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.
Clicca per ingrandire

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

Cliquez ici pour voir la video

Lemur

Peter Gabriel's song "Shock the Monkey" was originally titled "Shock the Lemur".

Some of you are probably wondering how we've been limiting ourselves to a single picture of an animal per day here on the site. Well, we've been trying to control ourselves, but those days of restraint are over.

Today we present to you belgianchocolate's photostream on Flickr. Her photos of the fauna in Madagascar are just incredible and in no way related to the piss poor CGI movie of the same name.

The picture above is a lemur, a primate that lives only on the island of Madagascar.

Bonus Lemur trivia: Peter Gabriel's song "Shock the Monkey" was originally titled "Shock the Lemur".

Theatre Review: More Trouble in the UK

Our search for fine British plays continued on the North Side where we took in a timely neighborhood drama and a comic slice of life.

Osama the Hero, Dog & Pony Theatre

“We do what we’re told, told to do.” – Peter Gabriel

A community on edge from a terrorist threat and a fear mongering media goes ballistic when a bomb detonates in Mark’s (Brian Rickel) garage, killing his wife. Gary (Jarrett Sleeper), an awkward high schooler suspended for calling Bin Laden a hero to his followers, is kidnapped by Mark’s neighbors Louise and Frances (Lois Atkins and David Gray), who tie him to a chair and then, along with Mark and his friend Mandy (Kim Purdy), force him to confess or face their wrath. As Sleeper plays the scene, we truly believed he was innocent and no one else cared to believe him.

What followed was some of the most disturbingly well-staged violence we’ve seen in a long time, a moment where playwright Dennis Kelly and director Krissy Vanderwarker pinpoint the psychology of misdirected rage in the name of national and international security.

Too bad Kelly structures the rest of the play in more static monologues, confessionals, and petty squabbles, staged claustrophobically by Vanderwarker. We reach the climactic struggle familiar with the characters but not terribly invested in anyone. Louise’s stubborn ethical relativism and Mark’s arrested development and frightening pathos were excellently played. They, and these issues, deserve to be part of something bigger.

Satire: Fruitcake Wishes and Sledge Hammer! Dreams

Walking around Sea World one day, I saw a woman in the worst getup ever. Black shirt, hot pink lycra/spandex capris, and black heels. I was suddenly struck with a horrifying clichéd '80s flashback. Ugh. Shudder. From there, I was transported instantly to a recurring dream I've had for almost twenty years.

You see, I have this nasty problem. Whenever I hear Peter Gabriel, I'm sucked into this whirling vortex of every kind of terror involving David Rasche sex. Tell me you've seen those three words (David Rasche sex) together before. Please. Please?

Sledge!It's always the same scenario. I'm lying in bed. As I begin to drift off into a sweet sleep, I become aware of a presence in the room. My eyes open and I see David Rasche, naked, carrying his gun. He slides into bed next to me..."put your mind at rest," he whispers. I sit bolt upright. He says, "you could have a steam train, if you'd just lay down your tracks. You could have an aeroplane flying, if you bring your blue sky back." I'm so tired that it sounds rather sweet, lyrical even. I can't really protest.

He sets the gun off to the side, leans in close to me, nuzzles up to my ear and says, "you could have a big dipper going up and down, all around the bends. You could have a bumper car, bumping this amusement never ends."

My mind reels. Somehow, his movements are sensuous and the sound of him speaking is as smooth as can be. Thus, he becomes that big dipper, going up and down, and around my bends.

He continues to sing to me, in Peter Gabriel's voice, "show me round your fruitcage, 'cos I will be your honey bee. Open up your fruitcage where the fruit is as sweet as can be." So I open up my fruitcage and let him go to work on the sweet nectar the little honey bee's craving.

I'm getting into the delicious sensations that he's dishing out. I've forgotten the '80s haircut and the silly tie he has on. Yeah. He was naked except for that tie.

Getting more and more turned on, I feel my excitement building. "I've been feeding the rhythm - going to feel that power, build in you. Come on, come on, help me do...yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I've been feeding the rhythm I've been feeding the rhythm - it's what we're doing, doing all day and night..." he croons.

He moves away from my "fruitcage" and stands beside the bed. I ask where he's going. He merely points to the door. I ask, "Will you be coming back? How will I be able to find you?" And he sings, "all you do is call me. I'll be anything you need."

"But, what do I call you?" I ask."Sledge Hammer!" he replies. And he's gone.

I'm left with a quivering body, horny and aching for more. I am lost in a world of turquoise, neon pink, and lots of tall hair. I can still hear his words. I seek satisfaction, as he's left me hungering for more..."oh won't you show for me and I will show for you. Show for me, I will show for you." Oh, I'll show him!

Twenty years of this, people. Anything that evokes a massive '80s flashback brings this all rushing back to me.

I want to be your sledgehammer why don't you call my name oh let me be your sledgehammer this will be my testimony I want to be your sledgehammer why don't you call my name you'd better call the sledgehammer

There's no denying the terrible love/hate relationship I have with those memories. There are days when I pray for 42 episodes of sitcom fulfillment. I have been known to crave a ration of Rasche.

You know, my birthday is coming up soon. Maybe two seasons of some comedic cop video is in order.

My therapist really loves that new car of his.

"Crooked Teeth" video is a Peter Gabriel homage

Death Cab for Cutie weathers their major label transition with grace

(...)

It sounds fine! So, the "Crooked Teeth" video is a Peter Gabriel homage [after his video for "Sledgehammer"]. Who in the band is the big prog fan?

Chris [Walla, guitarist/keyboardist] is the biggest prog fan. He's like a library of prog bands. I didn't realize in the world how many members of King Crimson have been all over the place. He's always, "That's a Robert Fripp thing." [But] I'll give a lot of credit to Ace Norton, the guy who directed the video. He came up with the concept, put it all together. We just sort of read the treatment and we were like, "That's great! Let's totally do that."

This video is part of Directions. What was the genesis of that project for you guys?

It was an idea that I actually had with one of my friends, Aaron, who I had grown up with. We came up with this idea and brought it back to the band, and said, "Hey, would you guys be into this if we could get it together?" and everybody seemed pretty excited about it. There's actually thirteen total videos. Eleven for the record and then we made two videos for two B-sides. [For] all thirteen videos we ended up hand-picking the director and treatment we really liked. We are so incredibly proud and happy of how the videos have come out and how the project has taken shape.

Death in the desert

Here is another example of our steady march of progressive degradation in Iraq.

by Allen L Roland

http://www.opednews.com

"The fact is that every war suffers a kind of progressive degradation with every month that it continues, because such things as individual liberty and a truthful press are simply not compatible with military efficiency:" George Orwell - Homage to Catalonia

Here is a short must see 5 minute flash presentation written by Chris Floyd with haunting music by Peter Gabriel & Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and brilliant flashwork by Richard Kastelein ~ which records a recent criminal and inhumane act of murder committed by the United States military on March 15th, 2006 ~ just another example of our steady march of progressive degradation in Iraq....

This comes on top of a report in the online edition of Time magazine that U.S. Marines went on a rampage in the village of Haditha and deliberately slaughtered 15 unarmed Iraqis in their homes. The Iraqis were still in their bed clothes, and 10 of the 15 were women and children.

The Marines turned in a false report that the civilians were killed by an insurgent bomb. But the evidence of wanton carnage was too powerful. Pressed by Time's collection of evidence, U.S. military officials in Baghdad opened an investigation. Time reports that "according to military officials, the inquiry acknowledged that, contrary to the military's initial report, the 15 civilians killed on Nov. 19 died at the hands of the Marines, not the insurgents.

The military announced last week that the matter has been handed over to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which will rightfully conduct a criminal investigation.

Please watch this moving and powerful video presentation ~

Allen L Roland

Click here to view : http://isahaqi.chris-floyd.com/

Peter Gabriel to end humand rights abuses in Burma

Legendary Musician and Activist Peter Gabriel to visit Washington, DC to Urge UN Security Council Resolution, End to Human Rights Abuses in Burma

For Immediate Release: March 23rd, 2006
Contact: Jeremy Woodrum, (202) 223-0300 or Matisee Bustos (718) 783-2000 ext. 306

(New York and Washington, DC) -- Legendary musician and activist Peter Gabriel will visit the U.S. Senate on April 4th to host a film screening and discussion on the need for continued support in ending egregious human rights abuses in the Southeast Asian country of Burma, where more than a million people have been forcibly displaced and the “modern-day slavery” of forced labor prevails.

Gabriel plans to press for U.S. leadership in passing a UN Security Council resolution on Burma. Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the authors of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act, will host the event. The event, on Tuesday, April 4th at 3:00 pm in room SC-4 of the U.S. Capitol Building, is sponsored by WITNESS, the nonprofit human rights organization founded by Gabriel, and the U.S. Campaign for Burma. The event is open to the public.

“It is long overdue for the UN Security Council to respond to the deepening crisis in Burma," said Gabriel, "we need people of conscience to act now."

Gabriel will introduce the video “Always on the Run: Internally Displaced People in Karen State,” produced by WITNESS’ partner organization Burma Issues, as well as recent footage and testimony showing the increasingly desperate situation inside eastern Burma. Representatives from WITNESS and U.S. Campaign for Burma will be available to answer questions on the situation.

“Always on the Run" captures the fears and hopes of people caught in one of the world's most serious humanitarian crises—forcible displacement in eastern Burma. Over the past decade, Burma's dictator Than Shwe has destroyed 2,700 villages in a brutal anti-insurgency campaign that has left over half a million people homeless in the country's eastern jungles and forced millions to flee the country. Child mortality and malnutrition rates in eastern Burma are now comparable to those among internally displaced persons in the horn of Africa.

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights and General Assembly have passed 28 consecutive resolutions condemning the atrocities. Instead of honoring these nonbinding UN resolutions, soldiers of Than Shwe's military regime continue the onslaught—in the past few weeks thousands more persons have fled their homes in fear to hide in the jungle, or cross into neighboring Thailand.

Concerned about the situation in the country and its impact on regional peace and security, the UN Security Council considered Burma for the first time in history in an informal briefing on December 16th, 2005. South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize recipient Desmond Tutu and former Czech president Vaclav Havel have launched a global campaign for the Security Council to go further and pass a formal resolution demanding change.

The video offer insight into just one of the reasons UN Security Council action is merited. Reports make clear that the ruling military junta has engaged in a deliberate policy to repress the democracy movement led by Aung San Suu Kyi, the world’s only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient; and that it also conducts a scorched earth policy against ethnic minorities that includes the destruction of food storage, production sources and even entire villages.

Additionally, the military junta (considered one of the world’s most brutal military regimes) has forcibly recruited 70,000 child soldiers—more than any other country in the world—forced millions into what the International Labor Organization calls “modern slavery,” and locked up over 1,100 political prisoners. ##

Death Cab For Cutie ‘Crooked Teeth’

Death Cab For Cutie release their new single ‘Crooked Teeth’ on 10th April 2006 through Atlantic Records.

'Crooked Teeth' will be available on 7 Inch Vinyl (In the form of two limited editions) and on CD. The single is taken from their recent album ‘Plans’, the Seattle quartet’s fifth album, recorded over 28 wintry days in early 2005 and released in August of last year.

The video has an unusual and innovative style not much seen since it was used in Peter Gabriel's famous 'Sledgehammer' video.

To view the video for 'Crooked Teeth' simply click the links below:

Windows Media Player - Broadband / Dial-up

Real Player - Broadband / Dial-up

Peter Gabriel to push for UN talks on Burma

Mizzima News (www.mizzima.com)

March 24, 2006

Well-known singer and activist Peter Gabriel will host the screening of a film and a discussion on Burma at the United States senate on April 4.

The event, organised by WITNESS, a nonprofit human rights group founded by Gabriel, and the US Campaign for Burma, will also be hosted by senators Dianne Feinstein and Mitch McConnell.

According to a statement released by USCB Gabriel plans to use the event to press US politicians to support the passing of a United Nations Security Council resolution on Burma.

“It is long overdue for the UN Security Council to respond to the deepening crisis in Burma,” said Gabriel in the statement.

“We need people of conscience to act now.”

The video to be screened at the event, ‘Always on the Run: Internally Displaced People in Karen State’ produced by WITNESS’ partner organisation Burma Issues, details the experiences of people forcibly displaced by the Burmese military.

Peter Gabriel Uses Sony Oxford Plug-Ins for Olympic Performance

Peter Gabriel performed John Lennon’s “Imagine” at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games in Torino, Italy in February using Sony Oxford plug-ins. According to engineer Dickie Chappell, Gabriel wanted the same vocal sound that they had achieved while recording backing tracks in the studio. For the performance, Gabriel’s voice was processed live through Sony’s Oxford EQ, Dynamics and Reverb plug-ins, which ran in real time on a laptop and Digidesign Digi 002.

“I plugged into the monitor insert,” Chappell says, “and this was sent to the broadcast and front of house. I was worried about it initially, because if I’d lost the input on my laptop, the whole chain out to the world would have been lost. But it was stable and sounded great. All the sound departments were just fine using the feed from my laptop, and Peter was very happy having the studio mix sound in the stadium and for TV.”

Rosanna Arquette Interviews Ex-Lover Peter Gabriel

Rosanna Arquette Interviews Ex-Lover Peter Gabriel, Other Musicians for New Film

Former lovers Peter Gabriel and Rosanna Arquette sat down for an awkward chat as the actress filmed her new documentary "All We Are Saying." Filmmaker Arquette interviewed rock superstars like Gabriel, Patti Smith, Sting and Chrissie Hynde, among others, about their musical inspirations and life away from touring.

But it's her chat about Gabriel's happy home life that stands out as the film's most awkward moment - he famously dated the star in the 1980s and penned his hit “In Your Eyes” as a tribute to the actress.

Talking about combining his career as a rock star with his personal life at his home in Box, near Bath, he tells Arquette, "I try to get balance by integrating enough normal life in there but there is that energy there and there are those temptations but I think the older you get... I had my sort of middle period when I was doing my running around - you may be aware of that. I'm a bit more settled now."

As Gabriel uncomfortably rocks in his chair, Arquette states, "I'm glad you're settled, I am. I'm happy for you... You seem good. It's good."

World of sound probed

A tiny camera films inside a clarinetist’s mouth. Badges resembling large Hershey kisses measure the volume that surrounds musicians. A research scientist shows video of Bonobo apes making music with rock musician Peter Gabriel. This is not your typical research facility. There are no chemistry labs, no test tubes, no white coats. But inside UNCG’s School of Music, the world of sound is being probed as never before. (...)

* * *

The institute plans to probe questions from the practical to the esoteric. Among them:

• How deep in our evolutionary history is music embedded?

• How can we protect musicians from noise-induced hearing loss? Does a gene protect some while making others more susceptible?

• How can music be used to manage pain and heal injury?

That work partners with researchers across campus, county lines and the country, from Wake Forest University to the Great Ape Trust of Iowa. “Maybe, through research, we can find answers to questions that have vexed us for years,” Deal says. Ultimately, Deal predicts that its projects can advance the role of music on multiple fronts, such as improving how students learn to play an instrument, teaching people more about music in all of nature and enhancing people’s lives “in ways we didn’t imagine.”(...)

* * *

In a third-floor office, research scientist Patricia Gray works on one of the institute’s largest projects, biomusic — the music of nature. Thanks to technology, scientists now can hear, record and analyze sounds of birds, insects, mice, elephants — even a single cell. It’s work that helped Gray and other experts secure a $2.7 million National Science Foundation grant for a traveling exhibit on the subject.

So, who’s that in her desk photo?

It’s Kanzi, a Bonobo ape and one of her favorite research subjects. Bonobos and humans share a common ancestor dating back 100,000 years. Studying music-making in our closest primate cousins, Gray says, “has the promise of helping us understand the evolution of music.” She shows video of Kanzi jamming on a synthesizer, as rock musician Peter Gabriel plays in an adjoining room. Amazingly, Kanzi synchronizes his beat with Gabriel’s.

“The more we find out what they already instinctively know about music, the more it implies how deep in our evolutionary history music is embedded,” Gray says. “Think about people downloading their own music and carrying it with them. Perhaps this is part of our DNA, and other species’ DNA, to have our favorite musical sounds with us.” (...)

By Dawn DeCwikiel-Kane
Staff Writer

Genesis eye comeback

Genesis are set to reform to record a new album and go on tour, according to reports.

Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins are reportedly planning to make the announcement at a press conference on Tuesday in Los Angeles.

Gabriel left Genesis in 1976 and has since had a successful solo career.

Genesis' last studio album, 'Calling All Stations', was released in September 1997, reaching number two in the album chart.

A new album from a reformed Genesis would surely prove a hit with the band's legion of fans.

Video Advocacy

A couple of weeks ago, I attended an amazing conference called TED (for Technology, Entertainment and Design). You can read the complete description here in my Pogue's Posts entry, but here's a summary:


"It's four days of talks, each no longer than 18 minutes. The speakers are either famous, pioneers in their industries or just fascinating people--and often all three...They addressed climate crisis, the depletion of fossil fuels, African AIDS, third-world poverty, human-rights violations, the spiral of West-Islamic global hatred, lethal viruses, and other cheery subjects...The organizer of TED makes no bones about the fact that he wants this astonishing network of speakers and audience members to throw their expertise, brainpower and connections behind efforts to address the world's problems."

I wanted to share some of what I learned in this e-column, but I'm aware that some of this column's readers get cranky when the topic strays from consumer technology.

But one memorable talk involved BOTH consumer tech AND doing good in the world, which I thought I'd share with you. (I'll be back with gadget reviews next week.)

It was a talk by Peter Gabriel, the pop star. He didn't play or even mention music; instead, he described the progress of an outfit called Witness (witness.org), which he co-founded in 1992 for the purposes of what he calls "video advocacy."

What he means is helping native citizens film human-rights violations as they happen, so that the world can see what's really going on. It's much harder for wealthy countries to ignore the violence and oppression, Gabriel said, when they're watching a video of it.

So Witness sprouted up to supply camcorders and training to, so far, 200 human-rights groups ("partners") in 60 countries. It sounded like such a cool and important project that I decided to interview Gillian Caldwell, the group's executive director, for today's e-column.

DP: Strikes me that lots of the human-rights violations are in, well, hot, humid places that would be the enemy of camcorders. How have the cameras and tapes fared?

GC: Our team definitely has to keep climate in mind when they select the equipment packages, since some fare better in humid climates than others. As for the tapes, we try to get them shipped relatively quickly to our archivists, where they're catalogued, duplicated and stored in climate-controlled vaults for the production work.

DP: Isn't this technology new to, say, impoverished Africans? How do they know how to operate the camcorder, ship the tapes back, etc.?

GC: Most of the people we're training have never held a video camera before, so the relationship begins with an intensive, onsite training program that teaches them how to shoot, as well as what to shoot and why.

DP: Does every camcorder "seeding" bear fruit? Do you actually capture violence and stuff on film?

GC: Well, unlike, say, the Rodney King incident, our primary intention is not to capture human rights abuses in action, although that has on occasion happened. Instead, most of our footage highlights the aftermath.

For example, a reluctant Philippine government is now prosecuting the murderers of activists who were legally pursuing ancestral land claims--after footage taken of the attacks was broadcast nationwide in the Philippines and delivered to the Philippine president at the World Economic Forum. While Witness's partner did not actually capture the attack on tape (it took place early in the morning while everyone was sleeping), they were first on the scene of the attack, and captured irrefutable evidence.

DP: How do the people you supply with camcorders keep them from getting stolen, broken, lost, and so on?

GC: With the exception of some problems with theft in Nigeria, we've actually been pretty lucky. Our partners manage to maintain their equipment very well, and when the time comes for an upgrade, we provide it.

Power is a challenge; we generally provide extra battery packs. Some partners even have solar chargers for their equipment.

DP: At TED, Peter Gabriel mentioned a shift from camcorders to cameraphones?

GC: Staying ahead of the technology curve is a major challenge for us. Communications media have changed dramatically in the 14 years since Witness was founded. In the coming months, we will launch an initiative called the Witness Video Hub (www.witness.org/technology). Our hope is to let people around the world use cellphones and computers to upload media to a central Web site built to promote human rights.

We're facing an unprecedented frontier, with digital technology and the "participatory culture" it has inspired poised to explode. Witness needs to be at the forefront of this transition.

DP: Once the hub site goes up, how can you be sure that the filmed events are genuine?

GC: We're still thinking this through. Currently, we're committed to an open and participatory environment, allowing anyone anywhere to contribute footage. There may be a limited amount of material that we will be able to authenticate, but our goal is to not play a big role in this area. We don't want to serve as gatekeepers ourselves, but to allow for peer review to foster a sense of community responsibility and accountability.