[music clips] from russia with love

So, here it is - an attempt to show you some of the modern music from over here. All tracks are around one minute [about 990kb @ 128kps] and there are ten of them.

The small size should make them reasonably accessible but maybe you'll need to listen over a few days.

1 We kick off with a traditional accordion piece, to set the scene:

Accordion

2 Now a more up to date piece by a group called Hi Fi, from the late 90s but still using accordion:

Homeless child

3 One of the most respected musos, Garik Sukachev, a hooligan poet known for his passion, with a Piaf-like French angle on the accordion in this case. Very popular over here but seen as a village boy by some:

Tomba la Neige

4 Leaving the accordion for now, the early 2000s saw experimentation, this time combining children and rock:

With me

5 The next three tracks might be hard to stomach for some. They begin with the reason I don't really like female singers from Moscow. There's something really hard-nosed and wreaking of desired money and lack of talent.

Their backing group is usually top notch to compensate and they wheel the girl in and she sort of sings and looks dollishly pretty while she's gyrating. That's Moscow pop. They're actually singing the words: "These songs are rubbish.":

You were caught

6 Professor Lebedinsky is shunned by most but he is actually talented and original, in the way Rab C. Nesbitt was. It's a clever spoof of Louis Armstrong meets the dance scene.

I saw an interview with this guy and he was intelligent and had a good sense of humour. The song is about bedding girls:

Kalyamba Balyamba

7 Now the dance scene proper, Russian style. Once again, Hi Fi:

Arabica

8 This is the first part of a super-long track, regarded possibly as THE definitive Russian song from the 1990s by DDT, a group regarded by young and old as a cut above the rest for intellect, lyrics and just good music.

The Soviet Union pressurized them to discontinue so they went underground, a brave thing to do in those days. This is unusually folksy for them:

That's all [eto vsyo]

9 The track then cranks up the tempo in stages until near the end when it reaches this clip, then, after that, builds even further to the climax. It's still played today on the radio.

That's all [2]

10 And so it really is all and I thought Lebedinsky's sign off piece was appropriate - he can switch genres at will:

Hello Goodbye

If you'd like to hear some more of these, e-mail me or comment below and I'll do what I can. It was perhaps unusual music but I hope you liked at least some of the clips.

[politics] and the curse of conscience

It's a two day holiday for us, not counting the weekend and I've just been jawing a little on the line with my best mate here. The topic? The Thomas More Syndrome, otherwise The Curse of Conscience.

Let me explain.

Thomas More was a member of a set. An academic, he was raised in station and had it all before him if he'd been of a certain mentality, if he'd wanted and if he'd kept his mouth shut. His wife, with her keen social sense, certainly wanted and was grateful for where Thomas led her.

You know the story.

He couldn't go along with the King on the grounds of conscience. In politics, it's always "either for us or against us" and Thomas wanted to tread a middling path, agreeing on this and disagreeing on that.

What's more, being free to do so without anyone questioning his loyalty.

When the chips were down, he took refuge in the law but if he'd been truly wise, he'd have taken refuge in the subject of his demise, Jesus Christ.

Both my mate and I came to the Christian stance intellectually, i.e. not through personal tragedy or trauma. However, the set we hob-nob with look at both of us askance, as some sort of weird eccentrics. In their eyes, we've both, in our own way, betrayed our own kind.

I may have now also lost Winfred Mann and that's sad. She's clearly of the same way of thinking as me and we could sit at the same table at a dinner party and converse half the evening.

In Britain, the independent school heads were my milieu. I could easily fall in with Ellee, Sally and Geoff in Norfolk and ramble with them on the continent if they would have me.

In America, I was a guest and friend of people from Orange County/San Clemente but not DelMar/Le Jolla. I had neither the cash nor the contacts for that. In Australia, it was Toorak/South Yarra. In BC, Canada, I spent nearly all my time at North Van, West Van, Whistler and on English Bay.

On the other hand, I'd feel equally at home pubbing in Edinburgh or at Masham, I'd count Rab C. Nesbitt as a mate and I've handed out Labour material in my early Urban Guerilla manifestation, not unlike Rick of the Young Ones. Vivian was my favourite.

Around London, I wore bowler, smoking jacket and Stranglers T-shirt, a semi-droog without the violence. Trouble is, you're not allowed to do those things in society.

My belief is that John Howard and George Bush are right in standing up to the quagmire of PC dreggishness that godless leftists are dragging us down into but there's only one problem.

I have evidence that some of the men behind them are corrupt. At least, I'd meet such and such a person at a fundraising do, who'd invite me to another bash, where I'd meet someone who some years later would be up on a cash-for-honours rap, that sort of thing.

Put together with the material put out by the other side and the circle closes. And there's very little chance of it being wrong. What, should I close my eyes to it?

In George's case, he's sold out his country to the CFR. There's no question about the evidence. I've read the wording of the two documents. March 13th, 2005 is a good start if you really want to investigate it.

So what can I do? Shut up and go along with my natural set, the Republicans? What would Thomas More have done?

Now I see Winfred Mann, who is clearly not au fait with the story of the SPPNA, viewing my savage attack on Blackwater as beyond the pale and her question in the comments section is to the point:

"If you were caught between the terrorists and Blackwater, whom would you want protecting you?"

Clearly the latter, Winfred, and these guys would most likely be my friends in real life, being ex-military. Trouble is, I have to ask another question:

"If you were caught between the corrupt forces behind and permeating both major party leaderships, Blackwater, FEMA, the Masonic community, the Christian Church and the intelligence and psychological communities on the one hand … and ordinary, decent folk within both major party leaderships, Blackwater, FEMA, the Masonic community, the Christian Church and the intelligence and psychological communities on the other, whom would you want protecting you?"

The gospels speak of tares growing up among the wheat stalks and this is the true state of the picture. Neither party is naturally corrupt and contain many fine people. I know many in the Masonic community and they are upright, honest citizens. My dad was one.

They read my posts and it doesn't accord with what they know.

Trouble is, these good people are not "tare-sensitive" to the point I am. I know some of the tares also at the same dinner party and they stand out a mile in my eyes, due to this little comment, that little error, something which accords with a snippet picked up some time in the past - so what does one do? Stay silent or do as Thomas More did - "out" them?

And who would believe me anyway?

This is the true curse of conscience, for if you follow its dictates, you lose your tribal identity and its protective mechanisms and you leave ourself wide open to the savages from the Capitol down to the lowest Holmesian drug den.

What to do?

[ladies and gentlemen] the power of the sphere

I have Temptation now and the process by which it happened needs to be told.

In this blogging game, there are, quite frankly, some twits and some pretty evil characters.

Then there are people like Geoff Jones who is one [and I shan't start naming you all because it would not end by midnight] who belong to the "wonderful league".

You know precisely what I mean and this is the reason I blog, truly. I've now finished giving my message to the sphere, [see the last post for part of it]; so what is left now is just the sense of community and this is every reason to continue.

Realizing the situation vis a vis Temptation [the New Order song], Geoff sent me "Confusion", which is excellent and I sent back asking if I could possibly have Temptation and Hurt.

He sent and my e-mail duly bounced him. He left a message to help him out with a g-mail or better e-mail and I never replied [I was actually working at that time].

Undaunted, he went through a firm on the web and got it to me, I've now downloaded and listened and I can tell you I'm pretty chuffed. I'd love to be able to respond in kind and it might be possible.

This evening I have plans to run 10 Russian clips to show you some of the music over here and this will involve Audiograbber and Sound Forge. Keep an eye out for them.

So Geoff, again, a big, big thanks from me.

By the way, try this site too.

[lizard queen] private army at her disposal

Whilst plans are afoot in Britain to evict an 83 year old woman with Alzheimers disease over a money wrangle between the company, Southern Cross Health Care Ltd and her family, Jeremy Scahill reports, in the Asia Times of a different type of financial wrangle:

The Democratic leadership is arguing over the US$124 billion Iraq supplemental spending bill they still plan to keep funding the war [and thus] the estimated 126,000 private military "contractors" who currently come from such companies as Blackwater USA and the former Halliburton subsidiary KBR will stay put.

While many of them perform logistical support activities for US troops, tens of thousands of them are directly engaged in military and combat activities. According to the Government Accountability Office, there are now some 48,000 employees of private military companies in Iraq.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Henry Waxman estimates that $4 billion has so far been spent in Iraq on armed "security" companies such as Blackwater.

In January, David Petraeus, the general running Bush's "surge" plan in Baghdad, cited private forces as essential to winning the war. Petraeus admitted that he has at times not been guarded in Iraq by the US military, but "secured by contract security".

Contractors have allowed for a back-door near-doubling of US forces in Iraq through the private sector, while masking the full extent of the human costs of the occupation.

Although at least 770 contractors have been killed in Iraq, these have not been published and Paul Bremer, Bush's viceroy in Baghdad, issued an edict known as Order 17 in 2004, immunizing contractors from prosecution.

Then there is the issue of continued funding for the privatized shadow forces in Iraq. The Democrats' Iraq plan would have cut about 15% or $815 million off the supplemental spending [but then they dropped the plan].

A decade ago, Blackwater USA barely existed; yet its "diplomatic security" contracts since mid-2004, with the State Department alone, total more than $750 million.

Blackwater protects the US ambassador and other senior officials in Iraq as well as visiting congressional delegations; it trains Afghan security forces and was deployed in the Caspian Sea region, setting up a "command and control" center kilometers from the Iranian border.

The company was also hired to protect Federal Emergency Management Agency operations and facilities after Hurricane Katrina, where it [earned] $240,000 a day from the American taxpayer, billing $950 a day per Blackwater contractor.

Since September 11, 2001, the company has invested in building a private army - forces are deployed in nine countries, with a database of 21,000 additional troops at the ready, a fleet of more than 20 aircraft, including helicopter gunships and the world's largest private military facility - a 2,800-hectare compound near the Great Dismal Swamp of North Carolina.

It recently opened a new facility in Illinois ("Blackwater North") and is fighting local opposition to a third planned domestic facility near San Diego ("Blackwater West") by the Mexican border. It is also manufacturing an armored vehicle (nicknamed the "Grizzly") and surveillance blimps.

Erik Prince, ex-navy special-force multimillionaire heads the group. Senior executives include Cofer Black, former head of counter-terrorism at the Central Intelligence Agency; Robert Richer, former deputy director of operations at the CIA; Joseph Schmitz, former Pentagon inspector general and other retired military and intelligence officials.

Company executives recently announced the creation of a new private intelligence company, "Total Intelligence", to be headed by Black and Richer.

Now, put that together with the plans for the SPPNA and the deployment of FEMA, not as a different issue to the illumined objective, as one commenter claimed but very much an integral arm of the North American security plans.

What that gives us is a very worrying scenario:

1] Iraq as a mere training ground;

2] A private contract army not subject to federal regulation or to the constitution of the United States;

3] Private command of forces, under the consultative eye of the NAAC, comprising the CFR.

I think you're getting the drift. All of this facilitated by the next president. The Illumined,phoenix wearing Lizard Queen perchance? This could be "Living History" we're seeing.

Still, the 83 year old lady, YL, won't have to worry about that soon, will she?

[forbidden fruit] mixing work and pleasure

Unusual for this blog to run two posts in a row on a similar theme but this one just couldn't be passed up.

It was the photo Sam Brett used which struck me first because it brought back memories of a spaghetti bar when I was visiting Melbourne and the lady at the time was wearing red shoes and red nail polish and the feet looked like that.

Call me an android but you know, I didn't appreciate it. Perhaps it was the rough way she did it, perhaps it was that I'm supposed to make the moves [unreconstructed male in this sense], perhaps it was … oh, who knows?

So, far from a turn on, it actually had the opposite effect and I tried to hide it but it all sort of petered out in the next few weeks anyway - not just over this, of course, but it was the start.

And what about the old chestnut: "Can a woman rape a man?"

Not one which often crosses your mind, I'll be bound and yet it's an interesting conundrum which I always wanted to put to the test. Fortunately, a wife at the time, given to sometimes doing things out of spite, waited until the day when I was as sick as a dog and then sprang.

There's a point in Life of Brian when his mother is asked: "Were you raped?" and she replied: "Well - at first."

So to Sam's point about mixing work and pleasure:

I must hear from a dozen readers and friends weekly who say they're facing a similar quandary: Do they pounce on their sexy work colleague, co-worker, boss or subordinate, or do they let it slide by the wayside?

Whether working in the same office or starting a business together, couples quickly learn it's often not the most pleasant situation - especially when it comes to handling prying colleagues.

Sneaky kisses in the office kitchenette? Clandestine winks during the weekly board meeting? Romantic lunches at the coffee shop across the street?

Clearly, in my situation it's right out because which of the dozen girls would you go with? How would you get the message to her anyway in front of the others, who are expecting such a thing anyway? And how could you go anywhere without being noticed in this town?

And finally, for what purpose? If one is halfway normal, there's your own sweetheart to meet, although forbidden fruit does attract some, I suppose.

[all above board] but dubious taste nonetheless

Very puzzling story, really:

Iceland’s parliament agreed to grant a woman from Central America Icelandic citizenship one month ago after only 15 months in the country on a student visa. The woman apparently has close ties to Jónína Bjartmarz, Iceland’s Minister of the Environment.

According to RÚV, the woman in question, who is in her early twenties, has a registered address at the Minister’s residence and is her son’s girlfriend.

I think this is an absolute disgrace. There are some amazingly moving home-grown products in Iceland so why import a Latino? I admit tastes differ but the Nordic honeys, such as in the pictures top left and lower right are totally irresistible, in my book.

Still, Jónína's son knows best, I suppose.

[simplicity] that to which to aspire

I don't know why but I love stark images and simple living, the power of nature, polished wooden or tiled floors with rugs - it's restful, even in its power. I like much that is electronic as well. Apart from the image to the left, listen to this clip:

Here

... and you'll get some sort of index to the way I live. My blog is no indicator - it's far more ornate than I am. A girl came to my apartment and she commented on the single light bulb hanging from the centre of the ceiling.

Ashamed a little, I said I hadn't found the shade I wanted yet. She said not to touch it - she liked it that way. I have tubular bells near my window - they hang from the ceiling too and tinkle when there's a slight breeze.

There are no curtains over the windows, no blinds. When we go to sleep, the grey light shines through and in the morning, the sunlight through the large windows hits the golden parquet floor. I like it that way.

I serve meals in 12cm white bowls, on thick wooden boards with a piece of toast and a glass of water beside them.

I love the imagery of Leonard Cohen. I love Haiku. And you?

[buttocks] one pair, slightly soiled

Anyone need a pair of buttocks? Newmania's selling his. Now, about the bollocks we were talking …

[new order] searching for temptation

Any one know how I can access New Order's original version of Temptation and then their later double album version? This emasculated midi does no justice to them. Trouble is, I can't buy from over here.

Oh, you’ve got green eyes;
Oh, you’ve got blue eyes;
Oh, you’ve got grey eyes ...

And I’ve never seen anyone quite like you before ...
No, I’ve never met anyone quite like you before ...
Bolts from above hit the people down below ...
People in this world, we have no place to go ...

Oh, it’s the last time ...
Oh, I’ve never met anyone quite like you before ...
Oh no, I’ve never met anyone quite like you before ...

[predictions] what percentage have come true

Note the waving hand

Via the ever excellent Tim Almond, at his minimalist-look boffin site, a look at the predictions which have come true in the last fifty years. Fascinating stuff and the link to the predictions is over at Tim's site.