In the big book of Rock Star career templates, there’s a special entry for the middle-aged artist who finds himself standing in the wreckage of the band that made his name, shading his eyes from the harsh glare of public attention, looking for a trail that bypasses the wilderness of VH1-trivia purgatory. On this page you’ll find an advisory checklist of actions said rock star should most definitely avoid, a minefield inventory of pitfalls and rock clichés proven through decades of music history to be the quickest way for an artist to slide headfirst into obsolescence. The text’s skull-and-crossbones header reads: “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here, for ye shall be playing your greatest hits at state fairs in no time.”
In the four years since Smashing Pumpkins hung up their alterna-goth jerseys and went their separate ways, Billy Corgan appears to be following this cautionary blueprint like he’s carrying a well-worn copy in his wallet. As devoted fans and casual observers watch in respective worry and scorn, Corgan has seemingly made every eye-rolling move in the book, traveling from Zwan’s rapid flame-out through a poetry collection (2004’s Blinking With Fists) and, recently, venomous Internet blogging, only to land on the inevitable solo career. To the delight of pigeonholers everywhere, it looks like he’s made the expectedly smooth segue from eccentric, prolific, megalomaniac genius to pretentious, bitter celebrity on a downward trajectory.
And yet something about this portrayal doesn’t feel right; it seems too easy. While Corgan’s post-Pumpkins activities have followed a familiar five-step program of recovery from breakup trauma, his attitude in every endeavor appears laced with a shrewd perspective on exactly what he’s doing, a confrontational spirit that undermines the potential caricature his actions threaten to draw.
“At points when I do say to myself things like ‘I’m going to do a poetry book,’ there’s a voice that crops up in my head that says ‘you’re probably going to take shit for this,’” Corgan explains, “‘but you wouldn’t be the walking cliché that you are if you ultimately cared what people think.’ Yes, the facts present these very cogent pictures of ambition, crass decisions, public pronouncements, but it’s the process that forces you into that. As a musician you just want to do what you want to do.”
The artist who deftly soundtracked countless teenagers’ tortured ’90s survival, spent approximately two years wearing a shirt proclaiming him a “ZERO,” and made perhaps the most notorious symbolic hairstyle change in alternative-rock history, now sits across from me in an absurdly incongruous setting—an old-fashioned pancake house in the bricks-and-Borders suburbia of Highland Park, Ill. He’s even more translucently pale than his MTV history suggests, but Corgan in the flesh is nowhere near the ghoul you’d expect from the footage—his floppy Cubs hat immediately unravels 15 years of Vampire King image-making.
Befitting the sleepy charm of the fairly ritzy northern Chicago burg where we chat, Corgan comes off as a man at peace with his surroundings, even when bristling at public suppositions that have nagged him for years and presumptuous interviewers who misinterpret the musical focus of his upcoming solo debut, TheFutureEmbrace. “When I was 25 I felt I had nothing to lose and I made some pretty good art. Now I think I’m back to that point, but it’s a different kind of nothing to lose. Back then it was nothing to lose because I was a piece of shit and nobody cared about me, so what did it matter if I died in a bloody heap of pedals and cords and wires. Now I have nothing to lose because my life does matter, I’m not going to go with the program any more, it’s not interesting to me.”
Though Corgan is still prone to launch a trademark flurry of verbal punches at his favorite targets—former bandmates, uncooperative record labels and the marketing machines of contemporary music—each rant is delivered in an even tone, with a slight grin belying his awareness that he’s giving the tape recorder what it craves. “You have to understand that literally everything I’ve done publicly has caused some sort of lightning-rod reaction,” he confides, and though he repeatedly denies worrying about the public perception of his actions, he doesn’t shy away from opportunities to set the record straight. It’s clear that if the mid-career checklist is indeed buried in his pocket, he’s not just unwittingly checking boxes but actively subverting expectations.
1. Hastily form a post-breakup band.
From the moment the last distorted note of the Smashing Pumpkins’ career trailed off at the end of the band’s marathon 2003 farewell show at the Cabaret Metro in Chicago, the countdown clock began ticking toward what everyone thought would be a fast start to the Billy Corgan solo career. After all, Corgan had long been regarded a solo artist in band’s clothing, reportedly tracking the lion’s share of guitar and bass parts himself while handling 99 percent of songwriting duties. To lock himself in a studio and begin work on The Billy Corgan Experience seemed the next logical step.
Instead, Corgan juked everyone by recruiting a new set of collaborators: “I’ve never really wanted to make a solo record,” he says now, impending releases aside. “I never felt it was necessary. I liked playing in a band; I think that was shown by the fact that I formed another band right after the Pumpkins.” Debuting almost exactly a year after the Pumpkins split, Zwan hit the scene as a supergroup for members of the Sub Pop Singles Club, featuring indie-rock Hall of Famers Matt Sweeney (Chavez) and David Pajo (Slint, Tortoise, Papa M) alongside Corgan’s loyal drummer Jimmy Chamberlin.
While the alternative all-star lineup was reminiscent of certain classic-rock predecessors’ attempts to delay going solo—Clapton & Blind Faith, Crosby & CSN, et al—Corgan insists it wasn’t a conscious effort to draft musicians with history, describing it as more of a domino process of indie-rock networking. Ultimately, however, it was the underground loyalties of Zwan’s component parts that broke up the band, according to an obviously still-miffed Corgan.
“They proved me right, which is that the whole indie thing is just a pose. I can’t say that about everybody, but our general feeling in the Pumpkins always was that people took the indie route because deep down they knew they didn’t have the talent to make it on the mainstream level. And those people proved to me, that deep down they know they don’t have the talent, or the focus, or the true love of people to want to really get out there and try and connect with people. It’s really about them. And fundamentally Jimmy and I disagreed with them.
“If you’re going to play music at a high level to a large audience, it can’t really be about you. You have to make it seem like it’s about you, but it has to really be about others, it’s really about sharing. And their indie-cred mentality really is about, ‘What’s it got to do with me?’ and ‘Can I find people who agree with me, who think like me, who dress like me, smoke pot like me?’ They’re just assholes. It’s simple. I could go on with a thousand stories, but you can put that in big capital letters: THEY’RE JUST ASSHOLES. They really didn’t care. They didn’t really care about the music, they didn’t really care about the fans … They really just want to live like pieces of shit and live their little weird creepy lives. End of story.”
Then again, Corgan’s fanbase was hardly clamoring for Zwan to have a run as lengthy as the Pumpkins’. Zwan’s Mary, Star of the Sea sold disappointingly despite a strong MTV and rock-radio push, and critically it was considered less than a complete return to form. With a three-guitar attack and a sunnier tone to Corgan’s songwriting, Zwan seemed less a fresh new project than a reaction to the popularity-shedding latter days of Smashing Pumpkins, which found the band exploring increasingly dark territory and Corgan incorporating more and more electronic textures.
Today Corgan admits regretting the Zwan era. “I’m glad that people got something out of it, but it was a total waste of my time. But maybe it was something I needed to do, to figure out there were things I cared about, or to appreciate the band that I was in.” Over in less than a year, Zwan dissolved when bassist Paz Lenchantin left with Pajo to return to his Papa M projects. Once again, Billy Corgan had lost his band.
2. Commence solo career!
There’s one thing Billy Corgan and I agree on regarding TheFutureEmbrace; namely that it returns to a set of formative influences mostly lacking in the Pumpkins’ sound. “I was very into ’80s New Wave and all that. … Certain things come back around, and that feeling has just come back around. In some ways the Pumpkins’ wall of guitars was a betrayal of what we originally were—the sort of more Cure-ish, gothy thing. We went with the rock and it worked out fine, but this is really closer to the sound that I like.”
That sound was occasionally hinted at in the Smashing Pumpkins catalog: “1979,” the self-described “total rip-off of New Order,” and Adore’s keyboard and programming dalliances. But never has Corgan engulfed his music so deeply in the sound of his high-school years, emulating bands that defined the intersection of New Wave and synth-pop like Joy Division, Echo & the Bunnymen and Depeche Mode. Listening to the album, it struck me as his least guitar-oriented work to date.
BILLY: “I totally disagree.”
ME: “Well, certainly you’re taking a different approach to guitar with this record …”
BILLY: “Well, yeah, there’s only one guitar. I’m trying to make one guitar sound as good as one guitar needs to sound. … I think the guitar is the centerpiece of the album.”
ME: “Okay then, you can at least grant me that TheFutureEmbrace contains more keyboards than usual …”
BILLY: “Honestly, it’s the same amount of keyboards. There were plenty of keyboards on the Zwan album, but people wouldn’t know that because I hid them.”
ME: “So the keyboards are more of a focus on the solo record than on the Zwan album?”
BILLY: “I don’t think so.”
So don’t take my word for it, but TheFutureEmbrace sounds to me like the album Corgan wanted to make with Adore, a love letter to the groups that defined college rock in the ’80s. Whether starring guitars or keyboards, it finds Corgan relying less on the arena-rock dynamics of the Pumpkins and Zwan and concentrating more on atmospherics and a subtle melancholy—what he describes as “this cold, grey, steely thing.” For the first time, Corgan’s music even sounds close to dance-floor compatible, the lack of a live drummer pushing him toward more kinetic beats on songs like “Mina Loy (M.O.H)” and “A100.”
“I think I’ve matured to the point where I’m really not thinking about what other people are doing,” Corgan responds when asked how the album reflects his current influences. “I’m lucky enough to have enough talent to fake certain things, and there are certain times in my life when I faked my way through a feeling or a sound because it was something I wanted, but it wasn’t necessarily how I felt or who I was. This [album] is a more accurate representation of who I am, vis-a-vis the sound and the songs I’m singing.”
But, remembering LL Cool J’s timeless request, don’t call it a comeback.
“That’s kind of a rude question. … I see people ask this of other artists, and they generally have the same stock answer: ‘I never left.’ I mean, I’ve consistently put out music pretty much every two years for the last 15 years, not to mention all the extra work, b-sides and things like that. Comebacks occur because artists make great work. I could very easily look back and be pissy and say—and I did at the time—‘Oh, the fans didn’t get my Adore album; the fans didn’t embrace my arty-rock version of the band with MACHINA.’ But when you look back, the best work sold, and it sold in great quantities. I don’t feel I have anything to prove. I proved that I could do it; [then] I proved that I couldn’t handle it. Having gone through all of that, I’m just going to do my thing, and hopefully be able to do it as much as I want, and there will be room for me. And if I don’t make good enough music they’ll squeeze me out.”
3. Get crotchety about the past.
Here’s a point on which Corgan’s already got a head-start, since throughout his career he’s almost become as well-known for his venomous rants as for his music. As the above comments regarding Zwan’s less than amicable breakup illustrate—age, perspective and the chamomile tea he sipped during our conversation have done little to blunt Corgan’s serrated analysis of those who’ve wronged him along the way.
“I kind of have to ask myself what my karma is, because I see other artists that get a free pass. They don’t get the critical judgment and the questioning that I do. I’ve kind of come to enjoy it; I don’t feel the need to be confrontational. But at the same time, I’m not going to bend because someone has a weaker concept of life than me.”
This attitude fuels Corgan’s disgust with the music industry, whose capitalist machinations he seems to disdain as much as he does the money-phobic underground. “I think we need to accept that rock in and of itself has been taken over by pop thinking. If a young band is getting high rotation on MTV, chances are they’re not an underground phenomenon, they’re a marketing moment. It’s more a statement of our culture than it is about our musical culture. We’ve moved away from a substantive desire to have real things, and seem to be more interested in some sort of Reality TV version of reality. The impression of reality is more important than reality.”
Corgan is reluctant to play a role in this game, brushing aside questions about sales and promotions by saying, “I’m not a marketing vision. Look at me! No hair, crooked teeth, bad attitude—that’s not supposed to work. … You couldn’t dream me up.” But clearly the wounds from the Pumpkins’ final days at Virgin Records still haven’t completely scabbed over.
“My motivation for leaking MACHINA was that the record company had basically given up on the band for good and considered us dead and gone,” Corgan remembers about the free Internet distribution of the group’s final album. “I thought there was an opportunity, because the band was doing so well on tour, to go ahead and bring this other work out. But [Virgin] was so emotionally over the band that they didn’t even want another record that could’ve sold 500,000 copies. … It was literally punitive.”
But despite all the lingering angst and sore feelings, Corgan seems only mildly perturbed as he airs these fervent opinions. Rather than sounding like a scorned artist lashing out at the compulsory business end of his chosen profession, Corgan’s complaints appear to be less the result of personal injury, and more the blunt viewpoint of someone who’s sold enough records to afford the luxury of staying above the fray. The notion that his outspokenness is coming from a place of honesty, rather than bitterness, is supported by an endearing tendency to shine an equally harsh light on himself.
“I’ve completely wiped out and been brave enough to admit I wiped out, where most people would sort of airbrush themselves, sail through it, and pretend they don’t know what you’re talking about.”
4. Start writing poetry.
As part of the confessional process, Corgan has made one of the most dreaded rock-star moves: the crossover to the written word. Ever since Bob Dylan scored a book contract and threw together the unreadable Tarantula, musicians have accepted the flattering overtures of eager publishers with dollar signs in their eyes, attempting to expand their lyric sheets into hardcover material. Awaiting such releases is an almost knee-jerk critical assault, as self-appointed literary protectors histrionically attempt to guard their turf against the presumptuous invader.
Corgan’s poetry book, Blinking with Fists, was greeted with just such a reaction after its release last fall. Reviewing Corgan’s live reading at the Chicago Poetry Center, Chicagopoetry.com editor C.J. Laity called the work “forced, sophomoric attempts at creating what he must have thought poetry is supposed to sound like.” But other observers disagreed, such as Jeff Vrabel of the Chicago Sun-Times praising the poems as being “full of the regretful melancholy of his music and the rhythmic, angular wordplay of his best Pumpkins lyrics.”
Certainly, Corgan’s fans responded to his jump across media boundaries, pushing Blinking with Fists to a high debut on the New York Times bestseller list. For his own part, Corgan has let the snipes and tomatoes roll off his back, and seems more determined than ever to moonlight in typing. Now serializing on an Internet near you: The Billy Corgan Autobiography.
“I’ve never really told my own story,” Corgan says of the project. “I’ve told a lot of stories, but I’ve never told The Story. And I’m sure I’ll leave things out, and forget things, but for the most part you’re going to get The Story, what I actually think happened to me.”
Already underway on his website (www.billycorgan.com), the first entries are somewhat scattershot, non-linear remembrances jump-cutting from playing shows with his first band, The Marked, to the troubled circumstances recording Adore, to his earliest memory of playing with a children’s record player while his parents fought. In talking about the crooked timelines, Corgan makes the project sound both meticulously planned and without-a-net spontaneous.
“It’ll all make sense in the end,” he promises. “I know where the destination point is, but I’m not sure how I’ll get there. I’m literally writing these, editing them and putting them on the Internet immediately, so I’m winging it.”
I ask if it scares him.
“Yeah, it totally scares me. I’m in new territory here.”
What’s definitely known is that toes will be stepped on, as Corgan has previously used his website to blame the Pumpkins’ demise on guitarist James Iha and called his former bassist D’arcy Wretzky a “mean-spirited drug addict who refused to get help.” But when asked about the project’s potential fallout, Corgan assures, “The intention is not to be malicious or cause harm at all. I’m constantly making sure that it strikes me as true. [Sometimes] I’d really rather tell another story, and I’d like you to believe that I’m the genius behind everything that ever happened, but it’s not true. I have to give credit where credit is due.”
Corgan’s literary aspirations don’t stop at poetry and non-fiction, either. Following up the tantalizing book-flap tidbit from Blinking with Fists, Corgan also has a “spacey” novel on the (distant) horizon. “Writing’s the same as music—you have to find your own voice,” he says. “I feel like I’m halfway there. It’s one thing to write poetry—you can ‘miss’ a poem. You can have a poem B-side. But as far as a novel, it can’t be a B-side. It has to be an A-side, and it has to be an A-side for like 300 pages.”
5. Get born-again.
First of all, for the record, Billy says, “I was raised a Christian, but I wouldn’t call myself a Christian now.” But there’s no denying that the tone of Corgan’s Biblical imagery has shifted from the tormented music of Smashing Pumpkins to the considerably more optimistic tenor of Zwan and TheFutureEmbrace. It’s a long way from “God is empty / Just like me” to covering the hymn “Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken,” and from declaring, “The world is a vampire” to promising, “We can change the world,” but Corgan sees it all as a logical continuum.
“I think when I was younger it was easier to focus on the negative, nihilist vision,” Corgan says, “Zeroes and black death. This is sort of picking up on the other half of the body, which is God and white light. I saw somebody wrote online that ‘he’s found Jesus,’ but no, I didn’t find Jesus. He’s been there the whole time.”
But Corgan’s faith doesn’t fit easily into the mold of the Christian rocker or the caricature of the celebrity grasping at a shortcut to spiritualism. “My version, of course, is not this flag-waving, let’s all get on the Jesus train and ride out of Hell. I’m not that kind of guy. It’s an embrace that life is good, worth living and yeah, it’s not easy, but there are more pluses than minuses.”
The backlash against rockers daring to discuss issues of religion is well-documented—from the turned-up noses of certain indie factions against everything from the within-the-church criticism of artists like Pedro the Lion and Sufjan Stevens, to the mockery of stars like Korn guitarist Head who undergo deep conversions from rock hedonism to a pious lifestyle. As usual, Billy Corgan doesn’t care much about any potential fan aversion and doesn’t mince words in talking about it. “I’m not going to just get with the Paris Hilton program of ‘let’s pretend we’re all gonna live forever.’ If I’m accused of anything, what are you accusing me of? Thinking positively? Sorry, f---ing kill me.”
For those who still can’t reconcile a peaceful, suburban, spiritual Billy with the angst-driven poster child for Infinite Sadness, he recommends looking back at the subtext of his earlier work. “It wasn’t a demonstrable need to say, ‘I’m so miserable, look at me.’ It was, ‘look at me, I’m miserable, but I’m trying to figure out a way to get out of the hole.’ That, even in and of itself, has a positivity to it because it’s hopeful, it’s not death, it isn’t nihilism. There’s actually a light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe now, I’m just further along towards the end of the tunnel. I don’t feel lost, I never felt lost.”
So if you’re keeping score at home, Billy Corgan is not making a comeback. He didn’t form Zwan to surround himself with celebrities or to delay the inevitable solo album. TheFutureEmbrace is not a statement of independence from his former groups, but an attempt to get at a true musical representation of himself. Billy Corgan isn’t growing crotchety with age, he’s just holding steady to the same brutal honesty he’s always maintained. He’s going to write poetry, and he doesn’t care what you think. And if you can’t handle hearing him address themes of religious faith and personal optimism, he’s not interested in your backlash either.
The characteristics that have made Billy Corgan a musical luminary to many are the same features that fuel other listeners’ obsessive dislike: endless confidence and a willingness to speak his mind. At this pivotal point in his career, Corgan is relying on both of these traits to protect him from the clichéd booby traps that have claimed so many others in his position. Faced with a junction that leads one way to a career of extended vitality, and the other to the classic-rock bin, he’s just trying to turn off his second-guessing machinery and get back to the unconscious mind.
“It’s the spark you’re obsessed with, how did I create this thing that still has energy? How do I get back to the spark? How do I recreate the spark so it keeps firing? There was a point in my life where everything that came out of me was like ‘boom boom boom boom’—I didn’t even think about it. And now I look back and say, ‘how did I do that?’ I once read an interview with Bob Dylan where he said ‘I had to go back in the ’70s to relearn what I used to do without thinking,’ and that’s the point I felt I was at. I knew how to make that sound, but I didn’t know how to feel it anymore where it just came out of me. It was a conscious thing, so I had to walk away from it.”
(Reprinted w.o permission from Paste)
Friday, February 10, 2006
Stop discrimination in job recruitment
BEIJING, Feb. 10 -- If a person were denied a job opportunity because of his or her height, gender or blood type, who would be held responsible?
Two out of three of the 73,176 people questioned in a recently released survey said they had been discriminated against in regards to employment.
Two out of three of the 73,176 people questioned in a recently released survey said they had been discriminated against in regards to employment.
The survey was jointly conducted by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and a portal called China Human Resources Development last year.
In recruitment advertisements, discriminative prerequisites of age, gender, height, specific location of household registration and even blood type are often listed.
These tight requirements deprive those who may have outshined, in their practical capability, the people who meet the conditions of the opportunity to get a specific job.
In March 2003, university graduate Zhou Yichao took an examination for a civil servant position in Zhejiang Province. He passed the exams, but was turned down because he carried the hepatitis B virus.
The enraged graduate killed an official with the local personnel department and was given the death penalty and later executed.
In Hunan Province last year, a university graduate was refused a civil servant position simply because he was one centimetre shorter than the specified height.
In another case, an applicant was denied an opportunity to work as a salesman just because he had AB blood. He was told that people with AB blood type were not good at socializing with other people and therefore would not make good salespeople.
In an extreme case, 10 women were forced to divorce their husbands because their firms had a stipulation that married women would not have any chance of renewing their labour contracts. As a result, they had to make a choice to keep their husbands or their jobs.
Surplus supply of labour is undoubtedly one of the major reasons why discrimination in recruitment persists.
The vast pool of labour has made it possible for employers to set thresholds of any kind to sift from oversupplied applicants for the exact type of employees they want.
But some requirements they set do not justify their demands.
Unless the job itself demands a person is tall or short, applicants' heights do not have anything to do with their ability to be a good employee.
Whether a female is attractive or not has no bearing on her capability as a secretary or office clerk. But this is often set as a requirement for a job.
In a humanistic perspective, these requirements reflect a discriminating attitude toward certain groups of people and are often insulting.
In a judicial perspective, the criteria run counter to the spirit of the Constitution, which stipulates that all citizens have the right and obligation to work.
The country's Labour Law says that no citizen should be discriminated against in employment based on their gender, ethnicity or religion.
The law concerning the protection of handicapped people says that the State protects the right of the disabled people to work.
It is apparent that the specific requirements previously mentioned go against the fundamental principle of these judicial stipulations.
We have a goal to build a harmonious society, which must be a civilized one. These discriminations do not belong to a civilized society, in which everyone is supposed to be equally offered opportunity and benefits.
Some suggest that we need a law to specify legal codes against such specific discriminations.
We do need such a law, which could provide victims of employment discrimination a legal weapon to protect their rights and interests.
Thursday, February 9, 2006
Chinese man 'jailed due to Yahoo'
The internet giant Yahoo has been accused of providing China with information that led to the jailing of a second internet writer.
Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders claims that Yahoo released data which led to the arrest of Li Zhi.
The online writer was jailed for eight years in 2003, after posting comments that criticised official corruption.
Last year Yahoo was accused of giving information to Beijing which led to the imprisonment of reporter Shi Tao.
Reporters Without Borders called on Yahoo to release the names of all internet writers whose identities it has revealed to the Chinese authorities.
'Rigorous procedures'
Yahoo spokeswoman Mary Osako insisted that in its dealings with China, the company "only responded with what we were legally compelled to provide, and nothing more".
"We were rigorous in our procedures and made sure that only the required material was provided," she told the AFP news agency.
But she added that: "The government of China is not required to inform service providers why they are seeking certain information, and typically does not do so."
Reporters Without Borders said it was not acceptable for the firm to say it simply responded to requests from the authorities without knowing what the data would be used for.
"This argument no long holds water," the group said in a statement. "Yahoo certainly knew it was helping to arrest political dissidents and journalists, not just ordinary criminals."
Strict control
The Chinese government enforces strict laws on internet use, blocking content it considers a threat, including references to the Tiananmen Square massacre and notable dissidents.
But major international firms wanting to do business in China, the world's number two internet market, are coming under increasing pressure from rights groups not to conform to Beijing's conditions.
Four major US-based companies - Microsoft, Google, Yahoo and Cisco - have been accused of collaborating with China to censor the internet.
In September, Yahoo was accused of helping the Chinese authorities identify Shi Tao, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in April 2005.
Google came under fire last month after it announced it would block politically sensitive terms on its new China site, in agreement with conditions set by Beijing.
US lawmakers are due to meet later this month to discuss the ethical responsibilities of US-based internet companies doing business in China.
Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders claims that Yahoo released data which led to the arrest of Li Zhi.
The online writer was jailed for eight years in 2003, after posting comments that criticised official corruption.
Last year Yahoo was accused of giving information to Beijing which led to the imprisonment of reporter Shi Tao.
Reporters Without Borders called on Yahoo to release the names of all internet writers whose identities it has revealed to the Chinese authorities.
'Rigorous procedures'
Yahoo spokeswoman Mary Osako insisted that in its dealings with China, the company "only responded with what we were legally compelled to provide, and nothing more".
"We were rigorous in our procedures and made sure that only the required material was provided," she told the AFP news agency.
But she added that: "The government of China is not required to inform service providers why they are seeking certain information, and typically does not do so."
Reporters Without Borders said it was not acceptable for the firm to say it simply responded to requests from the authorities without knowing what the data would be used for.
"This argument no long holds water," the group said in a statement. "Yahoo certainly knew it was helping to arrest political dissidents and journalists, not just ordinary criminals."
Strict control
The Chinese government enforces strict laws on internet use, blocking content it considers a threat, including references to the Tiananmen Square massacre and notable dissidents.
But major international firms wanting to do business in China, the world's number two internet market, are coming under increasing pressure from rights groups not to conform to Beijing's conditions.
Four major US-based companies - Microsoft, Google, Yahoo and Cisco - have been accused of collaborating with China to censor the internet.
In September, Yahoo was accused of helping the Chinese authorities identify Shi Tao, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in April 2005.
Google came under fire last month after it announced it would block politically sensitive terms on its new China site, in agreement with conditions set by Beijing.
US lawmakers are due to meet later this month to discuss the ethical responsibilities of US-based internet companies doing business in China.
Sunday, February 5, 2006
Saturday, February 4, 2006
Pumpkins reunited?
News has it that Billy Corgan and Smashing Pumpkins/Zwan drummer Jimmy Chamberlin are, in the tradition of Jake & Elwood Blues, "getting the band back together". What the band consists of is anyone's guess. I would have thought at least James Iha would have signed up, but no-one close to the band seems to be giving out any info. As Billy put it in a recent Myspace post, "The surprise I have in store for you all will be announced soon enough....hold on to your horses. After all, good things surely comes (sic) to those who wait....Don't you just love the suspense?" Cryptic enough?
James Iha, Jimmy Chamberlin, D'arcy Wretzky,
and Billy Corgan - somewhere, sometime last decade.
"My services are there for Billy whenever he needs them," said Melissa Auf der Maur, former bassist for Hole and honorary Pumpkin after original bassist D'arcy Wretzky left in 2000. She recently told MTV, "I love the Pumpkins, and to play those songs again would be nothing but fun for me. It was a big part of my life. The coolest thing would be if D'Arcy was around, but I don't know where she's at and I don't think they do either. But I feel very comfortable being second best."
Melissa Auf der Maur, James Iha, Jimmy Chamberlin, and Billy Corgan
sign CDs at Tower Records in Chicago, early 2000
A spokesperson for Azoff Management confirmed Thursday (February 2) that Corgan and Chamberlin have signed on with the firm as Smashing Pumpkins, and that the two are writing new music. Corgan and Chamberlin are said to be recording(!) a new Pumpkins album, and planning a tour later this year. For those of you who can't wait, here's a live archive from 1988-2000.
Now we just need Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr to get back together as "The Beatles".
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For the record, Melissa met the Great Pumpkin back in the early 1990s when he was playing a gig in her native Montreal. A friend of hers threw a bottle at the stage and it hit Billy, so she went backstage to apologize, and he wound up introducing her to Courtney Love.
In my humble opinion, and I am going to get in big trouble for saying this, not only is Melissa hotter than D'arcy, she is also a better musician and added more to the Pumpkins than her predecessor. So I hope the new line-up includes the lovely Melissa, and D'arcy can stay on her horse farm in Michigan.
Oh, as a totally shameless plug here, check out Melissa's STORE and BLOG!
James Iha, Jimmy Chamberlin, D'arcy Wretzky,and Billy Corgan - somewhere, sometime last decade.
"My services are there for Billy whenever he needs them," said Melissa Auf der Maur, former bassist for Hole and honorary Pumpkin after original bassist D'arcy Wretzky left in 2000. She recently told MTV, "I love the Pumpkins, and to play those songs again would be nothing but fun for me. It was a big part of my life. The coolest thing would be if D'Arcy was around, but I don't know where she's at and I don't think they do either. But I feel very comfortable being second best."
Melissa Auf der Maur, James Iha, Jimmy Chamberlin, and Billy Corgansign CDs at Tower Records in Chicago, early 2000
A spokesperson for Azoff Management confirmed Thursday (February 2) that Corgan and Chamberlin have signed on with the firm as Smashing Pumpkins, and that the two are writing new music. Corgan and Chamberlin are said to be recording(!) a new Pumpkins album, and planning a tour later this year. For those of you who can't wait, here's a live archive from 1988-2000.
Now we just need Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr to get back together as "The Beatles".
====
For the record, Melissa met the Great Pumpkin back in the early 1990s when he was playing a gig in her native Montreal. A friend of hers threw a bottle at the stage and it hit Billy, so she went backstage to apologize, and he wound up introducing her to Courtney Love.
In my humble opinion, and I am going to get in big trouble for saying this, not only is Melissa hotter than D'arcy, she is also a better musician and added more to the Pumpkins than her predecessor. So I hope the new line-up includes the lovely Melissa, and D'arcy can stay on her horse farm in Michigan.Oh, as a totally shameless plug here, check out Melissa's STORE and BLOG!
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Tribune's pot sticker posse stalks best in town
Jade East's pot stickers won praise for their fillings. (Tribune photo by Michael Tercha)
By Phil Vettel
Tribune restaurant critic
Published January 26, 2006
Finding an acceptable pot sticker in this town is easy. Finding a great one takes a little roadwork.
That's the principal lesson of At Play's most recent food odyssey, in which I and three other Chicago Tribune staffers--a Pot Sticker Posse, if you will--spent two days driving around Chicago looking for fried-dumpling excellence.
Why pot stickers? We like them, for one thing. You can get them just about anywhere. And for a humble nibble, a good pot sticker has a lot going for it--a blend of pork and cabbage with aromatic spices, sealed in a half-moon of soft, steamed dough and pan-fried just long enough to crisp up the bottom. Plus, the Lunar New Year kicks off this weekend (for events, see Planner on page 3).
The posse consisted of Tribune food and wine reporter Bill Daley (if you missed his Good Eating story on Chinese dumplings--and shame on you--you can read it at chicagotribune.com/ food); reporter and ethnic adventurer Monica Eng, who will eat absolutely anything; and reporter and Hong Kong native Kevin Pang, whose father is in the restaurant-supply business.
And me. I own a mini-van.
Armed with a list of nominees, we set out for two afternoons of dumpling diving. We did all our eating in the post-lunch-rush afternoon, to keep the playing field as even as possible. We kept track of the prices (there are some good bargains out there) and even measured each dumpling to see if there were significant size differences (there weren't).
Our modus operandi was consistent. We would call in an order and time our arrival so that we were ready when the pot stickers were. We would eat in the car, argue the various merits and demerits, then call the next restaurant on the list.
We evaluated taste, texture and seasonings and combined them all into a single dumpling score ranging from 1 to 4, 1 meaning "Why Bother?" and 4 indicating "Don't Miss It!"
We traveled north and south, and not terribly far west. And here's what we found:
WON KOW
2237 S. Wentworth Ave., 312-842-7500.
Boy, did we love the pot stickers at this Chinatown veteran. The plump dumplings (6 for $3.95, a real bargain) had that classic crescent shape, good flavor and "an al dente elasticity to its bite," according to Pang. The wrapper was dense but, to me, "not overchewy." "Plenty of green onion in the filling," praised Eng. This was the posse's unanimous choice for the best pot sticker in our survey.
Rating: 4
Dee's
1114 W. Armitage Ave., 773-477-1500
The most balanced dumplings, flavor-wise, were at this Lincoln Park spot. The pot stickers (6 for $5.75) were "ripe with sweet porky goodness," in Daley's estimation, while Pang praised the "nice peppery taste" but griped that "the wrapper wasn't crisp enough." I liked the water chestnuts in the filling.
Rating: 3.5
Jade East
2511 N. Lincoln Ave., 773-883-9797
Jade East offers pork or chicken pot stickers (6 for $4.50). Daley called the pork version "gutsier and tastier," but Eng countered "I like the chicken ones a lot." The dough was thickish ("too thick for my tastes," offered Pang), but pleasing to the teeth. "Not a lot of greens in the filling," said Eng, "but it's a good, coarse meat filling." The golden-brown color was accompanied by minimal crispiness. Why our order came with one single complimentary crab Rangoon is anybody's guess, but a bonus is a bonus.
Rating: 3
Phoenix Restaurant
2131 S. Archer Ave., 312-328-0848
Thin, near-translucent wrappers on these pot stickers (a pricey 3 for $3.25) reminded us of Japanese gyozas--which made the delicate crunch of the fried parts (browned on two sides) much more dramatic in contrast. Inside, the mix of pork, shrimp and vegetables was chunky and coarsely textured, "and the sweetness of the shrimp and cabbage really comes through," added Pang. We liked the paper doilies on the bottom of the polystyrene container; they added a bit of refinement and soaked up some of excess oil that marred these dumplings somewhat.
Rating: 3
Mei Shung
5511 N. Broadway, 773-728-5778
"Nice pleats," said Daley of Mei Shung's plump dumplings (6 for $3.25), classic crescents stuffed with a compact hunk of pork that had some seasoning (hints of ginger, scallion) but could have used a smidge more. The thick dough was a bit chewy but the dumplings were still semi-crisp despite confinement in an unvented polystyrene container. "They looked expertly fried," said Pang. Add a bit more seasoning and crispness and you might have a winner.
Rating: 3
Furama
4936 N. Broadway, 773-271-1161
The pork in these dumplings (4 for $2.85) had a pleasant creamy texture, attributable to a greater-than-average amount of fat. The dumplings were very brown, almost scorched; there was almost no crispness, suggesting they had been held in a moist environment after frying, or possibly reheated. Our double order had been crammed into a single take-out container, not a pleasant sight.
Rating: 2.5
Mars Restaurant
3124 N. Broadway, 773-404-1600
On texture alone, these pot stickers (6 for $4.50) would be a hit, but the posse found the filling "distractingly salty" (Daley's words) and a "pepper taste that was a bit annoying" (Pang's), though Eng found the flavor "robust." But we all liked the crunchy, crisped edges. "I would have liked a bit more pork flavor," griped Pang, who also burned his tongue on the piping-hot dumplings.
Rating: 2
China Doll
1246 N. Wells St., 312-943-9300
The posse didn't have much good to say about these pot stickers (7 for $4.45). The texture was deemed "just OK" by Daley and "flavorless" by me and others--though Eng opined that a "vinegary dipping sauce" would perk them up. And if China Doll's pot stickers ever come in contact with a fry pan and oil, you couldn't prove it by our colorless samples--"a lame attempt," said Eng. Pang delivered the coup de grace: "Bland, soul-less dumplings that look like they came straight from the freezer."
Rating: 1.5
Ed's Pot Sticker House
3139 S. Halsted St., 312-326-6898
The posse wasn't quite sure what to make of the house special pot stickers (6 for $5.95), odd and extruded shapes that looked more like meat-filled breadsticks than pot stickers. (I dubbed them "pot fingers" for their finger-food friendliness.) Shape, schmape; what bothered us was the filling, which was bland and had a dense, processed texture. "For a place whose namesake is `pot sticker,' I'm not knocked out," complained Eng. "Nice crisp tubes," allowed Pang, "and sizzling hot when we got them." "The funky shape is no excuse for filling that needs seasoning badly," summed up Daley.
Rating: 1
- - -
Pot sticker packaging gets us all steamed up
One of the interesting dilemmas of carryout pot sticker orders is: How do you best package them?
Most of the restaurants we visited packed the pot stickers into hinged polystyrene containers--the default doggie-bag setting. Pot stickers did all right in these boxes, but hot dumplings plus insulated container equals condensation, which can quickly turn the crispiest pot sticker into a soggy disappointment. We countered that effect by trying to arrive at each restaurant a minute or two before our order was ready, but found condensation even so.
Ed's Pot Sticker house, which packaged its unusual, breadstick-shaped pot stickers into a container designed for hot dogs, was the only restaurant clever enough to poke a couple of holes into the container lid, allowing steam to escape.
And what of the traditional, multifold, Chinese take-out containers? They're great for preventing leaks and locking in heat, but that's bad for pot stickers. Won Kow uses these containers, but, perhaps because of the dumplings' thick dough--and because we ate them within a minute of paying for them--the pot stickers didn't suffer unduly. The dumplings at Furama fared worse, particularly because two orders of pot stickers had been crammed into a single container. The ones on the bottom weren't just soggy; they were also smushed.
So which is the best way to package pot stickers to go? Those ugly polystyrene boxes are best, especially with a few hole punches to allow steam to escape. Of course, that allows heat to escape as well, so hurry home.
pvettel@tribune.com
----------
Tell us where to find your favorite pot sticker. And what makes a perfect one? E-mail it to atplay@tribune.com and put "Pot Sticker" in the subject field or send to Chicago Tribune, At Play, Pot Stickers, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago IL 60611.
Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune
No booze or jokes for Googlers in China
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Sad news
Chris Penn, R.I.P.
Sean Penn’s publicist, Mara Buxbaum, said the Penn family “would appreciate the media’s respect of their privacy during this difficult time”...... uh, we all know how well Sean and photographers get along, right?
Remember when Sean Penn pounded on Steve Dallas (in the 1980s comic strip "Bloom County") with his forehead? Penn beat the crap out of Steve Dallas for photographing him vomiting in an alley. After he recovered from back surgery, Dallas ran down the options of whom to sue:
- Penn was out, because juries love celebrities, plus he may go nuts and beat him up again…
- Opus was out, because even though he got Dallas into the mess, you never, ever sue poor people.
- He also debated suing Madonna but thought the better of it because, “she too may return to beat up the plaintiff.”
- In the end, he decided on the Nikolta Camera Company, which was “swimming in dough.”
http://www.berkeleybreathed.com/pages/index.asp
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
New CDs up in the webstore
For all you who've been wondering what's up with the record label I run, Aaugh! Records, we have some new releases in stock:
"Mindless" by Arsov
Alex Arsov is a songwriter and musician from Slovenia, and this is his debut on Aaugh! For this project he teamed up with vocalists Sara J. and Boris Benko, everything else on this disc was played by Arsov (except for a couple of saxophone or viola parts on one or two songs). A few of the songs sounded like Depeche Mode to a co-worker of mine.
"Island Habitz" by Split Attitude
Split Attitude is a rock'n'reggae band fro the island of Saipan in the Pacific Ocean (Saipan's a US territory located close to Guam and the Philippines). The guys play once a week in a bar in the tourist district of Garapan, mostly covers of AC/DC, U2, Bob Marley, and some harder alternative rock bands I can't remember the name of right now. They jammed out some really good originals on this disc, mostly in English with some of the lyrics in Chamorro (including the local favorite "Pak Pak Paki" about WW2). Includes a live version of "Mr. Police Mon".
COMING SOON
Artist: Neurobic
Title: Exercises
Release: February 2006
A dance-based collaboration between Arsov, Sara J., Housemouse, Goldlust and SHIZU'.
Artist: SHIZU'
Title: none yet
Release: March 2006
A talented young female vocalist from Japan.
Check out our website (www.aaughrecords.net) for more details, and links to the artists websites.
Endorsements: All our Cds are made by Kunaki, and the T-shirts are printed by Spreadshirt in the US & Europe.
"Mindless" by ArsovAlex Arsov is a songwriter and musician from Slovenia, and this is his debut on Aaugh! For this project he teamed up with vocalists Sara J. and Boris Benko, everything else on this disc was played by Arsov (except for a couple of saxophone or viola parts on one or two songs). A few of the songs sounded like Depeche Mode to a co-worker of mine.
"Island Habitz" by Split AttitudeSplit Attitude is a rock'n'reggae band fro the island of Saipan in the Pacific Ocean (Saipan's a US territory located close to Guam and the Philippines). The guys play once a week in a bar in the tourist district of Garapan, mostly covers of AC/DC, U2, Bob Marley, and some harder alternative rock bands I can't remember the name of right now. They jammed out some really good originals on this disc, mostly in English with some of the lyrics in Chamorro (including the local favorite "Pak Pak Paki" about WW2). Includes a live version of "Mr. Police Mon".
COMING SOON
Artist: Neurobic
Title: Exercises
Release: February 2006
A dance-based collaboration between Arsov, Sara J., Housemouse, Goldlust and SHIZU'.
Artist: SHIZU'
Title: none yet
Release: March 2006
A talented young female vocalist from Japan.
Check out our website (www.aaughrecords.net) for more details, and links to the artists websites.
Endorsements: All our Cds are made by Kunaki, and the T-shirts are printed by Spreadshirt in the US & Europe.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Google censors itself for China
Leading internet search company Google has agreed to censor 
some of its services in China in order to satisfy Beijing's restrictions
on free speech.
Critics warn the censored version could restrict access to thousands of terms and web sites for Chinese users.
Topics which may be blocked include independence for Taiwan and the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
Google's move in China comes less than a week after it resisted efforts by the US Department of Justice to make it disclose data on what people were searching for.
'Inconsistent'
Google has offered a Chinese-language version of its search engine through its US-based system for several years.
However, users in China have often been frustrated as government controls have blocked the service or slowed response times.
Google hopes its new address will make the search engine easier to use.Its e-mail, chat room and blogging services will not be available because of concerns the government could demand users' personal information.
Officials said they planned to notify users when access had been restricted on certain search terms.
The company argues it can play a more useful role in China by participating than by boycotting it, despite the compromises involved.
"While removing search results is inconsistent with Google's mission, providing no information (or a heavily degraded user experience that amounts to no information) is more inconsistent with our mission," a statement said.
Julian Pain, internet spokesman for campaign group Reporters Without Borders, said Google's decision to "collaborate" with the Chinese government was "a real shame".
The number of internet search users in China is predicted to increase from about 100 million currently to 187 million in two years' time.
A survey last August revealed Google was losing market share to Beijing-based rival Baidu.com.
some of its services in China in order to satisfy Beijing's restrictionson free speech.
Google hopes the new web address for China will boost its access to one of the world's largest internet markets.
The company says the decision to censor content was hard, but says it has more influence if it is present in China.Topics which may be blocked include independence for Taiwan and the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
Google's move in China comes less than a week after it resisted efforts by the US Department of Justice to make it disclose data on what people were searching for.
'Inconsistent'
Google has offered a Chinese-language version of its search engine through its US-based system for several years.
However, users in China have often been frustrated as government controls have blocked the service or slowed response times.
Google hopes its new address will make the search engine easier to use.Its e-mail, chat room and blogging services will not be available because of concerns the government could demand users' personal information.
Officials said they planned to notify users when access had been restricted on certain search terms.
The company argues it can play a more useful role in China by participating than by boycotting it, despite the compromises involved.
"While removing search results is inconsistent with Google's mission, providing no information (or a heavily degraded user experience that amounts to no information) is more inconsistent with our mission," a statement said.
Julian Pain, internet spokesman for campaign group Reporters Without Borders, said Google's decision to "collaborate" with the Chinese government was "a real shame".
The number of internet search users in China is predicted to increase from about 100 million currently to 187 million in two years' time.
A survey last August revealed Google was losing market share to Beijing-based rival Baidu.com.
Monday, January 23, 2006
Reconstruction from an old blog from 2001
RED ELVISES
Fitzgerald's, Berwyn, IL April 10th, 2001 By Comrade Rick
L to R, Zhenya(G), Igor(B), Oleg(D); photo by Kenneth Garp
Hello all,
As this is my first RE concert review, I should probably start at the beginning... My first introduction to the guys was a copy of "Bellydance" sitting on someone's desk at work. Needing some tunes during a long evening, I popped in the disc, thinking it wouldn't be any good. Boy was I surprised! The production values and musicianship as well as their sense of humor made me an instant fan.
Fast forward to April 2001; I cross the parking lot at Fitzgerald's and parked in front of the entrance is a huge red van with a Russian guy named Igor rummaging through suits in the back. "We start in a little while", he tells me. "I'm just choosing my clothes for the evening." Inside on the stage two more guys work at setting up a drum kit, microphones, amplifiers and proceed to do a soundcheck. "There is too much feeding back", Oleg tells the sound man from behind the drums. "Something is too high." An audience of maybe 50 or so people cluster around tables with beer and popcorn, waiting expectantly for the show to begin. "How's the popcorn?" asks Zhenya from the stage. "I may get some later."
During the first part of the set, most of the audience stayed seated. Maybe that's because this is a working class suburban Chicago audience and it's the middle of the week. Maybe it's because last time the Reds played this stage they had an opening act, the very good local band Satya Graha. Maybe no-one knew what to make of the new 3-piece lineup. So midway through the set Zhenya Rock (his official name, it's on his license!) told the crowd, "If you like to sit down, that's OK. But for those who like to dance, the dance floor is right up here!". A good number of us proceeded to the front to dance and drink like maniacs (I'm still tired and hungover). At one point, when Igor asked everone to show their beer, one man near the bar yelled "I have tequila!" to which Oleg responded, "Tequila, it does the body good!".
Here's the setlist, which I managed to scribble on a bar napkin during the set.
1) Welcome To The Freak Show
2) San Antone
3) She's Running Away
4) Who's Your Daddy?
5) It's Over Now
6) I'll Be Back
7) Scorchi Chornye
8) Three Alley Cats
9) Telephone Call From Istanbul
10) Rocketman
11) I Wanna See You Bellydance
**INTERMISSION**
During the intermission, Zhenya wandered over to my table with beer and popcorn and was instantly enraptured by a Bulgarian girl sitting at the table who had only been in the US for one week. Oleg and Igor had to send Mr. Fabulous to pry him from their English-Russian-Bulgarian conversation for the second set.
12) Groovin' To The Moscow Beat
13) Gypsy Heart
14) Red Lips, Red Eyes, Red Stockings
15) Kegga Beer And Potato Chips
16) Bedroom Boogie
17) Not That Kind Of Guy
18) Please Don't Tell Me What I Did Last Night
19) Susanna
20) Strip Joint Is Closed
21) Sad Cowboy Song
**ENCORES**
22) Lovepipe
23) Juliet
24) Voodoo Doll (my request, thanks Z!)
Afterwards I had a talk with Igor, Jackdaw (whose custom decaled car the band signed afterwards), my new friend Alma mostly about web pages and bad movies... including "Leningrad Cowboys", the band's real story according to Igor; "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", which he still hasn't seen but I'm sending him a copy of; "Blues Brothers", which Igor learned his English from!
Driving me to the train later, Alma pulled into Wendy's drive through and the Redmobile was right in front of us! She yelled into the intercom, "TELL THOSE GUYS IN THE VAN THEY ROCK!!!" (which the drive-thru girl did, by the way).
Igor signing Jackdaw's car outside of Fitzgerald's. That's Alma holding the flashlight. I'm just out of the frame! photo by Jackdaw
The Elbo Room, Chicago, IL April 11th, 2001
I tried to call in sick today to catch tonight's gig, but my boss would't hear of it...
I got off work at 11:00 p.m. and rushed straight up to the Elbo Room- just in time for the intermission! A lot of folks from the night before were there, as was Megan, whose bellydancing routine earlier in the set I had missed. Last year when I met her she was wearing these cool red leather pants. This year she had a blue pair on.
The band started their second set and played some tunes they hadn't the previous night, like "Girl From Malibu", "Boogie On The Beach" and some others (I guess I was having too much fun to remember what they were).
After the show someone decided it would be a great idea if we all went to the Green Mill (Al Capone's old hangout as well as John Cusack's in "High Fidelity"). No one in the band was too sure what that was until someone else mentioned that it was Tom Waits' kind of bar and that settled it. I didn't have a ride so Oleg told me to get in the "captain's seat" (i.e. I rode "shotgun"). I could tell the guys were tired and hungry and probably wanted to just eat something and collapse so I suggested the possibility of Chinatown. Oleg kept saying, "Yeah, let's just ditch everyone and go to Chinatown!" (about 5 or 6 different times, while playing with a bass fish pillow and jamming out to Midnight Oil on the radio). Crossing the street outside the bar, someone pulled up to the intersection blasting hip-hop and I heard Igor say, "Awww, yeeeaaahh".. Kind of made me wonder if their next album's gonna be Russian gangsta rap.
Chicago bouncers are a mean lot and the Green Mill's doorman turned away a few in our group for being either underage or not having ID's (including the girl hanging out with Zhenya). So we all stumbled back onto the sidewalk. Oleg, not to be deterred from having a good time grabbed Igor's shoulder and pointed at a sign in the near distance. "Look!" he said, loud enough for the entire neighborhood to hear, "It's the Thailand Food Corporation!" Meanwhile Zhenya set up a camera on a street lamp and proceeded to try to take a group photo.
Green Mill and Thailand Food Corporation, January 2006 (photos by Rick)
Last I saw of the Red Elvises, Igor was saying something about stopping at a gas station to buy some food (probably potato chips)...
---
JACKDAW'S ELBO ROOM NOTES:
Wednesday, April 11, 2001. Parking on a Chicago side street at 3 AM is nearly impossible; Ron had to wake up before 8:00 to move the car, which he'd parked in front of a school. Some more sleep, then breakfast at a Greek diner, a look at the local Salvation Army store (I bought a red skirt, and a pair of leopard-print high-heeled mules to go on the Nice Shoes shelf), and some reconnaisance around Chicago, to find Willie's place (he'd invited us to dinner) and The Elbow Room, which wasn't open yet, so we couldn't hang the banner up ahead of time. 75 degrees, hot and muggy. Ron discovered that the film he'd had in his "good" camera the night before was Kodachrome slide film, so no one-hour photos for us.
Turkey dinner with all the trimmings at Willie's, somewhat delayed by Ron having to go back to Rikki's (our neice) to pick her up and bring her along so Willie could drive her to the show (the Redmobile is a 2-seater, a logistical difficulty I had overlooked.) Rikki is an art student, and Willie's significant other is an artist, gallery owner, and thoroughly charming woman; she charged us all with the task of trying to get Zhenya to do a show of his paintings at her gallery.
On to the Elbow Room: pouring rain and no place to park, then a mad dash to the club. Waiting in the street-level bar until the doors for the downstairs dance room opened at 9:15. RE not there yet; warm-up band the Stray Toasters, who'd come to Fitzgerald's the night before to see RE (this was the only night they had an opening band.) RE arrived, and Willie and Ron helped them carry equipment in and downstairs (no ramps or elevator.) I played Pencil Fairy, and we hung up the banner, but we were off to the side in a sort of low cave area, so I doubt if anyone saw it. Rick, whom we'd met at Fitzgerald's the night before, spotted us and came over. Ron and I dressed as red-dashiki-clad Twinkies; by this time, we had decided to save our RE shirts for daytime promotional wear.
Better rested, and after seeing Rick writing down a set list at Fitzgerald's, I managed to get a pretty good account of who was doing what, and when, except for singing. The initials are names first, instruments second.
ZG, IB, OD: Running Away; San Antone; Space Cowboy; Red Lips Red Eyes Red Stockings; 200 Flying Girls; Who's Your Daddy?
ZG, OB, ID: Scorchie Chornie; 3 Alley Cats (Z put on Phelan's stocking cap and rapped part of song); Boogie on the Beach; Love Pipe
ZG, IB, OD: Rocketman (Z grabbed crutch that a girl had leaned against stage, and used it as a 'bow' on guitar strings); I Wanna See You Bellydance
BREAK, then ZG, IB, OD: Move to the Beat (new song? not on albums; title unsure); Harriet (with Oleg playing bass and drums, Igor singing); Juliet (new song, maybe Romeo & Juliet, great!); I Will Come Back; Flaming Cheese
IG, OB, ZD: I'm Not That Kinda Guy (Z removes shirt...slight farmer tan!); Please Don't Tell Me What I Did Last Night; Susanna; (somewhere in here I lost track of who played what) Strip Joint is Closed (audience member picked up tambourine, did a good job); Sad Cowboy Song (triple drum 'solo', all of 'em banging away at once); Girl From Malibu
ONE MORE: Closet Disco Dancer
Rikki had been dancing down in front for most of the night, joined by Marty, who showed up during the break, I think. Zhenya must have liked how Rikki danced, because he autographed a guitar pick for her, even though she'd been too shy to get up on stage during "Bellydance." Mr. Phabulous and his table of goodies had remained upstairs; this was probably a good thing, because, by the end of the night, the downstairs floor was wet and the very walls were sweating from condensed exhaled breath. Willie had to go home, but, after teardown, the rest of us tried to go to an after-hours club to unwind with a nightcap.
Unfortunately, after Rick rode with the band to show them the way, and Rikki rode with Marty to direct her, and we followed as best we might, the club refused entry to anyone without an ID. Mr. Z and his lady friend didn't have theirs (neither did Ron, but we didn't get that far) and the commissar at the door got snippy when Z asked if they couldn't just mark them as 'not drinking'. "What, am I talking Japanese here? no one comes in without an ID!" Jeeze. That pretty much broke up the party; the guys went off to their hotel, and Marty and Rick came back with us to Rikki's to chat for awhile. Ron had to park in front of the school, again. (It was hilarious when the doorman at the Green Mill told Zhenya, "What, am I talking Japanese here? no one comes in without an ID!" because Oleg immediately told the doorman, "It's OK, he dosen't know Japanese anyways!" -Rick)
Jackdaw & Ron groovin' to the Moscow beat!
photo: Kenneth Garp
Fitzgerald's, Berwyn, IL April 10th, 2001 By Comrade Rick
L to R, Zhenya(G), Igor(B), Oleg(D); photo by Kenneth Garp
Hello all,
As this is my first RE concert review, I should probably start at the beginning... My first introduction to the guys was a copy of "Bellydance" sitting on someone's desk at work. Needing some tunes during a long evening, I popped in the disc, thinking it wouldn't be any good. Boy was I surprised! The production values and musicianship as well as their sense of humor made me an instant fan.
Fast forward to April 2001; I cross the parking lot at Fitzgerald's and parked in front of the entrance is a huge red van with a Russian guy named Igor rummaging through suits in the back. "We start in a little while", he tells me. "I'm just choosing my clothes for the evening." Inside on the stage two more guys work at setting up a drum kit, microphones, amplifiers and proceed to do a soundcheck. "There is too much feeding back", Oleg tells the sound man from behind the drums. "Something is too high." An audience of maybe 50 or so people cluster around tables with beer and popcorn, waiting expectantly for the show to begin. "How's the popcorn?" asks Zhenya from the stage. "I may get some later."
During the first part of the set, most of the audience stayed seated. Maybe that's because this is a working class suburban Chicago audience and it's the middle of the week. Maybe it's because last time the Reds played this stage they had an opening act, the very good local band Satya Graha. Maybe no-one knew what to make of the new 3-piece lineup. So midway through the set Zhenya Rock (his official name, it's on his license!) told the crowd, "If you like to sit down, that's OK. But for those who like to dance, the dance floor is right up here!". A good number of us proceeded to the front to dance and drink like maniacs (I'm still tired and hungover). At one point, when Igor asked everone to show their beer, one man near the bar yelled "I have tequila!" to which Oleg responded, "Tequila, it does the body good!".
Here's the setlist, which I managed to scribble on a bar napkin during the set.
1) Welcome To The Freak Show
2) San Antone
3) She's Running Away
4) Who's Your Daddy?
5) It's Over Now
6) I'll Be Back
7) Scorchi Chornye
8) Three Alley Cats
9) Telephone Call From Istanbul
10) Rocketman
11) I Wanna See You Bellydance
**INTERMISSION**
During the intermission, Zhenya wandered over to my table with beer and popcorn and was instantly enraptured by a Bulgarian girl sitting at the table who had only been in the US for one week. Oleg and Igor had to send Mr. Fabulous to pry him from their English-Russian-Bulgarian conversation for the second set.
12) Groovin' To The Moscow Beat
13) Gypsy Heart
14) Red Lips, Red Eyes, Red Stockings
15) Kegga Beer And Potato Chips
16) Bedroom Boogie
17) Not That Kind Of Guy
18) Please Don't Tell Me What I Did Last Night
19) Susanna
20) Strip Joint Is Closed
21) Sad Cowboy Song
**ENCORES**
22) Lovepipe
23) Juliet
24) Voodoo Doll (my request, thanks Z!)
Afterwards I had a talk with Igor, Jackdaw (whose custom decaled car the band signed afterwards), my new friend Alma mostly about web pages and bad movies... including "Leningrad Cowboys", the band's real story according to Igor; "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", which he still hasn't seen but I'm sending him a copy of; "Blues Brothers", which Igor learned his English from!
Driving me to the train later, Alma pulled into Wendy's drive through and the Redmobile was right in front of us! She yelled into the intercom, "TELL THOSE GUYS IN THE VAN THEY ROCK!!!" (which the drive-thru girl did, by the way).
Igor signing Jackdaw's car outside of Fitzgerald's. That's Alma holding the flashlight. I'm just out of the frame! photo by JackdawThe Elbo Room, Chicago, IL April 11th, 2001
I tried to call in sick today to catch tonight's gig, but my boss would't hear of it...
I got off work at 11:00 p.m. and rushed straight up to the Elbo Room- just in time for the intermission! A lot of folks from the night before were there, as was Megan, whose bellydancing routine earlier in the set I had missed. Last year when I met her she was wearing these cool red leather pants. This year she had a blue pair on.
The band started their second set and played some tunes they hadn't the previous night, like "Girl From Malibu", "Boogie On The Beach" and some others (I guess I was having too much fun to remember what they were).
After the show someone decided it would be a great idea if we all went to the Green Mill (Al Capone's old hangout as well as John Cusack's in "High Fidelity"). No one in the band was too sure what that was until someone else mentioned that it was Tom Waits' kind of bar and that settled it. I didn't have a ride so Oleg told me to get in the "captain's seat" (i.e. I rode "shotgun"). I could tell the guys were tired and hungry and probably wanted to just eat something and collapse so I suggested the possibility of Chinatown. Oleg kept saying, "Yeah, let's just ditch everyone and go to Chinatown!" (about 5 or 6 different times, while playing with a bass fish pillow and jamming out to Midnight Oil on the radio). Crossing the street outside the bar, someone pulled up to the intersection blasting hip-hop and I heard Igor say, "Awww, yeeeaaahh".. Kind of made me wonder if their next album's gonna be Russian gangsta rap.Chicago bouncers are a mean lot and the Green Mill's doorman turned away a few in our group for being either underage or not having ID's (including the girl hanging out with Zhenya). So we all stumbled back onto the sidewalk. Oleg, not to be deterred from having a good time grabbed Igor's shoulder and pointed at a sign in the near distance. "Look!" he said, loud enough for the entire neighborhood to hear, "It's the Thailand Food Corporation!" Meanwhile Zhenya set up a camera on a street lamp and proceeded to try to take a group photo.Last I saw of the Red Elvises, Igor was saying something about stopping at a gas station to buy some food (probably potato chips)...
---
JACKDAW'S ELBO ROOM NOTES:
Wednesday, April 11, 2001. Parking on a Chicago side street at 3 AM is nearly impossible; Ron had to wake up before 8:00 to move the car, which he'd parked in front of a school. Some more sleep, then breakfast at a Greek diner, a look at the local Salvation Army store (I bought a red skirt, and a pair of leopard-print high-heeled mules to go on the Nice Shoes shelf), and some reconnaisance around Chicago, to find Willie's place (he'd invited us to dinner) and The Elbow Room, which wasn't open yet, so we couldn't hang the banner up ahead of time. 75 degrees, hot and muggy. Ron discovered that the film he'd had in his "good" camera the night before was Kodachrome slide film, so no one-hour photos for us.
Turkey dinner with all the trimmings at Willie's, somewhat delayed by Ron having to go back to Rikki's (our neice) to pick her up and bring her along so Willie could drive her to the show (the Redmobile is a 2-seater, a logistical difficulty I had overlooked.) Rikki is an art student, and Willie's significant other is an artist, gallery owner, and thoroughly charming woman; she charged us all with the task of trying to get Zhenya to do a show of his paintings at her gallery.
On to the Elbow Room: pouring rain and no place to park, then a mad dash to the club. Waiting in the street-level bar until the doors for the downstairs dance room opened at 9:15. RE not there yet; warm-up band the Stray Toasters, who'd come to Fitzgerald's the night before to see RE (this was the only night they had an opening band.) RE arrived, and Willie and Ron helped them carry equipment in and downstairs (no ramps or elevator.) I played Pencil Fairy, and we hung up the banner, but we were off to the side in a sort of low cave area, so I doubt if anyone saw it. Rick, whom we'd met at Fitzgerald's the night before, spotted us and came over. Ron and I dressed as red-dashiki-clad Twinkies; by this time, we had decided to save our RE shirts for daytime promotional wear.
Better rested, and after seeing Rick writing down a set list at Fitzgerald's, I managed to get a pretty good account of who was doing what, and when, except for singing. The initials are names first, instruments second.
ZG, IB, OD: Running Away; San Antone; Space Cowboy; Red Lips Red Eyes Red Stockings; 200 Flying Girls; Who's Your Daddy?
ZG, OB, ID: Scorchie Chornie; 3 Alley Cats (Z put on Phelan's stocking cap and rapped part of song); Boogie on the Beach; Love Pipe
ZG, IB, OD: Rocketman (Z grabbed crutch that a girl had leaned against stage, and used it as a 'bow' on guitar strings); I Wanna See You Bellydance
BREAK, then ZG, IB, OD: Move to the Beat (new song? not on albums; title unsure); Harriet (with Oleg playing bass and drums, Igor singing); Juliet (new song, maybe Romeo & Juliet, great!); I Will Come Back; Flaming Cheese
IG, OB, ZD: I'm Not That Kinda Guy (Z removes shirt...slight farmer tan!); Please Don't Tell Me What I Did Last Night; Susanna; (somewhere in here I lost track of who played what) Strip Joint is Closed (audience member picked up tambourine, did a good job); Sad Cowboy Song (triple drum 'solo', all of 'em banging away at once); Girl From Malibu
ONE MORE: Closet Disco Dancer
Rikki had been dancing down in front for most of the night, joined by Marty, who showed up during the break, I think. Zhenya must have liked how Rikki danced, because he autographed a guitar pick for her, even though she'd been too shy to get up on stage during "Bellydance." Mr. Phabulous and his table of goodies had remained upstairs; this was probably a good thing, because, by the end of the night, the downstairs floor was wet and the very walls were sweating from condensed exhaled breath. Willie had to go home, but, after teardown, the rest of us tried to go to an after-hours club to unwind with a nightcap.
Unfortunately, after Rick rode with the band to show them the way, and Rikki rode with Marty to direct her, and we followed as best we might, the club refused entry to anyone without an ID. Mr. Z and his lady friend didn't have theirs (neither did Ron, but we didn't get that far) and the commissar at the door got snippy when Z asked if they couldn't just mark them as 'not drinking'. "What, am I talking Japanese here? no one comes in without an ID!" Jeeze. That pretty much broke up the party; the guys went off to their hotel, and Marty and Rick came back with us to Rikki's to chat for awhile. Ron had to park in front of the school, again. (It was hilarious when the doorman at the Green Mill told Zhenya, "What, am I talking Japanese here? no one comes in without an ID!" because Oleg immediately told the doorman, "It's OK, he dosen't know Japanese anyways!" -Rick)
Jackdaw & Ron groovin' to the Moscow beat!photo: Kenneth Garp
Sunday, January 22, 2006
oleai's tacos
oleai's tacos
Originally uploaded by kevinv033™.
Pictures like this are gonna make me homesick for Saipan.
Saturday, January 21, 2006
Monday, January 16, 2006
Name change should stop the snickers
Fuk King Kwok was waiting for his driver's license to be printed when his name was called and a chuckling Illinois secretary of state employee offered some advice.
"She [said] this is a dangerous name," the Chinese immigrant recalled. "She [said] the name translated is not so good, maybe I should change [it]. The word I hear is not so good."
Not so good, indeed.
That clerk, like so many other Americans who have said his name since he came to Chicago in 1999, didn't pronounce his first name the proper way -- "fook."
Instead, she and the others would pronounce his name with an "uh" sound instead of the "oo" -- in other words, like the granddaddy of all swear words.
"And my middle name is terrible, too," he admitted. "That combination becomes very terrible."
Last month in Cook County Circuit Court -- three years after that clerk offered the advice -- Fuk King Kwok changed his name.
He's now Andy Kwok.
"Before I came to United States, no problems," he said, before nervously laughing. "But in translation to English, it sounds like . . . the word . . . you know ... sometimes language is not so convenient and sometimes I'm embarrassed, you know?"
Best part about U.S.? Privacy
The process of legally changing your name is simple enough. Kwok paid the $328 and filled out the one-page form himself.
A judge's signature made it official and ensured the only time Kwok will hear that word is if he's near someone foul-mouthed.
DePaul University language professor Yingcai Xu said problems like Kwok's aren't common -- and even he gave a slight laugh after writing Kwok's name.
"It could very likely cause a problem," he said, adding it's a Cantonese name that "could mean 20 or 30" things in that language -- none of them vulgar.
"This is a very special case," he said, "because there are not many names, even pronounced wrong, that would lead to any bad sense."
Kwok said that in China, his name translates to "a very good meaning" and nothing at all like that embarrassing pronunciation.
He said he's always liked the name Andy -- "Andrew" even better -- and while living in Hong Kong, sometimes went by it.
The 38-year-old mechanical engineer said he came to the United States for work reasons and "to try to experience different culture."
Despite the pronunciation trouble with his name, he said he likes America, especially Chicago, but most of all, he likes his privacy.
Aware of the potential for "jokes on me," he initially declined an interview request, but remained adamant about declining a photo.
"I'm not public at all," he said.
Ms. Porn reverts to maiden name
Monica Pinas and Mary Jo Porn have something in common.
They are among the hundreds who, in the last few years, have filed documents in Cook County Circuit Court to legally change their names.
Monica Pinas became Monica Star -- and the reason the 21-year-old Chicago woman sought the change came when she appeared before a judge and he, like others, incorrectly pronounced her last name as "penis."
"It's embarrassing," she said.
Porn, meanwhile, decided after a divorce that she'd drop her married name and return to her maiden name of Tavormina.
The 50-year-old Orland Park woman's attorney, Stephen Thacker, said he urges clients going through a divorce to hang on to the right to resume a maiden name, so as to save this kind of separate court action.
Every day, a handful of name changes are filed in Cook County. Most are tied to parental issues, while others can be more personal.
April Showers, 49, became Denise Moore last year, while Boladale Dehinde Adeyemi, 18, became Boladale Anthony Olumide Omotayo Omotoyingo. Both declined comment.
Godlordkingchrist
Michael Heard became Godlordkingchrist Heard, but the 58-year-old Chicagoan couldn't be reached to discuss his change.
Last month, Samuel Hicks changed his name to Samuel Adams -- but hardly out of respect for the Revolutionary War hero or because he likes the beer.
The Riverdale man's attorney, Charles Pulliam, said his client has always gone by Samuel Adams and his kids are even Adamses, but his birth certificate, unbeknownst to him, had his father's last name -- Hicks.
His brother, who has always gone by Hicks, found his birth certificate said "Adams" and he changed that around the same time.
"It used to be so common, in days gone by, to call yourself whatever you wanted," Pulliam said. "When people came up from the South, sometimes they didn't have any paperwork."
Chicago Sun Times
"She [said] this is a dangerous name," the Chinese immigrant recalled. "She [said] the name translated is not so good, maybe I should change [it]. The word I hear is not so good."
Not so good, indeed.
That clerk, like so many other Americans who have said his name since he came to Chicago in 1999, didn't pronounce his first name the proper way -- "fook."
Instead, she and the others would pronounce his name with an "uh" sound instead of the "oo" -- in other words, like the granddaddy of all swear words.
"And my middle name is terrible, too," he admitted. "That combination becomes very terrible."
Last month in Cook County Circuit Court -- three years after that clerk offered the advice -- Fuk King Kwok changed his name.
He's now Andy Kwok.
"Before I came to United States, no problems," he said, before nervously laughing. "But in translation to English, it sounds like . . . the word . . . you know ... sometimes language is not so convenient and sometimes I'm embarrassed, you know?"
Best part about U.S.? Privacy
The process of legally changing your name is simple enough. Kwok paid the $328 and filled out the one-page form himself.
A judge's signature made it official and ensured the only time Kwok will hear that word is if he's near someone foul-mouthed.
DePaul University language professor Yingcai Xu said problems like Kwok's aren't common -- and even he gave a slight laugh after writing Kwok's name.
"It could very likely cause a problem," he said, adding it's a Cantonese name that "could mean 20 or 30" things in that language -- none of them vulgar.
"This is a very special case," he said, "because there are not many names, even pronounced wrong, that would lead to any bad sense."
Kwok said that in China, his name translates to "a very good meaning" and nothing at all like that embarrassing pronunciation.
He said he's always liked the name Andy -- "Andrew" even better -- and while living in Hong Kong, sometimes went by it.
The 38-year-old mechanical engineer said he came to the United States for work reasons and "to try to experience different culture."
Despite the pronunciation trouble with his name, he said he likes America, especially Chicago, but most of all, he likes his privacy.
Aware of the potential for "jokes on me," he initially declined an interview request, but remained adamant about declining a photo.
"I'm not public at all," he said.
Ms. Porn reverts to maiden name
Monica Pinas and Mary Jo Porn have something in common.
They are among the hundreds who, in the last few years, have filed documents in Cook County Circuit Court to legally change their names.
Monica Pinas became Monica Star -- and the reason the 21-year-old Chicago woman sought the change came when she appeared before a judge and he, like others, incorrectly pronounced her last name as "penis."
"It's embarrassing," she said.
Porn, meanwhile, decided after a divorce that she'd drop her married name and return to her maiden name of Tavormina.
The 50-year-old Orland Park woman's attorney, Stephen Thacker, said he urges clients going through a divorce to hang on to the right to resume a maiden name, so as to save this kind of separate court action.
Every day, a handful of name changes are filed in Cook County. Most are tied to parental issues, while others can be more personal.
April Showers, 49, became Denise Moore last year, while Boladale Dehinde Adeyemi, 18, became Boladale Anthony Olumide Omotayo Omotoyingo. Both declined comment.
Godlordkingchrist
Michael Heard became Godlordkingchrist Heard, but the 58-year-old Chicagoan couldn't be reached to discuss his change.
Last month, Samuel Hicks changed his name to Samuel Adams -- but hardly out of respect for the Revolutionary War hero or because he likes the beer.
The Riverdale man's attorney, Charles Pulliam, said his client has always gone by Samuel Adams and his kids are even Adamses, but his birth certificate, unbeknownst to him, had his father's last name -- Hicks.
His brother, who has always gone by Hicks, found his birth certificate said "Adams" and he changed that around the same time.
"It used to be so common, in days gone by, to call yourself whatever you wanted," Pulliam said. "When people came up from the South, sometimes they didn't have any paperwork."
Chicago Sun Times
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Lies, Lies, Lies
I guess a generation is growing up in this world thinking that it's OK to lie. We used to have people around, role models like Abraham "Honest Abe" Lincoln or George "I Cannot Tell A Lie" Washington. Now lies are everywhere, from Bill "I Did Not Have Sexual Relations With That Woman" Clinton and George "Saddam Has Weapons Of Mass Destruction" Bush to Hwang Woo-Suk and James Frey.
Puts me in mind of a great song by the Violent Femmes:
Violent Femmes' "Lies" as on Add It Up (listen)
Well I'm reading this poem and it
it's so profound and
and I like its rhythm and I
I like its sound
by a very famous poet
no critic can criticise
and then I
I pause a moment and I start to realize it's telling
lies lies lies lies
lies lies lies lies
lies lies lies lies lies lies lies
On the motel TV I dig the evangelist
he'll tell you all about that
well he'll tell you all about this
he's preaching up a storm about the Sea of Galilee
he's mixing up the truth with something funny I start to see
he's telling
lies lies lies lies
lies lies lies lies
lies lies lies lies lies lies lies
Well I never had this problem with nobody in government
I guess I always figured they never meaned what they meant
and God help us not to be so stone surprised
when we wake up in the stars with the skies in our eyes
if we keep telling
lies lies lies lies
lies lies lies lies
lies lies lies lies lies lies lies
Puts me in mind of a great song by the Violent Femmes:
Violent Femmes' "Lies" as on Add It Up (listen)
Well I'm reading this poem and it
it's so profound and
and I like its rhythm and I
I like its sound
by a very famous poet
no critic can criticise
and then I
I pause a moment and I start to realize it's telling
lies lies lies lies
lies lies lies lies
lies lies lies lies lies lies lies
On the motel TV I dig the evangelist
he'll tell you all about that
well he'll tell you all about this
he's preaching up a storm about the Sea of Galilee
he's mixing up the truth with something funny I start to see
he's telling
lies lies lies lies
lies lies lies lies
lies lies lies lies lies lies lies
Well I never had this problem with nobody in government
I guess I always figured they never meaned what they meant
and God help us not to be so stone surprised
when we wake up in the stars with the skies in our eyes
if we keep telling
lies lies lies lies
lies lies lies lies
lies lies lies lies lies lies lies
Monday, January 9, 2006
Microsoft shuts down Chinese blog
By JOE McDONALD - Associated Press Writer
Saturday, January 7, 2006 at 10:06 EST
BEIJING — Microsoft Corp. has shut down the Internet journal of a Chinese blogger that discussed politically sensitive issues, including a recent strike at a Beijing newspaper.
The action came amid criticism by free-speech activists of foreign technology companies that help the communist government enforce censorship or silence dissent in order to be allowed into China's market.
Microsoft's Web log-hosting service shut down the blog at the Chinese government's request, said Brooke Richardson, group product manager with Microsoft's MSN online division at company headquarters in Redmond, Wash.
Although Beijing has supported Internet use for education and business, it fiercely polices content. Filters block objectionable foreign Web sites and regulations ban subversive and pornographic content and require service providers to enforce censorship rules.
"When we operate in markets around the world, we have to ensure that our service complies with global laws as well as local laws and norms," Richardson said.
Richardson said the blog was shut down Dec. 30 or Dec. 31 for violating Microsoft's code of conduct, which states that users must be in compliance with local laws in the country in which the user is based.
The blog, written under the pen name An Ti by Zhao Jing, who works for the Beijing bureau of The New York Times as a research assistant, touched on sensitive topics such as China's relations with Taiwan. Last week, he used the blog to crusade on behalf of a Beijing newspaper.
Reporters at the Beijing News, a daily known for its aggressive reporting, staged an informal one-day strike after their chief editor was removed from his post. The editor's removal and the strike attracted comments on Chinese online bulletin boards, which censors then erased.
Online bulletin boards and Web logs have given millions of Chinese an opportunity to express opinions in a public setting in a system where all media are government-controlled.
But service providers are required to monitor Web logs and bulletin boards, erase banned content and report offenders.
Foreign companies have adopted Chinese standards, saying they must obey local laws.
Microsoft's Web log service bars use of terms such as "democracy" and "human rights." On the China-based portal of search engine Google, a search for material the Dalai Lama, Taiwan and other sensitive topics returns a message saying "site cannot be found."
Last year, Web portal Yahoo! was the target of criticism when it was disclosed that the company provided information that was used to convict a Chinese reporter on charges of revealing state secrets.
Reporter Shi Tao was sentenced to 10 years in prison based on an e-mail that he had sent abroad with details of a memo read out at his newspaper about media controls.
In September, a Chinese journalist was sentenced to seven years in prison on subversion charges after writing articles that appeared on Web sites abroad that are blocked in China.
China also is in the midst of a crackdown on online smut. The police ministry said last month that it had shut down 598 Web sites with sexually explicit content and arrested 25 people.
David Wolf, a Beijing-based technology consultant, said that while Microsoft might be hurt abroad by controversy over its actions in China, Chinese Internet services routinely exercise similar censorship.
"They simply do it as a matter of course," said Wolf, managing director of Wolf Group Asia. "When you're looking around China, there is nothing that Microsoft and Yahoo have to do that is any different from what Chinese companies already are doing."
Saturday, January 7, 2006 at 10:06 EST
BEIJING — Microsoft Corp. has shut down the Internet journal of a Chinese blogger that discussed politically sensitive issues, including a recent strike at a Beijing newspaper.
The action came amid criticism by free-speech activists of foreign technology companies that help the communist government enforce censorship or silence dissent in order to be allowed into China's market.
Microsoft's Web log-hosting service shut down the blog at the Chinese government's request, said Brooke Richardson, group product manager with Microsoft's MSN online division at company headquarters in Redmond, Wash.
Although Beijing has supported Internet use for education and business, it fiercely polices content. Filters block objectionable foreign Web sites and regulations ban subversive and pornographic content and require service providers to enforce censorship rules.
"When we operate in markets around the world, we have to ensure that our service complies with global laws as well as local laws and norms," Richardson said.
Richardson said the blog was shut down Dec. 30 or Dec. 31 for violating Microsoft's code of conduct, which states that users must be in compliance with local laws in the country in which the user is based.
The blog, written under the pen name An Ti by Zhao Jing, who works for the Beijing bureau of The New York Times as a research assistant, touched on sensitive topics such as China's relations with Taiwan. Last week, he used the blog to crusade on behalf of a Beijing newspaper.
Reporters at the Beijing News, a daily known for its aggressive reporting, staged an informal one-day strike after their chief editor was removed from his post. The editor's removal and the strike attracted comments on Chinese online bulletin boards, which censors then erased.
Online bulletin boards and Web logs have given millions of Chinese an opportunity to express opinions in a public setting in a system where all media are government-controlled.
But service providers are required to monitor Web logs and bulletin boards, erase banned content and report offenders.
Foreign companies have adopted Chinese standards, saying they must obey local laws.
Microsoft's Web log service bars use of terms such as "democracy" and "human rights." On the China-based portal of search engine Google, a search for material the Dalai Lama, Taiwan and other sensitive topics returns a message saying "site cannot be found."
Last year, Web portal Yahoo! was the target of criticism when it was disclosed that the company provided information that was used to convict a Chinese reporter on charges of revealing state secrets.
Reporter Shi Tao was sentenced to 10 years in prison based on an e-mail that he had sent abroad with details of a memo read out at his newspaper about media controls.
In September, a Chinese journalist was sentenced to seven years in prison on subversion charges after writing articles that appeared on Web sites abroad that are blocked in China.
China also is in the midst of a crackdown on online smut. The police ministry said last month that it had shut down 598 Web sites with sexually explicit content and arrested 25 people.
David Wolf, a Beijing-based technology consultant, said that while Microsoft might be hurt abroad by controversy over its actions in China, Chinese Internet services routinely exercise similar censorship.
"They simply do it as a matter of course," said Wolf, managing director of Wolf Group Asia. "When you're looking around China, there is nothing that Microsoft and Yahoo have to do that is any different from what Chinese companies already are doing."
Saturday, December 24, 2005
27 Red Elvises Live 8 Moscow
Igor Yuzov of the Red Elvises motions to the crowd at Live8, Moscow, Russia (July 2005)
Friday, December 23, 2005
Junkets and other junk
Reprinted without permission from the Marianas Variety:
ACCORDING to a recent article in Marianas Variety, PSS and the Board of Education are giving two MHS staff an all-expenses paid excursion to the nation’s capital, spending over $8,500 in only two days (not including flight time, layovers, stopovers, etc.).
I’m puzzled how two lower-level employees of the CNMI government are authorized to blow through that much cash on a, here comes a bad word, JUNKET (because that’s what it is, right?) when even our very own governor is cutting back on these types of excursions (even though he did send the AG in his place).
I’m assuming the aforementioned employees are flying first-class, staying at a first class hotel (let’s say, the Watergate) and traveling to and from the convention via chauffeured limo. For $8,500 they better bring back a heck of a lot of souvenirs, seeing as their spending money runs to $1,350 — EACH — per day! Sweet grandmother’s spatula! That’s a lot of “I (heart) DC” T-shirts! And a whole lot of mini-Lincoln Memorials and White House postcards, too!
Here’s a revolutionary idea — BUDGET the trip! Whoa! You mean actually fly coach, stay at a youth hostel, and experience DC’s fine Metro subway system? And while they’re at it forgo the champagne and caviar and actually EAT AT SUBWAY! Or Mickey D’s; you get the point. Basically, they’d only rack up around $4,000. Can’t be done? Or can it? If they really have to, they can sell plate lunches on Beach Road or do car washes, that sort of thing. Like other school groups do to raise funds for off-island trips. And give the money back to PSS to buy books, school supplies, that sort of thing. Maybe remit some payments to their vendors.
Better yet, give me the $8,500. I’ll spend it RIGHT HERE ON SAIPAN. You see, I have not had a full-time job in 6 months (what’s referred to in today’s job market as “long-term unemployment”) and could use that $8,500 (or the balance of $4,500 saved by the counselors flying coach) to pay for rent, my car loan, groceries, gas, utilities etc. I’ll personally account for every penny of it, too. I might eat at Subway myself.
RICK VAUGHN
Finasisu, Saipan
March 18, 2005
I AM writing to respond to the letter by Rick Vaughn last week, which criticized a trip taken by two PSS employees to Washington, D.C. He imagined that they flew first class, stayed at the Watergate Hotel, and rode in a chauffeured limousine to the conference.
In reality, they flew coach on the approximately 12 hour flight from Narita to Detroit and then on to D.C. They stayed at the Days Inn, and they rode the Metro bus and the subway.
I know this because I know the people who took the trip and talked to one of them. I also called PSS central office and had it confirmed by the acting commissioner.
The trip was federally funded, and the CNMI was required to send staff as part of the Bush administration’s No Child Left Behind initiative.
I hope Mr. Vaughn, who seems to have a vivid imagination and a lot of time on his hands, will do his own fact checking before writing any more fanciful letters to the editor.
VICKI KING TAITANO
Capitol Hill, Saipan
March 22, 2005
YOU stated in your letter that I seem to have a fanciful imagination and a lot of time on my hands.
I think my imagination is no more fanciful than those who believe that because something is “federally funded” (and what isn’t, here in the CNMI?) means that it’s free money to do with whatever they want. Many people here on these islands disparage the federal government and hate the idea of paying taxes but that is exactly where all these “federal funds” come from. After my letter appeared in the Variety (and Tribune) last week many people approached me, telling me that they agreed 100 percent.
“Locals,” too, and plenty of ‘em. Now, I may not be “local,” as my friend Jim Davies put it the other day in his letter, but still have mouths to feed and bills to pay. Something in me tells me that these “federal funds” could be better spent instead of being pocketed or fed into poker machines. I know for a fact that the people who write these federal grants (where the funds are requested from the Bush administration in D.C.) do not actually see the fruit of their efforts. And I’m not sure the students at MHS will, either.
If you actually believe what someone told you over the phone from PSS Central Office, then I can believe what they told me through the Variety from the very same office. Maybe I’m not the only one with a fanciful imagination. Or maybe I’m just being a realist. If you believe I have too much time on my hands, help me get a job.
RICK VAUGHN
Finasisu, Saipan
March 24, 2005
ACCORDING to a recent article in Marianas Variety, PSS and the Board of Education are giving two MHS staff an all-expenses paid excursion to the nation’s capital, spending over $8,500 in only two days (not including flight time, layovers, stopovers, etc.).
I’m puzzled how two lower-level employees of the CNMI government are authorized to blow through that much cash on a, here comes a bad word, JUNKET (because that’s what it is, right?) when even our very own governor is cutting back on these types of excursions (even though he did send the AG in his place).
I’m assuming the aforementioned employees are flying first-class, staying at a first class hotel (let’s say, the Watergate) and traveling to and from the convention via chauffeured limo. For $8,500 they better bring back a heck of a lot of souvenirs, seeing as their spending money runs to $1,350 — EACH — per day! Sweet grandmother’s spatula! That’s a lot of “I (heart) DC” T-shirts! And a whole lot of mini-Lincoln Memorials and White House postcards, too!
Here’s a revolutionary idea — BUDGET the trip! Whoa! You mean actually fly coach, stay at a youth hostel, and experience DC’s fine Metro subway system? And while they’re at it forgo the champagne and caviar and actually EAT AT SUBWAY! Or Mickey D’s; you get the point. Basically, they’d only rack up around $4,000. Can’t be done? Or can it? If they really have to, they can sell plate lunches on Beach Road or do car washes, that sort of thing. Like other school groups do to raise funds for off-island trips. And give the money back to PSS to buy books, school supplies, that sort of thing. Maybe remit some payments to their vendors.
Better yet, give me the $8,500. I’ll spend it RIGHT HERE ON SAIPAN. You see, I have not had a full-time job in 6 months (what’s referred to in today’s job market as “long-term unemployment”) and could use that $8,500 (or the balance of $4,500 saved by the counselors flying coach) to pay for rent, my car loan, groceries, gas, utilities etc. I’ll personally account for every penny of it, too. I might eat at Subway myself.
RICK VAUGHN
Finasisu, Saipan
March 18, 2005
I AM writing to respond to the letter by Rick Vaughn last week, which criticized a trip taken by two PSS employees to Washington, D.C. He imagined that they flew first class, stayed at the Watergate Hotel, and rode in a chauffeured limousine to the conference.
In reality, they flew coach on the approximately 12 hour flight from Narita to Detroit and then on to D.C. They stayed at the Days Inn, and they rode the Metro bus and the subway.
I know this because I know the people who took the trip and talked to one of them. I also called PSS central office and had it confirmed by the acting commissioner.
The trip was federally funded, and the CNMI was required to send staff as part of the Bush administration’s No Child Left Behind initiative.
I hope Mr. Vaughn, who seems to have a vivid imagination and a lot of time on his hands, will do his own fact checking before writing any more fanciful letters to the editor.
VICKI KING TAITANO
Capitol Hill, Saipan
March 22, 2005
YOU stated in your letter that I seem to have a fanciful imagination and a lot of time on my hands.
I think my imagination is no more fanciful than those who believe that because something is “federally funded” (and what isn’t, here in the CNMI?) means that it’s free money to do with whatever they want. Many people here on these islands disparage the federal government and hate the idea of paying taxes but that is exactly where all these “federal funds” come from. After my letter appeared in the Variety (and Tribune) last week many people approached me, telling me that they agreed 100 percent.
“Locals,” too, and plenty of ‘em. Now, I may not be “local,” as my friend Jim Davies put it the other day in his letter, but still have mouths to feed and bills to pay. Something in me tells me that these “federal funds” could be better spent instead of being pocketed or fed into poker machines. I know for a fact that the people who write these federal grants (where the funds are requested from the Bush administration in D.C.) do not actually see the fruit of their efforts. And I’m not sure the students at MHS will, either.
If you actually believe what someone told you over the phone from PSS Central Office, then I can believe what they told me through the Variety from the very same office. Maybe I’m not the only one with a fanciful imagination. Or maybe I’m just being a realist. If you believe I have too much time on my hands, help me get a job.
RICK VAUGHN
Finasisu, Saipan
March 24, 2005
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