R.I.P. Punk Planet

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Yesterday the publisher of Punk Planet, a fiercely independent source of information on music, culture, and politics, announced that is it closing it’s doors.

Ironically, I had just read the latest issue and made a note about blogging on two education related articles in the current issue (PP79), looks like PP80 will the last issue after 13 years of publishing.

Independent magazines always have a rough go of it, but bad distribution deals, disappearing advertisers, and a decreasing audience of subscribers seem to have done PP in.

While not mentioned in the PP announcement, the new USPS regulations on periodicals, which were basically written by Time Warner, are having a dramatic impact on independent magazines. In its service to media conglomerates the USPS has essentially attacked threaten the dissemination of information and thus democracy.

Oh well, but PP79 is still on the newstands, check out the articles on the new SDS and on the No Child Left Behind Act.

New York City decides to pay students cash for test scores

Rather than investing money in improving the learning and teaching conditions in schools or addressing the systemic economic and social inequalities that are the root of the so-called “achievement gap” in schools, The New York Times reports today that the NYC school chancellor Joel Klein and Mayor Michael Bloomberg have decided to move forward with a pay for test score scheme in New York City Public Schools that could pay out as much as $500 a year to individual students.

The announcement came on the same day the University of California, Berkeley released a study finding that high school grades are the best predictors of academic success in college. The study by Saul Geiser and Maria Veronica Santelices notes that “high-school grades provide a fairer, more equitable, and ultimately more meaningful basis for admissions decision-making” than standardized tests like the SAT.

Geiser and Santelices found that:

  • HSGPA is consistently the strongest predictor of four-year college outcomes for all academic disciplines, campuses and freshman cohorts in the UC sample;
  • surprisingly, the predictive weight associated with HSGPA increases after the freshman year, accounting for a greater proportion of variance in cumulative fourth-year than first-year college grades; and
  • as an admissions criterion, HSGPA has less adverse impact than standardized tests on disadvantaged and underrepresented minority students.

The NYC plan is based on the work of Harvard economist Roland G. Fryer, who has been meeting with NYC school officials pushing the program. Fryer has turned is research into a new job as the NYC Department of Education’s “chief equality officer,” a member of the chancellor’s senior staff.

The pay for test scores scheme is part of a larger antipoverty incentive program that Bloomberg has instituted, which also includes other cash payments, all raised privately ($53 million), to influence behavior and reduce poverty. Those in the pilot plan can earn up to $5,000 a year by meeting criteria related to health, education, and work, including: $150 a month for keeping a full-time job; $50 a month for having health insurance. Families will also receive as much as $50 per month per child for high attendance rates in school, as well as $25 for attending parent-teacher conferences.

See Sandra Mathison’s “Bribes for Tests” for a critique of the pay for test score strategy and Alfie Kohn‘s Punished By Rewards on why carrot and stick approaches in education are wrong-headed.

What ain’t to be, just might happen…

Remember watching Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton duets on The Porter Wagoner Show? I sure do and I tell you I’ve always wanted one of those Nudie suits.

Wagoner, now 80 years young, is known for his maudlin (and sometimes bizarre) country songs, has a new Marty Stuart-produced disc on ANTI- records and it might be considered one of those “what ain’t to be, just might happen” deals.

But, The Wagonmaster is back and following in the footsteps of country greats like Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard with the release of a late-career album that is creating a serious buzz (if not among country-radio folks).

In what might be considered a sequel to Wagoner’s song “Rubber Room” he covers the Johnny Cash tune “Committed to Parkview.”

Check out the video:

Rouge Forum Update

Dear Friends,

Apologies for the interruption in RF updates. Illness intervened.

We have some outstanding material for those with energy during what, for many, is the last week of school. Congratulations to all who persevered!

We are especially happy to report that all the Rouge Forum educators are back from Oaxaca, where they participated in massive demonstrations in the last few weeks. We are pleased that all are safe and sound and look forward to a detailed report soon.

Here is a podcast with Alfie Kohn, an interview with Michael Baker.

The AFT is backing merit pay, a bosses’ dream, around the US, and it may be that NEA is not too far behind We are all witnessing employers attaching school worker pay and benefits to test scores.

And, given the bread and butter unionism of both AFT and NEA, it is not too surprising that there has been no formal outcry, other than from the Rouge Forum, about school policies which attack kids who cannot always afford the school lunch.

Importantly, here is a request from our colleague Doug Selwyn (doug.selwyn@plattsburgh.edu), seeking information on an action-research project:

These are some of the challenging questions Doug poses to all of us:

  • What does it mean to be well educated?
  • What do you need to know and be able to do to be successful (whatever that means)?
  • How are you served by your education?
  • What do you do that helps you to be successful right now?
  • What are the characteristics of an educated person?

Rouge Forum members will be leafletting and participating in the upcoming United for Peace and Justice conference in Chicago later this month, noting that UFPJ has no strategy, no analysis of why things are as they are, and therefore winds up with a series of disjointed tactics that, unless altered, will never challenge the class tyranny that typifies every governmental relationship in the world now. UFPj appears to fear naming the world social system, capitalism, and absent that grasp, can only lead people into participating in deepening their own oppression, but confusing that participation with resistance.

At issue is to build a mass base of class conscious people willing to take real responsibility for their own histories and to make sacrifices in order to transcend the system of capital, and reach toward a world where all can care for all, where freedom and creativity can be unleashed by forces of equality and reason.

We will also be at NCSS, the first weekend of December. We will be sponsoring a booth, a pre-conference clinic (a tour of the borders of San Diego), and several workshops. And a party to boot!! Be there or be square.
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We expect the next Rouge Forum Conference will be in Louisville, KY, in March, next year.

The struggle in Palestine sharpens every day, as does Iraq and Afghanistan. Robert Fisk who is often featured on our www.rougeforum.org site has a fine short article in the Independent.

Last, remember the Rouge Forum discussion list is open for debate. Email: Rouge-Forum-Discussion@googlegroups.com

Thanks to Judy P (very much), Carolyn, Monty, Donna, Sean A., Wayne, Sheila S., Tommie and Bob, Kelly, Doug and Connie, Betty and Don, Carol J., Phil C and Tom T, Sgt. Carrie, and Dirty Edd.

All the best,

r

Under the covers

I’ve been listening quite a bit to Patti Smith’s Twelve and Richard Thompson’s 1000 Years of Popular Music, two great cover albums, and I’ve been inspired to dig up other cover albums (Bowie’s Pin Ups; Flaco Jimenez’s Partners, Bryan Ferry’s new one, Dylanesque, tribute albums to the Kinks, Johnny Cash, etc.) and start a list of cool covers for a “mix tape.”

I’m looks for suggestions so…please share.

BTW, the Covers Project is a cool website…And Wikipedia’s article “Cover version” is also useful resource.

Here’s partial list of some cover tunes I really like (off the top of my head and in no particular order, but I did try to develop some “cover chains”):

    Patti Smith, “Gloria” (Them)
    Van Morrison, “I Can’t Stop Loving You” (Don Gibson)
    John Mellencamp, “Wild Night” (Van Morrison)
    Dwight Yoakam & Flaco Jimenez, “Carmelita” (Warren Zevon)
    Warren Zevon, “Certain Girl” (Allen Toussaint)
    W. C. Clark, “Get Out of My Life, Woman (Allen Toussaint)
    Hindu Love Gods, “Raspberry Beret” (Prince)
    Foo Fighters, “Nikki Darling” (Prince)
    Richard Thompson, “Kiss” (Prince)
    Prince, “One of Us” (Joan Osborne)
    Joan Osborne, “At Last” (Etta James)
    Etta James, “Miss You” (Rolling Stones)
    Rolling Stones, “Like A Rolling Stone” (Bob Dylan)
    Prince, “Just My Imagination” (The Temptations)
    Richard Thompson, “Friday on My Mind” (The Easybeats)
    David Bowie, “Friday on My Mind” (The Easybeats)
    Richard Thompson, “Oops, I Did It Again” (Brittney Spears)
    Richard Thompson, “Tempted” (Squeeze)
    Nickel Creek, “Spit on a Stranger” (Pavement)
    The Beatles, “Anna (Go With Him)” (Arthur Alexander)
    Arthur Alexander, “Detroit City” (Bobby Bare)
    Gram Parsons, “Streets of Baltimore” (Bobby Bare)
    Bobby Bare, “Help Me Make It Through the Night” (Kris Kristofferson)
    Kris Kristofferson, “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight” (Bob Dylan)
    Fountains of Wayne, “Better Things” (Kinks)
    The Minus 5, “Get Back in Line” (Kinks)
    Matthew Sweet, “Big Sky” (Kinks)
    Yo La Tengo, “Fancy” (Kinks)
    R.E.M., “Superman” (Kinks)
    R.E.M., “First We Take Manhattan” (Leonard Cohen)
    Cake, “I Will Survive” (Gloria Gaynor)
    Feist, “Inside and Out” (Bee Gees)
    Robbie Fulks, “Dancing Queen” (ABBA)
    Radiohead, “Nobody Does It Better” (Carly Simon)
    Shelby Lynne, “Rainy Night in Georgia” (Tony Joe White)
    Vic Chestnutt, “The Night The Lights Went Out in Georgia” (Vicki Lawrence)
    Johnny Cash, “Hurt” (Nine Inch Nails)
    Dar Williams, “Comfortably Numb” (Pink Floyd)
    Emmylou Harris, “Wrecking Ball” (Neil Young)
    Beck & Emmylou Harris, “Sin City” (Gram Parsons/Chris Hillman)
    Dwight Yoakam & k.d. lang, “Sin City” (Gram Parsons/Chris Hillman)
    Wilco, “One Hundred Years from Now” (Gram Parsons)
    Ian Hunter, “One More Time” (Alejandro Escovedo)
    Dwight Yoakam, “I Want You To Want Me” (Cheap Trick)
    Cheap Trick, “Don’t Be Cruel” (Elvis Presley)
    Elvis Presley, “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” (Bob Dylan)
    The Gords, “Gin and Juice” (Snoop Dogg)
    Goo Goo Dolls, “Give A Little Bit” (Supertramp)
    Patti Smith, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (Nirvana)
    Def Leppard, “Waterloo Sunset” (Kinks)
    Def Leppard, “20th Century Boy” (T Rex)
    T Rex, “Summertime Blues” (Eddie Cochran)
    Nirvana, “The Man Who Sold The World” (David Bowie)
    M. Ward, “Let’s Dance (David Bowie)
    David Bowie, “I Can’t Explain” (The Who)
    Rush, “The Seeker” (The Who)
    Nada Surf, “I’m Sick of You” (Iggy Pop)
    Fountains of Wayne, “Killermont Street” (Aztec Camera)
    Aztec Camera, “Jump” (Van Halen)
    Van Halen, “You Really Got Me” (Kinks)
    The Who, “Young Man Blues” (Mose Allison)
    Rolling Stones, “Shake Your Hips” (Slim Harpo)


Covers of Dylan:

    Chris Whitley & Jeff Lang, “Changing of the Guard”
    Patti Smith, “Changing of the Guard”
    Chris Whitley & Jeff Lang, “When I Paint My Masterpiece”
    Jimi Hendrix, “All Along the Watchtower”
    Pearl Jam, “Masters of War”
    Rolling Stones, “Like A Rolling Stone”
    Rage Against the Machine, “Maggie’s Farm”
    Guns n Roses, “Knockin On Heaven’s Door”
    Warren Zevon, “Knockin On Heaven’s Door”
    Johnny Cash, “It Ain’t Me Babe”
    Ricky Nelson, “She Belongs To Me”
    Steve Earle, “My Back Pages”
    Ramones, “My Back Pages”
    Bryan Ferry, “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”
    The White Stripes, “Love Sick”
    Neville Brothers, “With God On Our Side”
    Buddy & Julie Miller, “Wallflower”
    Nickel Creek, “House Carpenter”
    George Harrison, “If Not for You”

America’s progressive majority?

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pro∙gres∙sive (prə-grĕs´ĭv)
adj. 1. moving forward 2. continuing by successive steps 3. favoring better conditions, new policies, ideas, or methods
n. one who is progressive

Yes. At least that’s what an analysis of decades of public opinion polling by the Campaign for America’s Future and Media Matters for America claims.

The façade of conservative political dominance is crumbling. The disintegration runs deeper than public disaffection with the Bush administration’s catastrophic failures and is more fundamental than the political realignment of the 2006 election. The notion of America as a “conservative nation” was always more fiction than fact, but the nation’s rejection of President Bush’s brand of “you’re-on-your-own” conservatism and wedge-issue divisiveness is so broad that today the façade is simply unsustainable.

When it comes to the economy the report, The Progressive Majority: Why a Conservative America is a Myth, says that

  • 84 percent of American support to increase the minimum wage;
  • more Americans sympathize with unions than with companies in labor disputes (52 to 34 percent);
  • nearly twice as many people think the U.S. is more hurt than helped by the global economy (48 to 25 percent);
  • 69 percent of Americans believe government should care for those who can’t care for themselves;
  • twice as many people want “government to provide many more services even if it means an increase in spending” (43 percent) as want government to provide fewer services “in order to reduce spending” (20 percent);
  • majorities say the U.S. needs a bigger government “because the country’s problems are bigger” (59 percent) and a “strong government to handle complex problems” (67 percent).

On social issues too, Americans are more progressive than they are typically credited:

  • the percentage who consider abortion the “most important” issue ranks in the single digits;
  • a 56 percent majority oppose making it more difficult for a woman to get an abortion, a proportion that has hardly changed in the past 20 years;
  • only 29 percent want to see Roe v. Wade overturned;
  • 67 percent want sex education in schools to include information about contraception, not just abstinence;
  • 64 percent are willing to pay higher fuel taxes if the money were used for research into renewable energy sources;
  • 75 percent would be willing to pay more for electricity if it were generated by renewable sources like wind or energy;
  • Only oil companies, conservative politicians and a minority of Americans (41 percent) want to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to drilling.

As for the war:

  • 63 percent of Americans want to set deadlines for withdrawal;
  • four times as many Americans (48 percent to 12 percent) think the war in Iraq has made the threat of terrorism against the United States worse rather than better.

This is heartening news for progressives, but it begs the question about why Americans continued to vote in politicians (Democrat and Republican) that have not a progressive bone on in their bodies and who remain beholden in capitalist interests and the profit line.

Perhaps a combination of the following accounts provides at least a partial explanation: the folks responding to the polls have checked out of the political process and Americans are subjected to such a high level of right-wing, pro-corporate, TINA propaganda their independence of thought collapses.

Certainly schools and the mass media are culpable in significant ways for the disconnect between the “progressive majority” and the political realities of the U.S.

In my ear (March, April, May)

I keep thinking I’ll write an “in my ear” entry once a month, but I guess I’m too busy listening to all the new music and don’t have time to write. Anyway, here’s the scope on what’s in my various CD players, ipods, computers.

Acquired in:

MARCH

1980.jpgGetting Ready… by Freddie King
Great little blues album, released in 1996 that includes versions of two my favorite Freddie King blues: “I’m Tore Down” and “Going Down”, plus covers of Jimmy Reed’s “Walking By Myself” and Elmore James’ “Dust My Broom.”

1968.jpgMy Name Is Buddy by Ry Cooder

Cooder follows up his brilliant Chavez Ravine—a musical study of the mid-20th century transformation of the L.A. neighborhood that is now the site of Dodger Stadium—album with the allegorical My Name Is Buddy, “a phantasmagorical rendering in music, words and pictures of the travels of three unlikely cohorts – Buddy Red Cat, Lefty Mouse and Reverend Tom Toad – as they meander through the west ‘in the days of labor, big bosses, farm failures, strikes, company cops, sundown towns, hobos and trains…the America of yesteryear.'”

1972.jpgSecurity by Antibalas
“loosebooty grooves, intelligent sounds, and committed lyrics” from Brooklyn.

1966.jpg
Neon Bible by Arcade Fire
“the intentional murkiness of these pleasantly anthemic New Wave dirges makes it sound as if the music has already reverberated through a crowded cement stadium.” Sounds like it was recorded in a church…and it was. Pretty good, this one has gotten lots of time in the player.

1955.jpg
The Good, the Bad & the Queen by The Good the Bad & The Queen
“To open this oddball supergroup’s debut, Paul Simonon hints at “Guns of Brixton,” and when Tony Allen’s flex rhythms come in, there’s a shadow of Fela Kuti, too. Then Damon Albarn’s slow grit of a voice enters–framed by Simon Tong’s flecked guitar. And collectively, The Good, the Bad, & the Queen is quickly “sui generis”, adamantly different than anything you think you’ve heard.”

1970.jpg
West by Lucinda Williams
Some say her best yet, more adventurous that past albums and just as satisfying.

1973.jpgDestroyed Room: B-Sides and Rarities by Sonic Youth
Focuses on tracks previously available only on vinyl, limited-release compilations, or as b-sides to international singles—very cool.

1971.jpg
Living With the Living by Ted Leo and The Pharmacists
Anthemic rock with a political edge. The best rock album I’ve heard in a while.

APRIL

1982.jpg Farewell to the World by Crowded House

Two-disc set of their “final” concert…but their back now, which is good if you like Beatles-inspired pop.

1983.jpg
Live at the Fillmore East by Neil Young and Crazy Horse
Required purchase for all Canadians.

1989.jpg
Stax 50th Anniversary Celebration by Various Artists
Great two-disc set, with deluxe liner notes from Soulsville USA. If you don’t have the three volumes of Complete Stax/Volt! Singles, this is a good place to start. You’ll likely end up with the Complete Stax/Volt! anyway.

1988.jpg
Race to the Blackout by Clouds Forming Crowns
A GbV-related project…from the Tobias Brothers.

1981.jpg
Wowee Zowee: Sordid Sentinels Edition by Pavement
Listen, remember, join the cult.

1987.jpg
The Wham of That Memphis Man! by Lonnie Mack
Classic blues/R&B played on the Gibson “Flying V.”

1984.jpg
The Story by Brandi Carlile
This is an outstanding album, which Perry sent my way via Pando. Produced by T Bone Burnett. When trying to describe her voice here are the folks that are frequently name checked: Patsy Cline, Jeff Buckley, kd lang, Beth Orton, Linda Ronstadt, and Aimee Mann…pretty darn good company and the songwriting is superior too.

1977.jpg
Traffic and Weather by Fountains of Wayne
I love these guys. This is my most played album of the year, so far. Robert Christgau gave it a 4-star review in Rolling Stone, deservedly so.

MAY

1985.jpg
Country Ghetto by JJ Grey & Mofro
Best album of the year, so far (have I said that about another CD yet?). “Grey is influenced by the sexually charged blues of Howlin’ Wolf, the country soul of George Jones and the hard funk of James Brown, as well as local personalities like street preachers and old time radio DJs.”

1978.jpg
Peace, Love and Anarchy by Todd Snider
The odds and sods are as good as his “finished” work. Love “Comb Over Blues” and “East Nashville Skyline.” Through in some haiku and you’ve got a keeper.

2002.jpg
Recollection by Assembly of Dust
Signed up for eMusic and downloaded this album for free, but it’s so good I’d even pay money for it.

2003.jpg
23 by Blonde Redhead
Kinda like Sonic Youth, but not at all.

1986.jpg
The Wheel Man by Watermelon Slim and the Workers
Watermelon Slim follows up his Handy Award winning 2006 release with an album that is even better. Chicago’s Magic Slim stops by to help out. This is the best blues album of 2006…guaranteed.

1999.jpg
Los Valientes del Mundo Nuevo by Black Lips
Atlanta garage rockers live in a Tijuana dive. If you’re in the right mood it’s great.

2000.jpg
Cake Or Death by Lee Hazlewood
Appealingly weird album from the writer of “These Boots Are Made for Walking.”

2001.jpgLive from Austin Texas by Guided by Voices Hey kids, the “kings of lo-fi” from Dayton, Ohion—”not a bad place to visit…not a good place to stay”—wrap up their 21-year reign in fine style. Most of this wasn’t (and probably couldn’t) be aired on Austin City Limits, but it’s great listening. You don’t have to see the DVD to know that there were tubs of beer on the stage as GBV swung through Texas on their final tour. Listen to Robert Pollard philosophize on rock ‘n’ roll during “Secret Star” (after a quite a few Budweisers and sounding a bit like Homestar Runner). “We are advocates of fun rock…serious rock is good, but fun rock is better.”

1993.jpg
The Reminder by Feist
Vaguely jazz and disco-influenced lo-fi, indie electronica. Play this instead of Norah Jones at your next dinner party, which I mean as a complement. I really like this album, especially the track “My Moon.”

1990.jpg
Twelve by Patti Smith
Patti has always down great covers (including, “Gloria”… the best ever cover?) here’s an album’s worth, including a a great cover of “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

1998.jpg
Because of the Times by Kings of Leon
Three Pentecostal minister’s sons playing grungy blues-rock. Can’t go wrong.

2005.jpg
One by Gran Torino
Funk and acid jazz from Knoxville, TN? Yes, and it’s good too. (Thanks Kris!)

I’m already on to my June CDs…but I’ll hold off for a few weeks before cataloging those.

Jewel boxes to JewelSleeves

P1010052.JPGI’m running out room for my CDs and in an effort to save space and make my CDs more easily accessible I’ve ditched the jewel boxes and transfered my CDs to JewelSleeves.

The photo shows 100 jewel boxes on the left. On the right are 100 JewelSleeves holding all the content from the jewel boxes.

Perry, my main man on all things gadget related, tipped me off to the JewelSleeve alternative and I love ’em, especially since I’ve just finished the tedious task of unstuffing and restuffing the CDs and the art.

What’s really cool about the JewelSleeve is that it holds the CD, booklet, and the tray insert, so you can still enjoy the album artwork. And, the JewelSleeves take up about one-quarter of the space of the jewelboxes…

Here’s a video of how the JewelSleeve works.