Now here’s the one you’ve been waiting for. During their filming last year, The Collective Sound took their campers up to the Synthesis office. We told them about getting press for their bands. They were thoroughly disinterested with my little speech. Classic.

From The Collective Sound:

Set in the small town of Chico California, Let It Be Heard… is an inspirational story of a small group of young musicians that embark on an adventure of a lifetime. The web documentary follows the journey of 50 young artists, come together from around the world, for 3 weeks of The Collective Sound Summer Music Academy, the worlds first touring summer music camp.

[The following article, written by Bob Howard for Synthesis Weekly, was originally published in the print version of Synthesis on Monday, May 19th, 2008. He can be reached at bob@madbob.com]

Keep on Drinking
By Bob Howard

“Be it destiny or free will, there are those amongst us who might do the rest of society a favor by staying on the couch, taking bong rips and playing the latest version of Grand Theft Auto.”

A Long History of Stupid: I’ve just started reading a biography of long-time FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, and as a result, I’m learning quite a lot about the history of this country and the tradition of our government cracking down on dissent. This latest episode of our history is far from the first time the Bill of Rights has been superseded and suspended in the name of “security.” I have yet to grasp the logic of suspending freedoms to ensure security when I thought that the whole thing we are trying to secure in the first place is freedom; but I digress.
Anyway, here are some interesting factoids I’ve picked up thus far: Remember when in protest of the French dissent against the “War on Terror” our Congress made the brilliant move of re-naming French Fries “Freedom Fries?” Seems like a pretty creative manifestation of nationalistic stupidity, right? Wrong. During World War I, our Congress re-named Sauerkraut “Liberty Cabbage.” Our current stupidity isn’t even original! How do you like that?

Think the threat of terrorism is a new thing? Wrong. Just prior to and then after World War I, the Red Scare developed. Anarchists and Communists were on the rise and there were actually a series of letter bombs and bomb attacks that riddled the nation’s capitol and industrial power figures.
These attacks lead to a complete abridgment of the freedoms granted in the Bill of Rights. Anyone suspected of being a communist, a socialist, or a sympathizer — essentially any Russian factory worker — was rounded up in mass arrests and many were unceremoniously deported so quickly that there wasn’t even time for an appeal.

More heartwarming thoughts after the jump. (more…)

The World is a bold project started in 2006 2005 set out to artificially create a set of islands shaped as Planet Earth. These islands, likely to be encrusted with platinum and children-mined diamonds, are to be located off the shore of Dubai India within the Arabian Gulf Persian Gulf. It has elaborate plans to possess it’s own transportation system, commercial shopping centers and marinas. Islands are available to private investors for insane amounts of money, probably a total of which is enough to solve world hunger 30 times over. Investors are already jumping on this ‘prime’ real-estate, with the most recent sale being as high as $28 million to a Chinese Businessman. Tip:If any of you millionaire readers want to buy into this, you better hurry, because ‘The World’ has already been 90% reclaimed.

birds eye view of The Word in April 2007

If that weren’t enough, ‘The World’ tenants have the ability to Terraform their islands into the desired size, perfectly fulfilling their desires and needs. (image below)

An excerpt from the TheWorld.ae:

An array of island parcels means an array of possibilities. Engineered to be flexible and designed to be unforgettable – a blank canvas in the azure waters of the Arabian Gulf. An incomparable destination, The World is a collection of private islands that form a singular expression of exclusivity. Located off the coast of Dubai’s most desirable address, and created by Nakheel, Dubai’s premier developer, The World is quickly evolving into a one-of-a-kind destination and investment opportunity.

One of the The World’s Principles is ‘exclusivity’. This really ticks me off, hence my satirical approach to this editorial: Due to the increasing power and limited numbers of the Wealthy Class, it is hard for these powerful individuals to feel as though they are ’special’ or ‘unique’. Because now that everyone in the ‘elite family’ own a Yacht, Ferrari, Game Room, Mansion and the Genomes to Several Endangered Species, these people’s ego has finally surpassed their rate of consumption to a point where nothing is good enough. A manifestation of uncertainty is created within those who have relied on money, power and material goods for happiness their entire lives. The void within them has not been filled, and probably won’t be until they press the red button and kill us all. As an attempt to salvage and further fuel their incredibly superficial self-worth, they must obtain their own private island. A perfect example of the diminishing morality of Planet Earths most rich and powerful people.

Am I supposed to feel sorry for them or something?

So my question is, what happens when the water level rises a couple feet or a wave comes? Insurance scam?

There couldn’t be any better of a metaphor to correctly frame the premise of ‘The World’ other than quicksand

thanks Laurie =)

Anyone who read my last post about this knows exactly how I feel about stolen band gear and what I think should happen to the culprits. Jodi Hates The World, whose music I didn’t really like at first, but has since grown on me (think Jane’s Addiction meets the Smashing Pumpkins), recently got their tour van stolen in Oakland, CA. If you frequent pawn shops and seedy neighborhoods, be on the lookout for this stuff:

1994 Doge ram 1500 17 passenger van WA lic 808 SVT

1976 black Gibson Les Paul Custom

Worn finish on neck, star decals, ink drawn “SAI” on back of body where finish has worn off..a big ding right behind the tailpiece…it’s hard to miss this guitar….serial number starts with 001…will get the rest as soon as I locate it

1979 Natural Finish Gibson “The Paul”
Large Chip in headstock. Charlie Brown decal on body..if you look close at the headstock you can see where someone had placed some little heart stickers under the Gibson logo….lots of wear just under the pickups, and where your arm would rest on top of the body…..again, pretty hard to miss…

1970’s Fender Bassman 100 Amplifier (master volume)
Blue powerlight, post-factory power cord with a big yellow plug, hum balance pot has been removed from the back of the amp..has an airplane decal with JHW on it just under the power light…also the faceplate is a little dented under the power light

1990’s Fender Tonemaster 4×12 Speaker enclosure
Lots of duct tape over torn tolex cover.
“JHW” stenciled on the side..it has also been modded to run on 4 ohms instead of 8….

90’s six string Ibanez bass guitar
SR series maple wood body, light brown/tan finish

2003/04 six string Ibanez bass guitar
SR series, mahogany wood body, dark brown finish

3 blue Garcia custom drums (seattle drum shop. jerry garcia. hard to miss)
18×22, 16×20, 18×16

1 Mac Book (white)

2 cymbal bags
1 large black case of drum hardware
1 Kepplinger custom steel snare (holy shit these are amazing snares)
1 Fender Roc Pro 1000 amplifier
1 Marshall 2×12 speaker enclosure

::PEDALS::

2 Boss DS-1 distortion
1 Boss GE-2 qualizer
1 Ibanez Toneloc Phaser
1 Boss DF-2 Distortion/Feedbacker
2 Digitech PDS1002 2 second delay samplers/didital delay…pretty rare to find…one of them has some scorching around the power jack
2 Digitech XP-100 Whammy-wah(both have JHW printed on them)
1 Digitech XP-300 Space station(has Jodi Hates the world printed on it)
1 DOD analog delay..missing the battery cover
1 Electro-Harmonics “Holy Grail” reverb
1 Boss RC-20 Loop Station
1 Boss Tu-2 Tuner
1 Boss flanger (80’s, made in Japan chipped paint…REALLy rare to find nowadays)
1 line 6 delay modeler
1 ART A/B/Y footswitch
1 Hartke head HA5000
1 Hartke cabinet 15xL
1 Hartke cabinet 4.5xL
1 Boss bass overdrive pedal (yellow)
1 Boss DD 3 digital delay pedal (white)
1 Ibanez Toneloc bass distortion pedal (grey)
1 Ibanez Toneloc bass synth pedal (grey)
1 Boss bass pre-amp multi effects
processor (red)(GT6B)
1 BossRC 20XL loop station (red)
2 Shure microphone SM58

Please anyone call me if you hear anything.
CHRIS VANDEBROOKE
415-336-2698
CARGO@EMOCORE.COM

Because when everything in the world is going to hell, a dog in China adopts a little black piglet and nurses it like it was one of it’s own puppies.

If only we could have more of this kind of shit, maybe I wouldn’t feel like a piece of fucking crap every day of my life.