It appears that the San Francisco Chronicle has no room for satire in their space for public comments. This became clear when my account got banned for posting the satirical phrase, “BART…and you’re dead” beneath a story about the killing of BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) commuter Oscar Grant. As I noted in an earlier post, the phrase is a play off of the BART advertisement “BART…and you’re there.” In my original SFgate.com post I had initially included a link the image in my blog post – I soon learned this was in violation of their “no posting of direct image links”. So, I reposted with simply the phrase “BART…and you’re dead.” I was quickly banned.
My emails to them asking for explanation have gone unanswered. I can only imagine that they think they may be liable for my playing off of a trademarked (is it?) phrase. My gawd! What has this society come to when you can’t make fun of corporate symbols and sayings?! Especially when it is in such direct context. What upsets me more is if you read many of the comments that go untouched by the SF Chronicle editors you get the feeling that you are reading a Fox News web page. Did Fox News purchase the SF Chronicle? A majority of comments left are about how people like Oscar Grant deserve what they got because they are “smelly low-lifes”. I guess it boils down to this, I don’t see how a thoughtful piece of satirical shenanigans is worse than mean-spirited, reactionary and often racist nonsense. Oh well, I guess that’s why I don’t subscribe to the Chronicle and suggest you don’t either.
Culture jamming – imho – is best seen by the works created by the minds that are the Billboard Liberation Front. By subtlety modifying advertisements in the public space, these “culture jammers” express an opinion about how they feel about the public space being inundated with advertisements (so-called “a-political” advertisements). Letting advertisers take up massive amounts of space creates an environment where it becomes increasingly more impossible (read too expensive) for artistic and political voices to have a place in the public sphere to express themselves – freedom of speech is effectively taken away by the fact that in order to adequately speak you have to have millions of dollars.
Another point to remember is that advertising is NOT a-political; rather it is a HIGHLY political medium (capitalism is about as political as you can get, right?!).
So, culture jammers see our common public sphere being acquired by private, political interests and this acquisition is at the expense of cultural interests that reside outside of capital. I totally agree and love the idea of re-interpreting advertisements and putting them back out into the public. I can’t say I’m as good as the folks at BLF but, personally, I don’t really think it’s about “being good”.
About the image. The public transportation train in the SF Bay ARea is called BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) and their police force has committed some serious blunders in their time but most recently they went over the edge. One night on the train there was a ruckus and the police took some people aside for questioning and felt one (Oscar Grant) was being uncooperative. So one of the officers forced Oscar to the ground and while Oscar lay face down on the concrete, with his arm twisted behind him, the cop proceeded to shoot him in the back. Dead. This whole scene was caught on video from various sources and no where is it clear that Oscar was ever resisting nor was his behavior warranting the use of a taser (the weapon the cop says he was intending to go for). Anyway, it’s a really, really sad story of which BART has not really made any significant changes that people can see. I mean they haven’t shot anyone lately so I reckon that’s a good thing. But when I saw BART’s new “…and you’re there” advertisements the first thing that came to mind was the above image. Not a masterpiece but you get the point.
Here’s an older image of mine. One in which I received my very own cease-and-desist letter from those wonderfully wealthy corporate attorneys at BofA…
If you enjoyed Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglorious Basterds” then you should like the true, non-fiction story of Leopold Trepper. In the book The Great Game, Trepper tells the story of how he came to create and lead one of the most effective spy networks fighting against Nazi Germany. It’s an intriguing story that I’m surprised has never made it to the silver screen. I highly recommend reading the book!
Rest in Peace, Leopold Trepper. You are not forgotten! February 23, 1904 – January 19, 1982
Not a wonderful way to round out 2009 but I reckon “that’s life”…I wish it wasn’t. Admittedly, I haven’t listened to a lot of Amacher’s work but what I have listened to I love! A truer use of sound you will not find. And a much better eulogy you can read HERE (with a sample of her work).
Indeed! I’m trying to learn myself consistency. Consistency in producing audio, consistency in blog posts, consistency in going to the gym, consistency in being consistent. What a pain! For example, in trying to remain consistent in creating blog posts, I find myself ranting and pontificating about social and political issues that I’m passionate about. Then I find myself deleting those posts as I’m concerned of what potential clients might think seeing these thoughts outside of really knowing me. So, today I am taking a stab at writing about “the process” (aka the creative process) and all that goes into trying to make it as an entrepreneur and independent radio producer. Clearly I won’t shy from my ideals but starting this day forward I am going to edit myself….<grumble, grumble…that’s more like censor myself…grumble, grumble> Am I listening too much to my marketing guru friends?
It’s a very sad day as we just lost one of those voices that I thought would be on the radio forever – kind of like we imagine our parents, you know? Anyway, her voice is firmly imprinted in my mind so I reckon that is a good thing but honestly, why did she have to die so young (52)?!
This morning I’m heading to Phoenix, Arizona to cover a hip-hop show being put on by the Campaign for a United America Hip-Hop Project. The show is in protest to the most recent and outrageous actions of local Sheriff Joe Arpaio who chained together 100’s of incarcerated immigrants and marched them through public streets into a “tent city” in the middle of the desert. Arpaio invited media and the public to witness this public humiliation. I’ll be producing several pieces from this event; some of which will be audio-blogged at www.imagine2050.org in the next couple of days.
As most any independent artist does I had a day job to pay bills. That “day job” was at a local store called Elephant Pharmacy (www.elephantpharm.com). Since the beginning of January there has been a growing rumble of serious financial troubles. Products not being restocked, no new DVD rentals being offered, displays disappearing permanently, etc. This morning I got THE call…the below pretty much sums it up:
February 3, 2009
It is with a heavy heart that we post this notice: Elephant Pharm, which has served over 1 million customers in four Bay Area markets, has closed indefinitely. As a small business, we’ve been hurt by the terrible turn the economy has taken and the tightening of the credit market. It’s been a very special six years since we started this drugstore revolution, and we certainly couldn’t have made it as far as we did without you—our customers.
We hope that you will continue your pursuit of a good, long life, well lived.
Not that I planned on working at this place forever but it was a solid little gig, good people, and a cool business…with the mighty words of Steel Pulse I am engulfed by unemployment:
And the struggle goes on—
Some say the earth Will keep on turning Dread times are near And I’m not joking I a warning As we continue that same old moaning The chosen race just keep on begging yeh And I wanna know who’s responsible? They don’t give a damn no
Here’s an interesting bit of audio that someone uploaded online. Apparently there was a “police action” recently in near-by downtown Berkeley where shots were fired. Downtown Berkeley is not a big urban city place so this is a bit unusual and scary. The weirdist thing is there was really no coverage of the story in any local papers. Thanks to qik.com (a service that lets users upload video/audio via cell phone).
I just got back from two amazing daze relaxing in mud, hot water and bed up in Calistoga, CA. More on that at another time…unfortunately we came back to some very sad news…
You see, I was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and as a kid in the 1970s every Saturday night my friends and I would watch our local horror host, Bob Wilkins, on channel 2. He’d play films like “Night of the Living Dead” (George Romero’s original zombie flick) to ‘cheese-factor 11′ flicks like “Attack of the Mushroom People.” However at the ripe old age of 8 much of the cheesy films were scary to us. Bob would also have local crazies on his show as well as Hollywood stars. One such “crazy” was a friend’s mom who had actually knitted a sweater for King Kong. No joke! This thing was huge. Anyway, that’s the kind of out of the ordinary, regular folk, Bob would feature on his show. He did things with a straight, dry wit, a strong sense of humor and even though he wasn’t a horror fan himself he did everything with the utmost respect for the genre. It was a very unique mix among horror hosts and one that has lived in the memories of all of us who grew up watching him.
During the past decade Bob would show up at horror and comic conventions and special movie screenings. It was a treat to actually meet him after all this time. Bob started suffering from Alzheimer’s and it got progressively worse (as it does). Anyway, he passed away yesterday…while I am glad he is no longer suffering it is very sad to know that he is no longer physically on this earth. Rest in peace, Bob. Even though we didn’t personally know each other you have always had a special place in my heart and were the one who kept me a horror fan. Cheers, buddy…
It appears that the San Francisco Chronicle has no room for satire in their space for public comments. This became clear when my account got banned for posting the satirical phrase, “BART…and you’re dead” beneath a story about the killing of BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) commuter Oscar Grant. As I noted in an earlier post, the phrase is a play off of the BART advertisement “BART…and you’re there.” In my original SFgate.com post I had initially included a link the image in my blog post – I soon learned this was in violation of their “no posting of direct image links”. So, I reposted with simply the phrase “BART…and you’re dead.” I was quickly banned.
Not a wonderful way to round out 2009 but I reckon “that’s life”…I wish it wasn’t. Admittedly, I haven’t listened to a lot of Amacher’s work but what I have listened to I love! A truer use of sound you will not find. And a much better eulogy you can read 
Indeed! I’m trying to learn myself consistency. Consistency in producing audio, consistency in blog posts, consistency in going to the gym, consistency in being consistent. What a pain! For example, in trying to remain consistent in creating blog posts, I find myself ranting and pontificating about social and political issues that I’m passionate about. Then I find myself deleting those posts as I’m concerned of what potential clients might think seeing these thoughts outside of really knowing me. So, today I am taking a stab at writing about “the process” (aka the creative process) and all that goes into trying to make it as an entrepreneur and independent radio producer. Clearly I won’t shy from my ideals but starting this day forward I am going to edit myself….<grumble, grumble…that’s more like censor myself…grumble, grumble> Am I listening too much to my marketing guru friends?
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