Derek came by this morning to help unload the van. We traded stories of great moments in the concert. For one, Derek, who is a *big* Dylan fan, thought that Karin Blaine's version of "Don't Think Twice, It's Allright" is the finest version he has ever heard. No doubt. Check it out. She ends her set with it. Timothy Hull was great, as usual. A new song at the end of his set. Barton was super and Blue Marble harmonies and songs were wonderful. All the performers gathered on stage for the finale which was "Blowin' in the Wind.

Robbie, who did an incredible job on the sound, had screwed up the cassette tapes. They could be used but only with a lot of work. He had the show on Digital Audio Tape so he ran that off onto a couple of CDs for me to use for the archive. Great sounding archives because of that. We will probably sell CDs of the show.

back to surreality

Do I have to? Yes!! OK.

The Globalizer Who Came In From the Cold

The World Bank’s former Chief Economist’s accusations are eye-popping - including how the IMF and US Treasury fixed the Russian elections

"It has condemned people to death," the former apparatchik told me. This was like a scene out of Le Carre. The brilliant old agent comes in from the cold, crosses to our side, and in hours of debriefing, empties his memory of horrors committed in the name of a political ideology he now realizes has gone rotten.

And here before me was a far bigger catch than some used Cold War spy. Joseph Stiglitz was Chief Economist of the World Bank. To a great extent, the new world economic order was his theory come to life.
[read more]

thanks to also not found in nature

Joe Stiglitz also was one of three to win the Nobel Prize for Economics.

There has been a little germ of an idea that started to go throught my mind yesterday and, after reading the above gem, the little idea became a little scarier.

Monday Doc Searls posted a question for discussion about how entertainment tastes have changed since 9-11. My response was how I had trouble watching The Matrix after 9-11. Watching aircraft fly into skyscrapers just wasn't what it used to be. I felt movies like The Matrix were desesensitizing us to violence and it's consequences. People die when there big balls of flame come out of the sides of skyscrapers.

The Matrix had gone from the top of my list to the bottom. Now it's back on top. Why didn't I see what was so obvious?

The last month on the Internet has been drinking from a firehose of information. Much of the information had been there before 9-11 but not seen. Reading the article on Joe Stiglitz put me into the scene where Keanu Reeves wakes up, for the first time, outside the Matrix. Sort of a What The Fuck?! moment with the realization that things were much worse that I thought.

I considered myself relatively well versed on what is going on in the world and, no, we are not being raised by AI for electricity. But there are two worlds. Much more than I had realized. The world that is our Matrix with O.J. trials and Monica Lewinsky. Our world where foreign affairs is when a small boy from Cuba ends up in Florida. And the other world where our country is screwing everyone at all levels. The other world where the rich and powerful in this country truly are not bound by any laws passed by any government. In fact, they control the election process (Florida) and now own the United States government, as well as much of the rest of the world.

I suppose I saw that message in a small way when I saw The Matrix. I'm now seeing it in a *big* way.

We're screwed.

Or maybe it's because it's past 4 in the morning.

On a happier note...

'There isn't a target in Afghanistan worth a $1m missile'

There may, Heikal believes, be some as yet undiscovered element in the atrocity of September 11. Whatever the truth, he says that the explanations so far have been hasty, inconclusive and remarkably convenient. "I understand that the American administration wanted an enemy right away to hit, to absorb the anger of the American people," he says, "but I wish they had produced some real evidence. I read what Mr Blair said in the House of Commons carefully: they had prepared the atmosphere for that statement by saying he is going to reveal some of the proof, but there is no proof, nothing; it is all deductions. Colin Powell was more honest than anybody: he said if not this, it doesn't matter, he has committed so many other crimes that necessitate taking action against him. But that is like the Chinese proverb: 'Hit your wife every day; if you don't know the reason, she does.' You can't do it this way."
[read more]

Why the U.S. Can't Lean on Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia claims it has severed all ties with Osama bin Laden, but the government there is dragging its feet in helping us follow the terrorist's trail. It won't freeze his assets, nor turn over records of the charities which reportedly funneled money to the Al Qaeda network. When Saudi prince Alwaleed Bin Talal offered New York City a relief check for $10 million, it came with a slam on U.S. Middle East policy; Mayor Rudy Giuliani sent it back.
[read more]

thanks to Ethel the Blog