NOTES ON A MULTICULTURALISM TALK

Arjun Appadurai, world renowned anthropologist, deals with the cultural dimensions of globalization in works such as "Modernity at Large" and "Fear of Small Numbers."

LINK TO THE KULTURHAUS in Berlin


TOO CLOSE & TOO FAR

-Yesterday's strangers are today's neighbor; the geography of daily life has changed.

We are becoming all at once too far and too close to each other in this increasingly global age;

TOO FAR

Increasing isolation (the growth of urban areas magnifies this) (NOT JUST THE INVIDIVIDUAL, GROUPS ARE ISOLATING THEMSELVES, but on the basis of what I ask)

TOO CLOSE

Today's global cultural flows have a curious inner-contradiction; the old barriers of ethnicity, nationalism, religion and other ****FUNDAMENTAL**** issues are impeding/slowing the development of common ground cultural flows (internet, art, jobs, etc.)

MULTICULTURALISM IS OUTDATED

Too 'soft' politically
Too weak intellectually

Multiculturalism has had recent value, historically; a benign (safe, soft) lens by which to discuss cross-border traffic in the neo-liberal economic framework (big market, aka western europe and THE US OF A)

MASS ATTACKS ON CIVILIANS (TERRORISM)
NATURAL DISASTERS
ECONOMIC DOWNTURN

All these things are tied in to the political, social and humanitarian issues that MULTICULTURALISM has never had a real answer for, in general offering nothing more than a shrug of the shoulders.

CONVIVIALITY

Living together in a way that is enriching in certain ways, while leaving certain key choices to the invididual. (UTOPIA?!?!) In the world we seek diversity is
encouraged,
sustained
and enhanced

DIALOGUE

Risks: No one can enter a dialogue without risk

The other party may not understand you; we try to be as inter-subjective (understand as much as possible the other side of the story) as possible, but there are always limitations and things that get lost in translation.

the other party may understand you all too well; one's ulterior motives, what your REAL preferences are (what makes you not them), prevent you from placing emphasis on the us.

A PROBLEM

Let's take a look at the series of binary oppositions (Christian and Muslim world, et. al) that rule our lives (itself in a binary opposition with death; the 1 0 boy-o! because1 + 0 = 1, this is the only math that I really fundamentally believe in):

-Religion
-Language
-Hometown

GLOBALISM FURTHER PLACES EMPHASIS ON SOCIETY's INTERNAL DIVISIONS

There are basic things that differentitate the me from you, things that are set in stone like the ten commandments; WE CAN't FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGE AS HUMAN BEINGS, we are limited, fractured creatures. SO, THEN WHAT TO DISCUSS?!?!?!

-With CONVIVIALITY as a general end-goal for which the means of DIALOGUE are employed; we go about the act of compromise for the ever greater good (Feeling good, feeling great!)

BUT!

DIALOGUE MUST OCCUR WITH BOTH THE OTHER AND THE SELF (A duality of the invidividual HIGHER ORDER THINKING [let's take drugs!])

So, there must be a constant renewal of the self

Samuel Huntington's Clash of Civilizations (ATTACHED); is a theory that the world is becoming more and more divided through a series of binary oppositions (IT WAS ALWAYS LIKE THIS, but with an increasingly connected world, there become more and more areas of polarization (HATE AND LOVE, this usually leads to violence, we're violent creatures; so, how do we fight through our anger, our embarrassment, our disappointment in ourselves; I PERSONALLY think it is through something beautiful that can allow you to leave the self temporarily. I can only achieve this through playing music, maybe by writing notes, these notes are pretty fucking good, huh? Must've been a good talk; I hope you don't need a translator to read this effectively.

WHAT ARE THE INTERNAL DEBATES?

THE RISKS OF DIALOGUE REAR THEIR UGLY HEADS

Selectivity; we don't share all our humanity all of the time.

URBAN POVERTY

60% of the world will be living in cities by some date that I didn't write down (speculation, doesn't mean toooo much to this boy-o)

THIS MEANS MORE AND MORE URBAN POOR AKA SLUMDWELLERS

COSMPOLITANISM FROM BELOW

-A compulsory (involuntary [produced without being provoked by an other]) kind of cosmopolitan culture comes from these slums ( you're seeing the transmission already from AMERICA's URBAN POOR to other's music and style (AKA BASEBALL HATS in Kreuzberg)

-Multi-lingual; poor people in places like India where there is extremely high linguistic diversity are finding common ground through the market, maybe.

1/2 of the World's Ubran population will be in these kinds of slums.

THEY accomplish this new shared global cosmopolitanism through the internet, the visibility of stars in movies, sports, etc.; it is without any of the economic benefits that allow traditional cosmopolitanism to develop, aka people like me who grow up because they come in to a little bit of money.

This means local more and more becomes global; a butterfly flapping it's wings in venezuela won't cause a tornado in West Texas, but this is all conected at something deeper I tell myself...

THE URBAN POOR ARE FASCINATING!

They are performing great experiments in dialogue (demonstrating the risks!)

WRAPPING UP

CHANGING IDEAS OF CITIZENSHIP

Building our society on conviviality and dialogue rather than territoriality.

A HARD ROAD TO HOPE

IF WE ARE TWO DISTINCT 'I's

ME You
I I

The common ground is what we're standing on (It's about the environment, dude. THERE IS A NEW CRISIS LOOMING IN THE INTERNET[what if it gets overpolluted and everyday people can't even use it properly, we gotta find a way to be more efficient with our usage of space; AM I A FUCKING HYPOCRITE, or AM I JUST ON MY WAY; I have hope...)

OUTKAST GHETTO MUSIK IS THE VIDEO VERSION OF THIS NOTES IF YOU'RE BORED

I miss YOU! Time is short, but LOVE IS BIG.


LOVE,

al

LISTEN TO THE TEN YEAR's AFTER SONG "GONNA RUN" it's been a personal favorite of mine for about 4 years now.

That's RICH!

Verbosity is a target worth destroying. Frank Rich's op-ed for the nyt is a lot more convincing online, this week's edition is no exception.

I wondered if someone could construct a labrynth that one could enter without even noticing.

Music Video Examples of this tehnique in action:








Sunday is the Psychic Holiday. WHAT A DAY for a song in your heart and a beer in your gut.

Mynah Birds

I'm thinking at this exact moment about Rick James and Neil Young's ill-fated vocal group the Mynah Birds. If you listen to standout classic, sampled and retopping the chart funk like "Superfreak" and "Mary Jane" you hear a guy who could play his ass off on the bass on top of having an original and impressive vocal dynamic range.

Allmusic.com's take on the lifes and times of Dave Chappelle's misfortunate victim/accomplice in modern comic times.

In the late '70s, when the fortunes of Motown Records seemed to be flagging, Rick James came along and rescued the company, providing funky hits that updated the label's style and saw it through into the mid-'80s. Actually, James had been with Motown earlier, though nothing had come of it. After growing up in Buffalo and running away to join the Naval Reserves, he ran away from the Navy to Toronto, where he was in a band with future Buffalo Springfield members Neil Young and Bruce Palmer, and with Goldy McJohn, later of Steppenwolf. As the Mynah Birds, they signed to Motown and recorded, though no record was ever released.

James had a journeyman's career playing bass in various groups before signing again to Motown as an artist, songwriter, and producer. His first single, "You and I" (May 1978), topped the R&B charts and reached the pop Top 40. "Mary Jane" (September 1978) was another hit. Both were on James' debut album, Come Get It! (June 1978), which went gold. Subsequent efforts were not as successful, though Bustin' Out of L Seven (January 1979) featured the R&B hit "Bustin' Out" (April 1979). James returned to form with the number one R&B hit "Give It to Me Baby" (March 1981), featured on the million-selling Street Songs (April 1981), which also featured the hit "Super Freak."

James turned his production attention to resuscitating the career of the Temptations, recently returned to Motown, and "Standing on the Top" (April 1982), credited to the Temptations featuring Rick James, was an R&B Top Ten. (He also produced recordings by Teena Marie and the Mary Jane Girls.) James' follow-up to Street Songs was the gold-selling Throwin' Down (May 1982), which featured the hit "Dance Wit' Me." The title song of Cold Blooded (August 1983) became James' third R&B number one, and the album also featured his hit duet with Smokey Robinson, "Ebony Eyes." James' greatest-hits album Reflections (August 1984) featured the new track "17" (June 1984), which also became a hit. Glow (April 1985) contained Top Ten R&B singles in the title track and "Can't Stop," which was featured in the summer movie blockbuster Beverly Hills Cop. The Flag (June 1986) featured the hit "Sweet and Sexy Thing" (May 1986).

James left Motown for the Reprise division of Warner Bros. Records as of the album Wonderful (July 1988), which featured his number one R&B hit "Loosey's Rap," on which he was accompanied by rapper Roxanne Shante. Nevertheless, his "punk funk" didn't seem to rest comfortably with the trend toward rap/hip-hop. In 1989, James charted briefly with a medley of the Drifters hits "This Magic Moment" and "Dance With Me." In 1990, MC Hammer scored a massive hit with "U Can't Touch This," which consisted of his rap over the instrumental track of "Super Freak." That should have made for a career rebirth, but James was plagued by drug and legal problems that found him more frequently in court and in jail rather than in the recording studio. The majority of his legal woes behind him, James returned in 1997 with Urban Rapsody, which didn't yield any hits but was well accepted by critics. Rick James died of a heart attack on August 6, 2004, at his Los Angeles home.

REAL WORLD VERMONT

When did everyone decide to let Weird al become just al?

MEXICO: THE NOVEL

Nixon fixed his coat, and Groening poured it down your throat, middle name game, like Rob Smigel and the ex-presidents brilliant reanimation of Checkers, the first hound of the 1970's for a little while.

BLOG AWFUL SELF PROMOTION ONE MAN BAND FANSTAND GRANDIOSE TOMFOOLERY TOM SELLECK IN A LEXUS WITH TEXAS LICENSE PLATES WITH TINY ENGRAVED QUOTES FROM Y

WIKIPEDIA WRECKING CREW

BLOG AWFUL SELF PROMOTION ONE MAN BAND FANSTAND GRANDIOSE TOMFOOLERY TOM SELLECK IN A LEXUS WITH TEXAS LICENSE PLATES WITH TINY ENGRAVED QUOTES FROM YEATS, "THE WORLD IS TOO MUCH WITH US" (He was a fascist).

Oh LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA MANNY RAMIREZ STORY BEHIND THE STORY DATELINE CNN NEWSWEEK TABITHA CHRIS CONNELY PRINCETON NEW JERSEY

Well, you can read about the 'wrecking crew' that Phil Spector employed to weave the magic he left the world before finally getting locked up for being a fascist (this is the least surprising aspect of ANY successful post-war american they will tell you in some analysis at a left-wing think tank ran by mustachioed gay-rights champions), whatever you wanna call it, or you can watch this video OR READ below for the most important aspects of it that you will probably hear me screaming the next time I'm in LA on a crime spree.



Jai Alais (Highlights for fake mexicans)
YES LA, THAT WAS ME TOO! (SLUM VILL NBA REFERENCE comes shortly later)

electric vibraphone

Hand Drums are a fun game for the mentally ill.

Hilltop field was witness to some all-timers man.

Trumpets blare fanfare means it's time.

Thyme in my parsley jar means no respect.

Damn kids

Stealing my sweet premium wine, my yuengling lager, SLICK RICK on a mos def track?!

Oh, it's just a beat from the BEAT KONDUCTA series...

Work soon, job's great. I'm always early and I don't care.

butt prints

It's OVER

The Los Angeles Lakers are your 2009 NBA champions.

The Magic redeemed their 1994 squad that got swept by the dream shake and other such tools of the trade, by winning a single game.

My preseason predictions didn't tell us much of anything, other than predicting Al Harrington to the Knicks (nice) and putting Joakim Noah's somewhat suspect street cred/douchebag duality in to its proper CEntral New Jersey Prep School context.

So of course everyone shows Shaquille O'neal's twitter; this finals is somehow all about him. And the Cleveland trade talks? BOOOOOORING!!!!!

Don't let hipsters get you down guys.

Tweet Stuff

So ESPN has a big front page thing on what NBA players are tweeting; it suspiciously reminds me of what Bethlehem Shoals was doing at the baseline for some time now. When reached for comment freedarko said:

That's a tough one. Baseline wasn't the first place to spotlight player twits, but we certainly curated them harder, and with more of a distinct sensibility, than places that just looked for news-worthy stuff or JOKEZ. THis is somewhere between the two, no?

STRAIGHT FROM THE MOTHERFUCKIN' CASSETTE

So, I am trying to make the music, yes? New stuff to come soon.

Döner Kebap.

nouveau poor? HAHA! Ain't shit changed since '88, get on the corner and push something.

HEY BLOGGASS, readaboutrealpeople.

evil software!

AUTO TUNE IS DEAD!!!! AUTO TUNE IS DEAD!!!! Here's the software fungus that grows along side.

fanboy's fantastic damage book report format was rejected on the basis of paragraphs prone to rambling rapid free verse in free time. No particular scheme for rhyme, with 4/4/7/4 rythmic pulsing; the 7/4 measure feeling like a musical RIVER PLAT jersey.

Immanuel Kant

blogging is FASCINATING.

Someone once told me that the aformentioned Kant was a disbeliever in his maxims and imperatives late in life; calling out for dionysus and the likes, the need for travel, for experience, while your soul may live within you, it's not big deal till you can get along with other people and their various amazing lives.

The best blogs are giving it away as long as they can.

ART FOR ART's SAKE!

Barret Robbins handcuffed; silkscreen photo of the week! GET ON IT PEOPLE.

THE WALL

PETER SABO!

Hey ho; CROTCH ROCKET

Nate Dogg

THE FIX IS IN

IT's FIXED

J PHOENIX

HE USES COLBERTS TACTICS IN REVERSE: HE GETS HIS OWN MUSIC PROGRAM/TALK SHOW WHENEVER HE INTERVIEWS, like J-Wex, I think.