A New Era for U.S. Drug Policy? - CBS News

A New Era for U.S. Drug Policy? - CBS News:

"As the founder and executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, Nadelmann has long advocated for the liberalization of U.S. drug laws -- specifically, making marijuana legal, regulated and taxed and ending criminal penalties on the possession and use of all other drugs.

For most of that time the Alliance has been relegated to the fringe of serious policy discussions, a space long occupied - or so the stereotype goes - by radical libertarians and readers of the marijuana enthusiast magazine High Times.

But things are changing. The last few months are 'the first time I've ever felt that the wind is at my back and not in my face,' Nadelmann said. 'There's a tremendous amount of momentum across the board.'"

The psychedelic seaslugs that outshine their garden cousins | Mail Online

The psychedelic seaslugs that outshine their garden cousins | Mail Online:

"The incredible images were taken by researcher and photographer Thomas Vignaud, who was diving off the coast of southern France.

The 23 year old said: 'Most of the nudibranchs have totally incredible colours - like underwater living jewels designed by an artist.

'There are several thousand known species but we're far from finding the real total. The vivid colours are, like for other animals, used to warn any potential predator, 'I'm not good to eat'."

Music & nightlife | The birth of 'Grunge,' in photos by Michael Lavine | Seattle Times Newspaper

Music & nightlife | The birth of 'Grunge,' in photos by Michael Lavine | Seattle Times Newspaper:

"Despite its title, 'Grunge,' Michael Lavine's newest book of photographs, is not meant as a definitive history of Seattle's most infamous musical movement. When Lavine arrived in Seattle in 1982 and started shooting the punks, mods and Goths hanging out on the Ave in the U District, he wasn't trying to encapsulate a scene. When he moved to New York in 1985 and became the go-to studio photographer for the Sub Pop record label, he didn't believe his work was exhaustive. Even now, his book raises more questions than answers.

'It was punk until somebody decided to call it grunge. It really was. It wasn't grunge to us at the time,' Lavine says, laughing. 'That was one reason we named (the book) that, just to make people think about the word in a different way.'"

Rock snobs, rejoice! Wolfgang's Vault, the Ft. Knox of classic concerts | Brand X | Los Angeles Times

Rock snobs, rejoice! Wolfgang's Vault, the Ft. Knox of classic concerts | Brand X | Los Angeles Times:

"If you call yourself a music fan and you've not taken a pilgrimage over to Wolfgang's Vault, then make a move, stat, hippie! The sprawling website is a veritable treasure trove of classic rock concerts, many from the archive of the late, great San Francisco-based concert impresario Bill Graham (real name: Wolfgang Grajonca). It's the Ft. Knox of live music.

Graham began recording rock shows at his Winterland, Fillmore West and Filmore East show palaces and stored the tapes in the basement of his Bill Graham Presents offices. These 2,500 hours formed the basis of the Vault's collection, but the archives of the 'King Biscuit Flower Hour' radio show, the Dawson Sound collection, the Ash Grove (a L.A. 60s folk club, now known as the Improv) archive, the Newport Jazz archives and tapes from the Record Plant have been added in recent years. Meticulous restoration work is done on the well-preserved, but aging, material by an army of recording engineers who will even resort to slow baking the tapes for several days so they can be played just one time and captured digitally.

From the acid rock of the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and Jimi Hendrix on to the punkier sounds of the Sex Pistols, the Clash and beyond ('80s New Wave groups like Culture Club, Duran Duran and ABC are represented too), much of the 3,500 concerts on Wolfgang's Vault stream free for members (it costs nothing to sign up, but you do have to register to listen) and the audio quality is top-notch. Additionally Wolgang's Vault boasts a streaming radio station and an online store with what is probably the single best source of rock and roll memorabilia on the Internet. New concerts are added weekly. There's even a Wolfgang's Vault iPhone app for listening concerts on the go, which was named the best app of 2009 by Macworld.

www.wolfgangsvault.com

-- Richard Metzger"

COMMUNITY VOICES: Rock out to help the world - Fall River, MA - The Herald News

COMMUNITY VOICES: Rock out to help the world - Fall River, MA - The Herald News: "

Although nothing takes the place of volunteering and face-to-face connections, here are some suggestions on how to incorporate a social agenda into your life by rock n’ rolling and munching! Some of the everyday things you do can have an impact on the world.

The list of socially conscious music groups continues to grow daily. Want to go to concert? Want to buy a new CD? Let your seat or CD also help you repair world.

— The Boss. Bruce Springsteen donates a portion of his profits to local food banks and often asks concert goers to bring canned food as part of the cost of admission. The food is distributed to local food pantries.

— The Grateful Dead. One of the most organized rock n’ roll charitable efforts, The Rex Foundation donates a portion of Grateful Dead profits to a plethora of service organizations working on issues such as the environment, homelessness, literacy, child welfare and peace efforts.

— Willie Nelson. Farm Aid, live mega-shows run yearly, raises money for independent farms that are in danger of being gobbled up by the Agra business.

— Phish uses a portion of its profits to support many social actions projects including environmental causes in the Lake Champlain region of Vermont, the birthplace of the band.

— Rapper Ludacris and The Ludacris Foundation team up with Greyhound and The National Runaway Switchboard to help runaways find their way home. Ludacris and Mary J. Blige’s song Runaway Love is featured in a televised public service announcement encouraging runaways to go home.

Who doesn’t enjoy a dish of ice cream on occasion? Make your munching matter. Ben & Jerry’s ice cream company is well known for its commitment to social causes, Ben & Jerry’s produces a number of tasty and socially responsible flavors.

— Some of the profits from Heath Bar Crunch go to “The Campaign for New Priorities,” an organization dedicated to advancing peace through education and an end to poverty."

Sacramento Press / Cinco de Alchemist: A Celebration of Transformation

Sacramento Press / Cinco de Alchemist: A Celebration of Transformation:

"Alchemist CDC was founded in 2004 by Wendy Carter, Lisa Nelson and Chris Aguirre to promote equitable community development in Sacramento. The nonprofit group believes that the overall health of the region depends on the health of urban centers, and they are currently focused on serving the Alkali Flats and Mansion Flats neighborhoods of downtown Sacramento.

In 2007, Alchemist CDC and the Sacramento Mutual Housing Association began the city’s first urban farm stand at J. Neely Johnson Park in Alkali Flats. In 2009, they began a farm stand at McClatchy Park in the Oak Park neighborhood. The farm stands operate from May through October."

411mania.com: Music - Jam Central Station 11.07.09: Robert Randolph and the Family Band

411mania.com: Music - Jam Central Station 11.07.09: Robert Randolph and the Family Band:

"Steel guitar virtuoso Robert Randolph and his Family Band's rise to prominence didn't come from the typical schedule of incessant recording and touring that most jam bands follow. Robert Randolph, for all of his talent, wasn't even aware of guitar greats like Buddy Guy or Muddy Waters as a teenager. His entire musical knowledge came from his church, a House of God church in New Jersey. Raised as the son of both a minister and a deacon, most of Randolph's early life was spent in the church. However, for Randolph, church music didn't mean organs and old ladies in the choir. Although it's a small denomination, the House of God churches had a musical tradition for Randolph to latch onto, a tradition known as Sacred Steel.

The pedal steel guitar, which is the lynchpin of Sacred Steel music, rose to prominence in House of God churches in the 30's. The black Pentecostal churches of this time couldn't afford costly organs, and the pedal steel guitar was introduced as a replacement instrument. While the instrument itself had been used primarily in Hawaiian and country music, the way that the House of God churches used it bore little resemblance to those other traditions. The energy that this instrument produced was much closer to the high-energy services of the Pentecostal churches, and was quickly accepted as part of their worship. This type of music seldom left the church, however. True to the name 'Sacred Steel,' church elders believed that the only appropriate place for this sacred music was in the church. Those who didn't frown on playing the music outside of the church still believed that the primary purpose for the music should be evangelism. Few recordings were made of Sacred Steel playing, and only a handful of practitioners played outside of church events.

Sacred Steel was 'discovered' in 1992 by Florida musicologist Robert Stone. He began recording the music in the churches. In 1995, he put out the first widely released recording of Sacred Steel music, Sacred Steel: Traditional Sacred African-American Steel Guitar Music in Florida. Stone's recordings of Sacred Steel music struck a chord not only with lovers of gospel and church music, but many guitar music aficionados across the globe.

About the time Stone was 'discovering' Sacred Steel music, a Robert Randolph was growing up in urban New Jersey. Randolph didn't just grow up in the church; he also grew up on the streets. He often skipped school and he dealt drugs for a short time. He maintained his relationship with his church, however, and began drumming in the youth choir. The shooting death of a close friend that brought Randolph seriously back into the church, and he left behind the street side of his life for good. He was given a steel guitar, and, at 17, he began playing in earnest. It was at this time that a friend gave him a Stevie Ray Vaughn tape."

Building With Whole Trees - NYTimes.com

Building With Whole Trees - NYTimes.com:


"According to research by the Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, run by the USDA, a whole, unmilled tree can support 50 percent more weight than the largest piece of lumber milled from the same tree. So Mr. Gundersen uses small-diameter trees as rafters and framing in his airy structures, and big trees felled by wind, disease or insects as powerful columns and curving beams.

Taking small trees from a crowded stand in the forest is much like thinning carrots in a row: the remaining plants get more light, air and nutrients. Carrots grow longer and straighter; trees get bigger and healthier.

And when the trees are left whole, they sequester carbon. “For every ton of wood, a ton and a half of carbon dioxide is locked up,” he said, whereas producing a ton of steel releases two to five tons of carbon. So the more whole wood is used in place of steel, the less carbon is pumped into the air.

These passive solar structures also need very little or no supplemental heat.

Tom Spaulding, the executive director of Angelic Organics Learning Center, near Rockford, Ill., northwest of Chicago, knows about this because he commissioned Mr. Gundersen to build a 1,600-square-foot training center in 2003. He said: “In the middle of winter, on a 20-below day, we’re in shorts, with the windows and doors open. And we don’t burn a bit of petroleum.”"

Rock Candy: Last Night: The Meat Puppets

Rock Candy: Last Night: The Meat Puppets:

"Once upon a time, two blue-blooded, musically gifted brothers from Arizona started a band. This was during the hardcore heyday of the early ‘80s, and though the winds were blowing strongly in the direction of harder-faster-louder, the siblings had an abiding love of such punk anathema as Neil Young and the Grateful Dead.

In short order, the Meat Puppets signed to the label SST and released a slew of albums — at least two of which are masterpieces — which combined the theretofore-disparate sounds of punk, country and psychedelia."

XTC: The Complete And Utter Dukes - XTC News @ antiMusic.com

XTC: The Complete And Utter Dukes - XTC News @ antiMusic.com:

"(Howlin' Wuelf) The Complete And Utter Dukes is a special LIMITED edition release of XTC's pseudonymous output as 'The Dukes of Stratosphear' being released domestically November 30 on XTC mainman Andy Partridge's Ape House label, distributed by ADA.

This LIMITED EDITION purple cloth-covered box set completes even the completist's collection with everything the Dukes ever recorded presented in a variety of formats.

This includes the vinyl versions of 25 O'Clock and Psonic Psunspot are faithful to the original in their content and were remastered especially for these vinyl pressings. Both come in gatefold sleeves and newly designed inner bags. There's also a 7 inch single featuring Andy Partridge's 'Tin Toy Clockwork Train,' a track written for a psychedelic Euro Star ad campaign and Colin Moulding's demo of 'The Affiliated.'

You also get both 25 O'Clock and Psonic Psunspot are on separate CDs, again, having been completely remastered from the original analogue tapes, with generous bonus material and packaged in hardback books."

wbur.org » NPR

wbur.org » NPR:

"I don't think there has ever been a comedy as freakishly, surreally psychosexual as Jared Hess's Gentlemen Broncos. It's the story of a teenager who writes unpublished Dune-like sci-fi novels called Yeast Wars in which the hero has his gonads stolen and faces off in a rocky desert against laser-blasting mammaries.

The kid, Benjamin, played by Michael Angarano, is clearly sublimating like mad to relieve his sexual discomfort. But often Hess cuts to his fantasies — scenes from his novels enacted onscreen — and they're so visionary and intense that they hurtle past Freud. They have a Jung-like mythical dimension. His protagonist, Bronco, played by Sam Rockwell, is part cowboy, part Flash Gordon. His battles are gloriously tacky and psychedelic. He rides robotic deer and dodges Cyclops and pursues a jelly jar with his pilfered private parts. These fantasies lift the movie into a realm both lofty and madcap. The down-to-earth realm is loco in a different way."