peter Gabriel's "Here Comes The Flood". Here's the MIDI file. Here's the lyrics. Now go find your house).

Some music is worth the long wait

Peter Gabriel

If history is anything, Peter Gabriel's next album should come out sometime at the beginning of the next decade.

Gabriel is notorious for recording when he wants to. His last album "Up" came out 10 years after its predecessor. Fortunately, he is one of the few who does not disappoint after a lengthy lag.

PBS Interview Transcript

Transcript, April 21, 2006

In Your Eyes



BRANCACCIO:
Welcome to NOW.

Sometimes we don't realize the power we have in the palms of our hands. Got my cell phone here. Increasingly there are little video cameras built in to these. It's one thing to record the faces of your goofy friends. But what if you used something like this to record an abuse of human rights somewhere in the world?

It would be a powerful document that could force positive change. That's the idea behind a human rights group called Witness. Get cameras out there; collect and distribute the video. Make the world a more humane place. Witness was founded by a man you may recognize: Peter Gabriel. The Peter Gabriel of the legendary band Genesis. And the solo rock star Peter Gabriel who still sells out big stadiums. And as I learned, Gabriel isn't just the public face of Witness, he knows his stuff.

GABRIEL:
It's not just a case of watching it-- and getting the footage out. But it-- it's about inspiring activism.

BRANCACCIO:
It's a simple idea, really. Something close to seeing is believing. If the horrors could be caught on tape – how could they be denied?

GABRIEL:
It was clear that where there was footage-- where there were photos-- it was a great deal harder to bury stories. And-- that didn't guarantee action. Still doesn't. But at least-- the stuff couldn't be forgotten and it might inspire action.

BRANCACCIO:
The story of what makes Peter Gabriel much more than some celeb with a publicist and a cause, starts with, naturally enough, music.

He co-founded Genesis in 1967 when he was a teenager at a fancy private school in England.

As is the way with bands, Gabriel would venture out as a solo artist. He was an innovator... and a pioneer in the emerging world of music video – where he witnessed firsthand the extraordinary power of the medium. This one -- Sledgehammer – still shows up on lists of best videos of all time.

In 1980 Peter Gabriel ventured out again -- to use his status as a rock star to bring attention to political injustice.

It was the first leg of a global political journey...

GABRIEL:
When I got enlisted-- to do touring for Amnesty-- that was part of my sort of engagement process if you like that--

BRANCACCIO:
Amnesty International?

GABRIEL:
I got a call from Bono in '85. And--

BRANCACCIO:
Bono, he's behind everything this guy?

GABRIEL:
Yeah, yeah (laughter) he's-- he's responsible for a lot. And-- you know, he's a great musician but he's a very hard guy to say "no" to.

BRANCACCIO:
He joined Bono, Sting, Joan Baez, Tracy Chapman and many other performers for Amnesty International's human rights tours. They traveled to 15 countries on five continents.

Their mission: to bring attention to the abuse of human rights around the world.

GABRIEL:
And it was just an amazing, emotional, educational experience for me. And actually seeing-- the world in lots of different ways and meeting people who were front line activists that I found impossible to walk away from. You're talking to someone, you know, who's been tortured-- insufferable things. And-- you're watching-- someone describe how their family was murdered in front of them. And these are things that suddenly bring it home and make it physical, personal and emotional.

And so one of the things that shocked me on that tour was that people could not only suffer in that way, but that their stories could be really effectively denied, buried and forgotten.

BRANCACCIO:
Gabriel's music is still rockin' – and music as a medium has an undeniable power. But images – documentary images – they may have the extra – fast-acting power to change minds and change policies – policies that demean or do violence to human beings.

Why this approach? Multi-media technology? Why does it resonate with you personally?

GABRIEL:
Personally I think my dad was an electrical engineer. And-- he, with an Italian guy came up with a system called dial up program. Which was-- partly about electronic democracy, entertainment on demand, home shopping. But it was the beginning of the '70s. So all was accessed through the rotary dial.

I think he was a little ahead of it's time, but I saw him and watched him sort of campaigning for some of these ideas. And although the focus wasn't on human rights, I think it was something that I was particularly interested in.

BRANCACCIO:
The Witness principle acquired new wings as smaller, cheaper, easier to operate home video cameras became available.

Rodney king – 1991. That video went around the world. And Peter Gabriel and his Witness co-founders were able to use the international outcry over the police beating to help raise the money to put their idea into action.

GABRIEL:
Our sort of tag line, if you'd like, is "see it, film it, change it."

BRANCACCIO:
Witness is based in Brooklyn, New York. It partners with organizations around the world that may already be actively engaged in fighting abuse. Witness donates cameras and trains people – many who've never held a video camera before – to record eye witness accounts.

BRANCACCIO:
You know, you go to London and there are security cameras-- police security cameras practically at every street corner is seems. I was reading that recently New York was thinking of putting in 400 more. To what extent is your work with Witness A bit like switching those cameras around on the authorities?

GABRIEL:
Well I-- I think it's a lot like that. I think-- in England I believe we're the most observed country in the world. And-- in a way, you know, part of a thought was with this witness organization was that-- the idea of big brother controlling through observation-- works just as well in reverse. And little brother, little sister get hold of the cameras.

BRANCACCIO:
In its 14 years, witness--along with its partner organizations on the ground--has highlighted bad stuff around the world that's got to change.

BRANCACCIO:
Well let's look at an example of the power of video-- many Americans may have read printed accounts of the situation in Burma in South East Asia where there is what has been described as a slow genocide going on.

GABRIEL:
Over 600,000 people now internally displaced. Just-- living without much hope.

Witness works in South East Asia with the human rights group, Burma Issues. They document the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people.

BURMESE WOMAN:
"We can't live freely and safely because our lives are in danger. All my life I have had to flee so many times amid the bullets. But I have not died yet. Though I have seen many people die.

BRANCACCIO:
Burma has suffered through four decades of civil war and has been ruled by a succession of military dictatorships. General Than Shwe is considered to be one of the world's most brutal dictators and has been the leader for the past 14 years.

GREGORY:
The scale of human rights abuses in Burma is-- is horrendous.

BRANCACCIO:
Sam Gregory works as a video producer and human rights activist. He's been with Witness for six years and is project manager in charge of their Asia campaigns.

GREGORY:
What's happening in the east of the country where over the past decade over a million people have been displaced from their homes. That means their homes have been destroyed and they've been forced to flee into the forests to escape as refugees to Thailand."

BRANCACCIO:
Most of the people in Southeastern Burma are from the Karen ethnic minority. They have pushed for autonomy. And the central government has brutally responded.

GREGORY:
They burn the villages. They attack at harvest time to destroy people's ability to gather their crops to sustain their livelihoods. And for many people this suggests this is much more about controlling, assimilating, dominating the ethnic minorities than fighting a counter-insurgency campaign.

BRANCACCIO:
For many Karen people it's life on the run trying to stay one step ahead of the military.

GREGORY:
One other incredible statistic is that over a million people in Burma are engaged in forced labor. They're forced to build roads for the military government and in some cases forced to act as human-- landmine sweepers, which means they're sent in front of the troops to-- to detect the land mines.

BRANCACCIO:
Members of the local group "Burma Issues", who shot this video are themselves refugees who risked their lives to capture these images. It is a concern, the wisdom of giving cameras to people where there are such stiff penalties.

GREGORY:
the risks they take are pretty severe. It is illegal to film in Burma without a permit. If you're caught with video it's quite likely you would disappear. You would be taken into custody by the army and you wouldn't be heard of again.

BRANCACCIO:
It's then up to Witness to circulate the footage. To get the images in front of the right people – members of congress, government officials, international courts - those with the power to enact change. It's here that the Peter Gabriel brand really comes to the fore.

GABRIEL:
Tonight we're going to take our Burma footage up to congress and do a bit of lobbying there.

BRANCACCIO:
Recently, Peter Gabriel held a screening with Republican senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky to urge congress to continue sanctions against the government of Burma and to push for a United Nations Security Council resolution which calls for a peaceful transition to a democratically elected government.

GABRIEL:
In the years that we've been going we've found that-- campaigning with the footage, with politicians, with legislatures-- actually produces results. Sometimes the film is used in courts. So there are things you can do-- outside of just trying to get it on news programming.

BRANCACCIO:
Witness isn't just about tracking abuses in far-flung countries you may never visit. It's also gathered footage from cameras trained on abuses closer to home.

The California Youth Authority is that state's prison system for younger people. There are eight juvenile prisons with over 4,000 inmates, the most of any state.

Witness's partner in California is the civil rights group the Ella Baker Center. Their "Books not Bars" campaign is fighting to close what they see as the youth authority's abusive and ineffective youth prisons and reinforce, instead, rehabilitation.

Books not Bars got lots of people to take notice ofthe abuse they documented.

NEWS REPORT:
"The California youth authority is on the hot seat again...28 separate punches.

TALKINGTON:
"My son got 6 years, when they were taking him down I can hear him screaming...

"Since he's been in protective custody he's been jumped four times. And it's a lockup unit. Everybody's in their own room. The only way he can possibly get injured is because of staff neglect.

"He requested over 10 times for school books and he was denied every time. They won't let him go to the library. They say he's in protective custody."

BRANCACCIO:
For prisoners in protective custody, including those deemed violent, education is a bizarre affair... books inserted through the food slot. A lawsuit successfully challenged this practice. The state's solution? Classes taught to inmates in individual locked cages.

After public protest the use of cages was discontinued. The Youth Authority returned to the books through the food slots system. There has been a management reorganization, and it's now called the Division of Juvenile Justice. But Books not Bars says that conditions are still not right for 20th century California, or anywhere else.

BRANCACCIO:
So you Witness, as it were, shocking video like this. But in a practical sense, out in California, what do you do with it?

GABRIEL:
Well that was shown-- to 85 members of the legislature. And the state senate majority leader was able to introduce legislation five days after that was shown.

BRANCACCIO:
Which is reforms that are currently-- they're working on in California as we speak?

GABRIEL:
Indeed. And-- hopefully it-- it's gonna become a lot more humane. And a lot more education focused in the future.

BRANCACCIO:
This is a tough undertaking, breaking through the cultural noise to inspire people to take action. People who might want to help are either overloaded or lulled into cynicism by the horrors of the world.

GABRIEL:
Alienation that is the luxury-- that we can't afford anymore. People go on about compassion fatigue and for sure, you know, everyone has a limited capacity to do something. But-- I'm a huge believer that if you can create these person to person links, you know, one person in this country, one person in another-- that-- you know, we'll start feeling these things more personally.

And the more I think that we can start being conscious of that, that-- I hope the-- the greater the chance of-- thinking-- with a little more-- compassion towards-- our fellow man and-- and what's going on around-- the planet.

BRANCACCIO:
If you connect with another human being, facing-- an abuse like this, it is hard to look away. Here's an example from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Meet Dieudonne, he's a child soldier in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He talks about his childhood with his friend innocent.

DIEUDONNE:
"We fought together at Buyembe. He was shot several times and then they crushed his head. After the fight we carried and buried him. I remember it so well. He was my best friend"

BRANCACCIO:
The war among competing militias struggling in vain for control in the democratic republic of Congo, or DRC, is being fought in part by children who don't seem much taller than their rifles. The country has been ravaged by a war that has lasted for nearly a decade.

Witness and their partner in the DRC, a group called Ajedi-ka work with child soldiers to get them out of the military and reintegrate them with their families and communities.

ABBAS:
It's the deadliest conflict in Africa with over four million lives that have been lost to date.

BRANCACCIO: Hakima Abbas is a human rights activist and filmmaker. She runs Witness's projects in Africa and the Middle East.

ABBAS:
Some two million people have been forced to flee their homes and over 20,000 children have been recruited into the armed forces.

BRANCACCIO:
In this bloody war, children fight on many sides.

This girl, January is 16 years old.

JANUARY:
"my rank is Sergeant first class.

BRANCACCIO:
She joined the army when she was 10 years old after witnessing the ruthless killing of friends and family.

JANUARY:
"I kill with bullets on the frontlines. When we are not on the front lines it doesn't make sense to kill with bullets. My strength is killing with knives and rope.

BRANCACCIO:
Children are recruited or forced into service, because they are easily indoctrinated. The life is what no child or any human should have to endure.

ABBAS:
"The children-- are living in appalling conditions. They suffer from malnutrition. They are often sick and often die of preventable disease because of lack of access to healthcare. Because of the conditions in the camps. Some of the girls-- raped or-- subjected to sexual violence.

BRANCACCIO:
January has left the armed forces. She has recently given birth to a boy and works with Ajedi-ka to demobilize other girl soldiers.

And as this footage gets screened by decision makers there are some early signs of international justice. Thomas Lubanga, a former militia leader in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been arrested for enlisting child soldiers. Because there is no effective national judicial system in place in the DRC, the case will be one of the first to be heard by the new international criminal court – a subject that animates Peter Gabriel.

GABRIEL:
I'm a huge believer in the International Criminal Court. I think it's one of the most exciting innovations of my lifetime. And-- the idea that-- that there is not impunity for people to-- to slaughter or-- murder or-- or kick people out of-- their homes, it's really important. And-- in the states here-- there's more resistance to the international criminal court than almost-- almost anywhere else. And I think there needs to be a lot more lobbying.

BRANCACCIO:
Well the United States is not a signatory to their treaty.

GABRIEL:
No and-- and in fact you could say that it's worked against-- the international criminal court. And-- the gains of it so much outweigh risks of some unjust prosecution-- against American citizens. You know, I-- I think-- it's-- we really need to-- to fight that.

BRANCACCIO:
I wanna talk to you about moving people from being shocked at an image, to actually taking action. Now, here's an example of a very difficult few frames of video to view. It comes from the country of Paraguay. It involves-- the mental health care system in that country, which clearly needed some improvement.

These scenes were shot in 2003 by a former Witness partner organization called mental disability rights international, or MDRI. Warning: it's especially tough stuff. In this neuro psychiatric hospital in Asuncion, Paraguay, 18 year old Jorge Bernal and 17 year old Julio Cesar Rotela have been locked in 6 x 6 foot isolation cages left naked, eating off the floors in their own filth for four long years.

MDRI released this footage and it was used in a segment by the global broadcaster, CNN.

GABRIEL:
The president of Paraguay-- then found about it, personally visited this institution, fired the director, and set up commissions straight away to look at their mental health program.

BRANCACCIO:
MDRI filed a urgent petition with the inter American commission on human rights, requesting immediate intervention. In December of 2003 the commission approved the petition.

Julio is still in the psychiatric hospital but he's no longer in an isolation cell and conditions have improved. Jorge has now left the institution. He has returned home and lives with his family.

BRANCACCIO:
Now, you've actually had to spend a lot of time viewing some of this stuff. I mean, doesn't it damage you after a while to see how human beings can be with one another?

GABRIEL:
I think it-- it appalls you at first when you start seeing-- you know, what people actually do in the world. But, I find some of the people that you meet-- that are-- are fighting the abuses extraordinarily inspiring.

BRANCACCIO:
Well, think about it. You could've, based on the proceeds of "Salisbury Hill" and "Sledgehammer," put yourself in one of those fancy star compounds, and really turned inward, I suppose.

GABRIEL:
Well, I mean, I do have plenty of luxury and enjoyment, and I am quite selfish in some of the things that I enjoy. But I try and balance it, and I feel comfortable with that now. So, I'm not suggesting everybody abandons all their pleasures. Just, to take a lot, give a lot.

BRANCACCIO:
It's interesting to see that you haven't given up on the earth. I was speaking around a very similar cafe table with the author Kurt Vonnegut. And he's funny.

GABRIEL:
Very funny.

BRANCACCIO:
But, he thinks it's too late for the earth. He thinks we've already screwed it up. The earth is going to slough us off like you know, we're some sort of germ. Because-- we've messed it all up. You seem to have still some hope for this.

GABRIEL:
Well, I'm an optimist. And I haven't yet found another place that I can live on this planet.

BRANCACCIO:
Peter Gabriel, thank you very, very much.

GABRIEL:
Yeah, thanks. I appreciate it.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

Fear and Courage - Pt 1.

The Division. Protection or Weakness?

By Joaquín Ramón Herrera

I have been thinking a lot on racism lately. Racism, and her always-lurking father, Fear. I have begun thinking of these things more critically, and more often, since our war on Afghanistan. And I have been doing so because it is called for. In the last few years, and it began immediately after the WTC attacks, I have noted a rise in racist thought and expressions from too many people. In our very human fear and need to survive, we have traveled a long way down the road to alienating a lot of humans who are scared just like ourselves, and to aggravating the racism (tribal instinct?) already latent in all of us. This has ballooned since the introduction of HR 4437, which of course, is a natural progression following the instinct to be safe from the Strange and Unknown Other.

Most Americans share one thing: we come from other lands. Even though many of us were born here, our families came here on boats, by foot, or as a captive. We came here from another place, not from a stork, or a hole in the space-time continuum. So we all share a struggle for the "right" to be on American soil, somewhere in our past. In our histories, people have shed blood or tears for our citizenship. We may no longer see them at the family barbecue, but it was not you and I who struggled for our right to say "I am an American." You and I, like heirs in a wealthy family, simply benefit from our birth here; not by any work or sacrifice of our own.

Some of us, however, are closer to that struggle. Some of us have swum across streams of sewage, nearly starved in the desert, been shot at, or brutally beat in our attempts to make it to America—and only years ago. Some of us work our fingers to the bone day in and day out feeding our children, hoping one day to be a True Citizen, and fearing the bill or law or policeman who might turn it all upside down; even though we may already pay taxes, and help the big American Economic Machine to chug along, doing all its deeds; even though the notion of American patriotism is often far stronger in the breast of an immigrant than in that of an apathetic, comfortable, and otherwise-successful natural-born citizen.

Other American residents have been here for generations and don't think about it, anymore; they imagine themselves American-to-tha-Bone, as if their family has been here since the days the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria docked. As if when the throngs of people began arriving and stepping off the vessels that carried them here, the land was pristine and awaiting their use and their flag and their new laws and judgment.

A smaller number of that group even thinks the pregnant mothers escaping Mexico's sometimes-cruel conditions should be shot dead in the attempt. There's a video game circulating on the Internet that allows a xenophobe to fulfill this sick little fantasy vicariously (and sorry, I'm not linking). I have sometimes become personally acquainted with such unfortunate views and attitudes by way of email, and usually after writing one of my essays on the topic. These nasty fragments of American fear and hatred are not the majority, which is good. The majority of Americans, Wolf, realize the diverse makeup and history of America are what make America what she is. Tolerance and acceptance are far more powerful and wise attributes than fear and intolerance. And those who understand America's core (in my opinion) see America as a wise and evolved soul. Additionally, such hate-filled ranters do nothing but confirm their own critics' condemnation by sending out their vitriolic missives. But I suspect they lack the insight to realize this.

The Metaphor on Terror is fertile breeding ground for this type of intolerance, fear, and hate. For some of us remain in the "Fight or Flight" reactionary state that naturally follows such catastrophe. And from what this writer has seen, racism has been given a mighty platform as of late. This is difficult to prevent, I imagine, in a time when the country is mired down in a (colloquial and metaphorical but never formally declared) war with darker-skinned people that is producing literal corpses, and who are purported to be sneaking amongst us, and lurking about in our ports, our neighborhoods, and our telephone conversations. We are continually handed this irrational fear by those who profit from the violence it breeds.

I don't think the racism I speak of—the type that people catch and radiate, like trapped animals—is born of evil. Like all racism, its father is Fear. And watching almost three thousand people die three thousand times on television does a lot to sow irrational fear and fury in the hearts of even the most reasonable people. Especially when their leaders feed the flames of this destructive thought process.

I am a Survivor. And I don't mean of the 9/11 attacks. I mean of some threatening and dangerous situations in my past. But I don't stop with the identification of escaped victimhood. That is not enough for me. I am not only a Survivor, but I am a Thriver. And to me, that means I do not lay down or run away after I am delivered a threat or a blow. After such an event, I begin thinking of what measure I should take to protect me and Mine, and what measures I should take to affect my path so that I can continue to grow and seek liberty, a productive life, and the pursuit of my and my family's happiness. But just as Fear is the father of racism, Fear is the Mother of Violence, which Peter Gabriel has so eloquently reminded us with his song of the same name. (And so we must assume that Fear spawns many crippled children, and they hold hands in their mission to obscure light and true freedom.) The truth of that song can be seen in the instance of my cheering the attack on Afghanistan from my New York City apartment, in September of 2001. I was rooting for that attack because I was terrified. I am not even engaging the argument of whether or not we were justified in that instance. I am simply telling you my personal reasons for wanting violence at the moment. This is a confession, not a brag. I was scared, and like a wounded cat, I was all claws. And fear. I even stopped picking up my mail after a local post office was hit with Anthrax. It just hung around outside my door, like the faint whiff of charred matter that laced the city's air for weeks. I understand being afraid. I understand wanting to be safe. I understand fearing the Other.

So...of whom should we be afraid? Everyone outside our borders? Everyone who physically resembles the people the government claims attacked us on that horrible day? Everyone who sounds like the hijackers? Muslims? All non-Americans? All who do not agree with Bush's paradigm of a never-ending war on an invisible enemy? Fans of the Colbert Report? Arab-looking people with cameras on the subway platform? Chinese tourists who snap too many pictures of trains, or banks? Cab drivers with turbans? Delivery men who have scraggly, dark, oily-looking beards and carry the boxes very gingerly? Bloggers who hate the White House occupants? People who sing our Anthem in their own language? Mexicans standing on the corners, hoping for a day's work? Mexicans who send money across the border? Mexicans sending money to Egypt? Mexicans, themselves? Egyptians?

It's a tough line to draw. Fear has a way of growing when you feed it even a crumb. And rather than enlarging the spirit or the mind, fear darkens and shrinks our options; brings us to a room where we are backed against a corner and the enemy is approaching.

This is not life, to me. And this is Part III of my formal declaration to the world and my own country and countrymen:

I will not live in a dark corner. I will not live afraid. I will not fear so easily. I refuse to hate so easily, and especially on distinctions like what part of land you are standing on, or what side of an imaginary line you are standing, or what color your skin is. I will not buy my allegiance wholesale, have it fed to me by Fox-Pravda; or stammer, stare and shout at the screen for your minute of hate. Look elsewhere for captives.

I make up my own mind. I do it using my heart and my thoughts and my experience. I will (and do) decide to save my hate, my repulsion, and my righteous rage for those who lie to me, who use me for their own purposes, or who profit from the pain and suffering of other humans.

This includes any non-American who tries to attack my people in the name of a holy war, and any American politician who encourages and aids such attacks using similar justification. This most certainly does not include immigrants chasing a dream that our nation has stickered upon every television in the world, or carved into our statues and symbols of America. After all, why do we declare so proudly that at the base of our might is the notion that you ought to "send us your tempest-tossed," if all we plan to do is throw them in prison for being tossed harder than the others? And all in the name of a war that isn't even worthy of being declared as much by the aggressors?

Part II to integrate my coverage of a Human Chain Immigration Support event in New York City, May 1, 2006 (yesterday), where I took the above photo.

Authors Website: http://www.wreckingboy.com

In Your Eyes

This Week's Show: In Your Eyes

Musician and human rights activist Peter Gabriel is empowering people to document human rights abuses in their own backyards and bring them to the world's attention. After achieving fame as a singer, Gabriel helped set up Witness, a Brooklyn-based organization that trains human rights advocates to use video cameras, provided by the group, to document abuses around the world. Their motto: 'See it, film it, change it.'

"It was clear that where there was footage, where there were photos, it was a great deal harder to bury stories," Gabriel told NOW. David Brancaccio spoke to Peter Gabriel on a recent trip to Washington D.C., where he was lobbying members of Congress to do more to end human rights abuses in Burma using Witness video as his weapon.

Human rights themes can be found in some of Gabriel's earliest hits, such as the track "Biko", a homage to the anti-apartheid, South African activist Stephen Biko, who died in prison in 1977. Gabriel was enlisted by fellow musician Bono in 1985 for Amnesty International's human rights tour, which Gabriel describes as an amazing emotional and educational experience.

"One of the things that shocked me on that tour was that people could not only suffer … but that their stories could be really effectively denied, buried and forgotten," Gabriel said. Inspired by his father and his experiences with Amnesty International, Gabriel co-founded Witness, in New York, back in 1992.

Witness-sponsored videos have shined light on human rights abuses in over 60 countries on issues ranging from forced labor in Burma to the neglect of juveniles held in California's prison system. And the videos have made a difference. After the California legislature viewed the Witness-back video "System Failure: Violence, Abuse and Neglect in the California Youth Authority," it introduced legislation to tackle some of the problems exposed.

Are we bearing enough witness to the world? Next time on NOW.

Tony Levin is ace of the bass

(And he can sing, too, in case you didn't know)

Maybe it's his distinctive look and bearing — the chrome dome and martial mustache that wouldn't be out of place on a Prussian officer, along with an onstage intensity that's forced many a vocalist to work that much harder for the spotlight. Or, perhaps it's his toy box of custom-crafted bass guitars and his vanguard virtuosity on the Chapman Stick, a device that appears more of a weapon than an instrument — one that can be plucked, slapped and bowed to produce a range of sounds limited solely by the globally grounded consciousness and intergalactic imagination of its master.

Whatever the reason, Tony Levin stands as a real pop music anomaly: the "sideman" as star-quality attraction in a field where the bass player has more often than not been the sole reference point of sanity on the stage (see the late John Entwistle). This month, the side-star shines once more, with a new CD ("Resonator," on the Narada label) and a new tour that returns the Tony Levin Band to The Saint in Asbury Park on Thursday.

Since his inauspicious recording debut on a 1962 disc by the Greater Boston Youth Orchestra, the sought-after studio man has backed many of the most stellar names in rock (John Lennon, David Bowie, Paul Simon, Stevie Nicks and Pink Floyd, to name a few) as well as not-rock (Burt Bacharach, Cher, Karen Carpenter, Chuck Mangione and even the cast of "Sesame Street"). To followers of that exhilaratingly arty strain of rock known as progressive (or "prog"), the Levin legacy is rooted within his tenure with King Crimson, as well as his long recording and touring association with Peter Gabriel.

Two of Levin's bandmates from the Gabriel days, drummer Jerry Marotta and "Synergy" synthmeister Larry Fast, play prominent roles in Levin's current project. They're joined by Todd Rundgren band veteran Jesse Gress on guitar — as well as by the latest addition to the lineup, brother Pete Levin on organ and piano. With guest appearances by Crimson's Adrian Belew and Toto's Steve Lukather further seasoning the sonic stew, the "Resonator" disc spotlights a subset of Levin's skills that might surprise the casual fan — namely, eight of the 10 tracks are full-blown songs.

"Fashioning a vocal album wasn't the hard part; it was moving from a back-up vocalist — as I am with Peter Gabriel and King Crimson — to lead vocals," Levin said from his home in Woodstock, N. Y. "That's why the project took over a year . . . mostly I was improving my vocal technique." While a more vocally oriented project (with one notable exception being a furious take on the Khachaturian classic "Sabre Dance") might seem a deliberate departure from the band's calling-card strengths, the bassman emphasized that "calling it "songs' maybe implies a gentler album than it is . . . I think the music is still in the progressive rock vein that my last album (the live "Double Espresso') was. "I've introduced some deep ideas with the lyrics — often with some humor or irony — in a way that is, I hope, unique, and sounds like Tony Levin."

Given that each of Levin's solo and partnership projects carries its own distinct sonic stamp (the man has dabbled in jazz both traditional and transitional; traveled the world to record with folk musicians on nearly every continent, and made a very unique album inside a cave in the Catskills), the question naturally arises as to exactly what fans can expect to hear at The Saint stopover. According to Levin, it's a group-oriented set that not only draws from the group's recent works, but also includes tributes to King Crimson, Gabriel, Genesis and other cornerstones of the band's collective background.

"I put together my set based on the kind of shows I like to see," Levin explained. "I enjoy hearing new music, but also the familiar pieces I might know from a band. "And then there are the "surprises.' With four singers in the band, we can now do occasional barbershop quartets! And then there are the kazoos. I'd better leave it at that." Thursday's show represents an encore engagement for the artist who's gigged extensively at such Shore-area venues as Asbury Park's Convention Hall, Holmdel's PNC Bank Arts Center and Red Bank's Count Basie Theatre. "I've played the Shore with other groups too, from rehearsing there with Richie Sambora to playing with bar band Uncle Funk," added Levin. "It's well known to be home of serious rock fans, and an especially receptive place for progressive rock."

Culling his road-tested memory for a peculiarly Asbury anecdote, the globetrotting musical adventurer recalled "approaching the pier in Asbury Park, in a van with all of King Crimson in it, rolling the window for directions, and a rambunctious fan recognizing us and shouting, "Hey, are you guys — — — — psyched, or what!' "I don't think Robert (Fripp) and Bill (Bruford), the British contingent of the band, ever forgot that!"

TONY LEVIN "Resonator" Narada Jazz

Bassit Tony Levin's new release features "What Would Jimi Do?" a Hendrix tribute in which guitarist Jesse Gress nearly kisses the sky, followed by a rhythmically stampeding progressive rock version of Khachaturian's "Sabre Dance," complete with a Ventures-like surf guitar interlude. The former tune laments the sorry state of rock radio, while the latter flamboyantly underscores one of the more appealing things about Levin: He loves to indulge his offbeat enthusiasms.

Not that this comes as much of a surprise. Best known for his work with King Crimson and Peter Gabriel, Levin has always gravitated toward the fringes of prog-rock and pop. But now he sounds more willing than ever to stretch out -- as a player, singer, composer and arranger.

Like guitarist and fellow traveler Adrian Belew, who has a fireworks cameo on "Throw the God a Bone," Levin has chops to spare and isn't shy about displaying them. Yet here his sense of whimsy is almost as evident as his low-end virtuosity on electric bass and Chapman Stick. Indeed, "Resonator" resonates with a playful spirit, thanks to a curious series of self-penned tunes, delightfully arranged vocal harmonies and the contrasts created by McCartneyesque piano ballads, orchestral weaves, funk romps and psychedelic flashbacks. Mind you, not all the tracks bear close scrutiny. At times, Levin's brand of wordplay is more silly than witty. But his eagerness to entertain listeners, not just dazzle them, is never in doubt.

Mike Joyce

Dome sweet dome?

The Millennium Dome looks as space-agey as you can get, squatting on the Greenwich peninsula in east London like some recumbent alien mothership. It is a spectacularly iconic structure, and an unmistakable landmark from the air - and on the East Enders title sequence - an eighth wonder of the world to outshine that other dome, the one which Sir Christopher Wren set atop St Paul's cathedral three centuries before.

Yet it has also become known as possibly the world's most spectacular white elephant, bringing in the new Millennium with rows over its £789 million cost (£628 million of which was covered by National Lottery funding), over its content, and over what should happen to it when the last spent Millennium fireworks finally flopped out of the sky. The largest single-roofed structure in the world, the Millennium Dome would become, according to Tony Blair, "a triumph of confidence over cynicism, boldness over blandness, excellence over mediocrity". Instead, despite the hype, the fireworks, the stage show devised by Peter Gabriel, and the building's undoubted presence, the Dome became known as "Tony's Tent", a science-fiction folly that has lain largely unused, costing the taxpayer more than £30 million to maintain since it closed at the end of 2000. Since then, it has hosted only a handful of sporting or music events, not to mention Christmas 2004, when it was adopted as a temporary shelter for the homeless....

Frankfurt Musikmess 2006

The evening before the gates officially opened at Musikmesse, Peter Gabriel, the talented eclectic rock musician, songwriter, video artist and former Genesis frontman, was awarded the 2006 Frankfurt Music Prize. Nearly everyone is familiar with Peter's hits like "Biko", Sledgehammer", "Red Rain" and 'Big Time'. His videos are regarded as milestones in pop culture.

Gabriel was awarded the honor because of his creative work, his stunning performances and his sponsorship of talented young musicians that have laid the groundwork for the future of rock and pop music. The jury has honored him as one of the leading musicians on the European rock music scene, and also for his artistic and social commitments.

Bass instincts

Former Eastman student and King Crimson member Tony Levin returns to his roots

Bassist Tony Levin has worked with Paul Simon, Peter Gabriel, John Lennon, James Taylor and Pink Floyd. He plays Saturday at Milestones.

Tony Levin has played bass at some pretty impressive events. He performed with Paul Simon at Jimmy Carter's inauguration. He played with Peter Gabriel at the concert at Wembley Arena celebrating Nelson Mandela's release from prison. He's toured Africa, Asia, and South America. He just returned from a week in Moscow, where he played Russian folk songs with a Russian singer.

All of those shows were memorable for Levin. However, a concert doesn't have to attract huge numbers of people or hold some symbolic importance for it to have special meaning for him.

"On any night a concert has the potential to strike that special chord, for both audience and performer, when you know what is happening will resonate beyond a way you can describe it, and you'll always remember it," Levin says in an e-mail interview with City in advance of his performance in Rochester this week. "We musicians treasure those nights as much as audiences do."

That's not to say Levin hasn't cherished sharing the same stage or recording studio with legends like Simon, Gabriel, John Lennon, James Taylor, Pink Floyd, and King Crimson. He definitely has. And such work with so many music giants has made him one of the most respected and in-demand session bassists in the world. But Levin has also carved out a niche as a unique solo artist in his own right, and continues doing so through his current spot on the Narada Records roster.

His latest CD, Resonator, represents both a return to the familiar and a pushing of musical boundaries: the album has echoes of prog-rock titans like Gabriel and Crimson, but it also features Levin's first foray into lead vocals. The album features guitar work from celebs like Crimson mate Adrian Belew and Toto's Steve Lukather, as well as a supporting cast that includes other top-notch session musicians like drummer Jerry Marotta and keyboardist Larry Fast, both of whom have also played with Gabriel.

"This album is a departure for me from the instrumental albums I usually do," Levin says. "It's got a lot to say, in my opinion, and the message is accompanied by excellent musicianship. The songs range in subject, but most are looks at our complex life in this new 21st century, and some of the conflicts --- like between science and religion --- that I find both humor and depth in."

When Levin performs at Milestones on April 15, the show will mark a sort of homecoming for the bassist: he spent six years in the 1960s studying at the Eastman School of Music and playing in the Rochester Philharmonic, experiences that impacted him greatly

"The music I learned wasn't literally useful later on in the rock world, but the more important things --- attitudes about music and about professionalism --- were ingrained in me there and have helped me adapt to a lot of varied musical situations," he says. "The players I met were excellent, and I learned from making music with them."

At Eastman Levin cultivated his love for classical composers like Bach and Mozart, figures he says were huge early influences on him, but he also was influenced by Rochester musicians like Chuck and Gap Mangione and Steve Gadd. As far as the rock world goes, Levin says he was greatly impacted by his time in King Crimson, where he learned volumes from guitarist Robert Fripp and drummer Bill Bruford.

Levin says he continues to learn about music, and himself, every time he picks up his bass even though he himself has influenced countless young bassists. However, he eschews praise that ranks him as one of the best bassists in rock history.

"I don't like the label 'best' about music," he says. "There is so much great music being made by a lot of people, bassists included, and even the slightly less great --- the very good stuff --- has a lot of value. I prefer to try to be moved, and maybe be inspired, by any great music or art."

By Ryan Whirty

Gabriel highlights struggle against Myanmar military

Yangon, Apr 06: Singer and human rights activist Peter Gabriel used his celebrity status to highlight the plight of the Myanmar people.

Founder of WITNESS, a nonprofit human rights group, Gabriel hosted an event on Capitol Hill to press politicians in Washington to pass the poor human rights record of Myanmar's military junta to the United Nations Security Council.

Witness, which donates video cameras to human rights groups to bring stories and images to the world, compiled a film documented by people in Myanmar. Gabriel presented the film titled 'Always on the Run: Internally Displaced People in Karen State' produced by WITNESS, a partner organisation on Burma Issues, which details the experiences of people forcibly displaced by the junta military in Myanmar.

"If we can use some of the footage that our partners have created to campaign and we think we should and there needs to be action and there needs to be action now," Gabriel said ahead of the event. Myanmar's military ignored a landslide election victory in 1990 by the National League for Democracy led by Aung San Suu Kyi and has continued to rule the country with an iron fist.

Nobel laureate Suu Kyi has been in jail or under house arrest since May 2003 and the United States and others have consistently called for her release. United States Senator Mitch McConnell, who has been leading the campaign to refer Myanmar to the UN Security Council said the regime can be compared to countries like Iran and North Korea, if only it were to be seeking nuclear capabilities.

"If this regime were about to get nuclear weapons I think it would have a lot more interest around the world because this is in every respect a pariah regime just like Iran and North Korea have become," said McConnell. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently urged China and India to put more pressure on Myanmar's junta military to put a halt to human right violations.

Rice also said that countries in the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) should do more to push for freedom in its fellow member, formerly known as Burma. Rice said she brought up Myanmar at every meeting she had with officials from China and India, adding that President George W. Bush did the same.

The United States has imposed wide-ranging sanctions on Myanmar, including a ban on most imports, and Rice has told senators they would not be relaxed until the government changed its ways.

Senator, rock star appeal for Burma

WASHINGTON The senator wore a gray wool suit and shiny dress shoes. The rock star wore a casual button-up shirt, wool vest, cargo pants and black boots. They sat side by side on folding chairs in a basement room in the U.S. Capitol, and watched "Season of Fear," a short documentary about the plight of Burmese peasants under attack by the nation's military junta.

A nonprofit co-founded by Peter Gabriel, Witness, produced the video. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., introduced the video and congratulated Gabriel, who had big hits with Genesis and as a solo artist in the '80s and '90s. "I can't even get a visa (to visit Burma), but having a song banned ... is quite an honor. Obviously, you're getting their attention," he said.

McConnell recapped the history of Burma's military junta, including the long imprisonment of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. "We are all here repulsed by everything we know about this regime," he said. "The world community needs to get a lot more concerned than it has been."McConnell and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., were co-sponsors of the bill in 2003 that levied sanctions against Burma.

Peter Gabriel urges more Myanmar action

WASHINGTON - Musician Peter Gabriel and Sen. Mitch McConnell joined forces Tuesday in demanding stronger action by the United Nations against atrocities they say are being committed in Myanmar. McConnell, a leading Republican, said that misrule by the junta that governs Myanmar, also called Burma, "threatens the entire region, and the world community needs to get a lot more concerned than it has been." Gabriel praised U.S. sanctions against Myanmar's military regime and emergency relief efforts to help thousands of Burmese displaced inside their country.

These efforts, he said, "make the U.S. one of the few countries in the world willing to step up to this challenge." McConnell said that a rare U.N. Security Council briefing last year on the political and social deterioration in Myanmar is "not nearly enough, but at least it's a start." Gabriel and McConnell want the United Nations to pass a binding resolution demanding change in Myanmar, where the generals have kept pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in detention for 10 of the last 16 years. She is among some 1,100 political prisoners.

Peter Gabriel speaks at US Senate

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Peter Gabriel will make a personal appearance before the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, April 4th, as a representative of the human rights group Witness, which he co-founded. Gabriel will screen the video "Always On The Run: Internally Displaced People In Karen State, Burma," which was made by a Witness affiliate, and there will also be discussion about the human-rights abuses that continue in Burma. The event will take place in the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., starting at 3 p.m., and the public session will be hosted by Senators Dianne Feinstein and Mitch McConnell, who've authored the Burmese Freedom And Democracy Act.

While there, the musician will also push lawmakers to support a United Nations resolution condemning Burma's human rights record.

Bassist's touch resonates on new CD

Shaped by tongue and lips as much as by the years he has performed with the likes of Peter Gabriel and John Lennon, a tender song rises from the vocal chords of Kingston resident and bass player Tony Levin — a tender song about an ape.

The vocal inflections of "Fragile As A Song" recall the way Randy Newman wraps his personality around every syllable he sings. This song also recalls a trip Levin took to the University of Georgia, where he joined Gabriel in a musical session with a Bonobos ape named Panbanisha that used advanced communication skills to play the keyboard.

"I knew something very unusual was afoot when we walked into the facility," Levin said. "Peter said, 'Panbanisha, this is Tony, he's going to play bass with us today.' "

Worked with Bowie, Floyd

"Fragile As A Song" is one tune on the new Tony Levin Band CD "Resonator," which is released today. The man who has played bass with King Crimson, David Bowie and Pink Floyd will celebrate his latest project Wednesday evening with a "playback" party at the Bearsville Theater in Woodstock, where the CD will be played and sold and band members will be on hand to chat with fans and sign CDs.

"My solo career is a career, but it's not my only career," said Levin, whose past work earned him a Grammy nomination. "Most of what I do is be a backup bass player to other people and I love doing that. That gives me the freedom in my solo career, I can do what I want."

The songs on "Resonator" shift from flat-out funk to Crimson-esque chord changes and Beatles-like ballads with lyrics that Gabriel might be jealous of. Joining Levin in the studio and on the road for upcoming shows are his brother Pete on keyboards, Jesse Gress on guitar, Larry Fast on synthesizer and Jerry Marotta on drums. Pete Levin has played with Miles Davis; Gress has played with Todd Rundgren; and Marotta and Fast both played with Levin in Gabriel's band.

"He's like the quintessential person you'd want to be working with and kind of look up to and want to be there to influence you to some degree in many ways," Marotta said of his friend of many decades. "He's a real thinker."

"Resonator" represents Levin's first stab at writing lyrics and singing. He is not the kind of songwriter to sit down and write, but opts instead for keeping journals while on tour.

"Science and religion — those for years have been inspiring me to express my ideas about conflicting directions this amazing century is taking in," he said. "I process my ideas through my musical sense and come out with song lyrics that are hopefully unique to me."

Tommy Keegan, who has hosted different bands that included Levin at Keegan Ales brewery in Kingston, said, "as a person, he is so reserved ... soft spoken and just an all-around great guy." Keegan Ales is sponsoring Wednesday's event.

That soft-spoken guy, it seems, is equally at home playing hockey arenas or the local brewery.

"I understand when I'm performing in Madison Square Garden with Peter or in Keegan Ales, I'm knowing that years later, a lot of us in the room will remember being part of that experience," he said. "I'm very tuned into that."

Peter Gabriel pour Pannella ?

Il participera au travers d'une liaison téléphonique depuis Washington, à la manifestation de fermeture de la campagne electorale des radicaux- socialistes Italiens, le 6 avril prochain en place Navona à Rome. Etonnant, non ?

http://www.tgcom.mediaset.it/politica/articoli/articolo303709.shtml

Peter Gabriel per Pannella

Il cantante appoggia la Rosa nel Pugno

Peter Gabriel fa il tifo per la Rosa nel pugno di Emma Bonino, Marco Pannella ed Enrico Boselli. L'ex leader dei Genesis, infatti, ingaggiato dalla Fifa per l'organizzazione della cerimonia d'apertura dei mondiali di calcio tedeschi del prossimo giugno, parteciperà con un collegamento telefonico da Washington, alla manifestazione di chiusura della campagna elettorale dei radical-socialisti il 6 aprile prossimo in piazza Navona a Roma.
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Gabriel, purtroppo per i suoi fan numerosissimi anche in Italia, non sara' sul palco, dove invece si alterneranno, oltre ai vertici della Rosa nel pugno, anche molti artisti e cantanti, da Eugenio Bennato a Dolcenera, da Marco Masini ad Andrea Occhipinti, dal dj Claudio Coccoluto a Marco Bellocchio.

Peter Gabriel mit Frankfurter Musikpreis

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