Pat Roberts, douchebag of the month
The month of March has only just begun, but we already have a winner. In just 24 hours, Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts has:
1. Voiced his intent to shut down its investigation into whether top administration officials distorted intelligence evidence to build the case for war on Iraq. (He heads the investigating committee)
2. Declared emphatically that there is no need to investigate the CIA’s rendition program. You know, the government endorsed program where we send prisoners oversees to be beaten and threatened with ass rape by German Shephards.
Here’s Pat’s number. Give him a call. He’d love to hear from you:
202-224-4774
See the respective articles below.

FROM LA TIMES
No Need for CIA Abuse Probe, Republican Says
The Senate intelligence chairman dismisses calls to examine the agency’s handling of detainees. But Democrats are seeking a vote on issue.
WASHINGTON — Declaring that the CIA is “not torturing detainees,” the Republican chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Thursday that he saw no reason for the panel to investigate allegations that the agency abused prisoners or transferred them to countries that engage in torture.
But Democrats moved to force a vote within the committee next week on whether to launch a formal inquiry on the CIA’s role in the prison abuse scandal.

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From Disinfo.com:
This Sunday, March 13th, ABC will air an episode of David E. Kelley’s top rated drama, “Boston Legal,” that features “Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism.” The real story here is that the show never mentions Fox News!
The gist of the story is that Chi McBride, the principal from Kelley’s previous hit show “Boston Public,” uses the “Fox Blocker,” a device sold on the Internet, to prevent Fox News Channel from being shown on all the televisions at his school. He claims it promotes hate speech and makes it harder to run the school. The episode revolves around free speech issues and uses actual footage from “Outfoxed” in several scenes.

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(Subpop Records)
Review by Monte Holman
Typically the word prolific translates to mostly crap. Crap lacking staying power. Being prolific is evidence of a wonderfully active imagination, sure, but it also improves the chance that the material will be derivative of itself and boring. Lucky for us, despite Sam Beam’s creative fecundity, Iron and Wine has yet to produce an insignificant record.
Hailing from Miami, Florida, Beam is an uncharacteristic product of the beach city’s Big Willie style. Somehow the song of the south leaked out of Alabama, through the Redneck Riviera of western Florida, and down the east coast. Who knew the community that brought us hot Latin nights filled with shiny shirted cokeheads could also house folks sporting beards, eating boiled peanuts, and sipping cans of Dixie?
Woman King, Beam’s fourth record (two LPs, two EPs) in two-and-a-half years, offers six beautiful tracks and once again soothes us with acoustic guitars, banjos, hushed falsettos and tender harmonies. In this EP, Beam continues to explore polished production. The album, trading four-track basement recording for the big time, was recorded at Engine Studios in Chicago by Brian Deck and includes more instrumentation than past records. Slightly off-key pianos, violins, percussion (including tasteful bongos, two words I never thought I’d see together).

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I usually rely on The Atlantic Monthly (alongside any New Yorker issue featuring Sy Hersh) for most of my long-form news. This month, The Atlantic Monthly featured an article discussing political talk radio in America written by David Foster Wallace. One would think a respectable political rag like The Atlantic Monthly would have better judgment than to work with this poster child for pretension, but hey, the magazine biz is tough these days I guess. They gambled instead to capitalize on his gimmickry.
Evidently, in order to accommodate his “writing style,” the layout department at The Atlantic Monthly decided to place his footnotes in easy-to-read color-coded boxes. The end result is the King of Self-Indulgence’s pinnacle achievement. The only thing not pretentious about the article is its ironically succinct title: “Host.”
The 23 page article includes:

Los Angeles is definitely starting to become the worldwide capital of cool. The band that exemplifies the new spirit more than any other is The Moving Units. They play music that is informed by post-punk and dance music. They are on the verge of making it big. In the past few years they have become one of my favorite bands. Things did not come easy for them. They started almost three years ago, and have been gigging ever since. Their reputation is largely based on their exciting live shows and great songs. Songs like “Emancipation” and “Going For Adds” are some of the most rocking songs this year.
The Moving Units were all former members of the hardcore band Festival of Dead Deer. At the end of 2001, they began writing and gigging as The Moving Units supporting The Rapture. They signed to label Three One G and issued an EP in fall 2002. Initially, they were seen as LA’s answer to The Rapture, but now, they have found their own sound and a large fanbase. They subsequently they moved to Palm Pictures, who reissued the Moving Units EP in early 2003. In fall 2004, the band’s full-length debut Dangerous Dreams was finally released. I saw them play in LA recently with The Secret Machines. I spoke to Chris Hathwell right before the show. The Moving Units are Blake Miller (vocals/guitar), Johan Bogeli (bass), and Chris Hathwell (drums).
AL: Are you all from Los Angeles?
Chris: No. The singer is from Detroit.
AL: How did you all meet?
Chris: From just hanging out a lot in the same scene. We were all DJing and partying together in same places.
AL: People seem to know about The Moving Units for a while now.
Chris: We have been touring for a long time. It’s all been word of mouth.
AL: People used to compare you to The Rapture. What did you think of that?

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Stop by and check out our updated RESTAURANT GUIDE. Now with more listings, reviews, and an all new user review functionality. As per countless requests, you can now search by cuisine as well.
Write us at mail@freewilliamsburgDOTCOM if you want to be included or need updates to your establishment.
In case you missed our earlier post, the BAR SECTION has undergone a makeover as well.

One MP3 for each band performing:
Download away.

The new full-length by American electronic music
artist GREG DAVIS contains six beautiful minimal drone soundtracks
perfect for lucid daydreaming or semi-conscious sleepwalks. Somnia,
DAVIS’ debut for Kranky, is a departure
from his more lyrical, guitar-based indie-tronica of years
past but continues to showcase his soft touch and
overall appreciation for ambient music.

The opening track, “Archer,” sets the tone in a
dramatic way and grabs the listener’s attention with
its shimmering layers of celestial tones that are at
once beautiful and arresting. The track’s slightly
tense mood eventually gives way to the sheer
loveliness of “Clouds As Edges” and “Diaphanous,”
which in turn slips into the delightfully atmospheric “Campestral” — a calming track that clears the listener’s mind of all thought.

DAVIS has found a way of training ears and glazing
eyes on Somnia. The sounds he creates emulate church
organ or harmonium drones, but according to the liner
notes, DAVIS prefers to utilize more unconventional instrumentation — such as a punch card music box, toy harmonica, toy piano, and
computer. Indeed, some of the drones sound slightly processed and
contain the occasional digital ripple or bubble, but the overall
effect is quite organic.

Unlike some practitioners of hypnotic minimalism,
DAVIS seems to know the limits of each of his
compositions, and tailors their length accordingly.
Although, as much as I appreciate his restraint, I
know I personally could trance out to some of the
tracks — “Campestral” in particular — all day long.

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Washington D.C.’s THE FACTORY INCIDENT, which includes
John (Stabb) Schroeder of Government Issue fame on
vocals, wisely chose the fabled Inner Ear Studios and ex-Jawbox front
man and producer J. Robbins as the creative combination in which to
craft its first full-length recording.

A year in the making, Redtape — released on the
Postfact label — reveals
a shimmering, atmospheric pop sound more akin to early
80s new wave or early 90s shoegaze than the
aggro-political punk of the band’s benefactors.

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East River Bar
(photo: Cary Conover)
OK OK. Our bar listings have been in drastic need of revamping. We’d failed to include such gems as East River Bar and Moto and some of the reviews weren’t up to date.
After much hard labor, we are proud to now have the most thorough guide once again. Now you can even add your own bar review.
Check it out and be sure to let us know what we missed.
THE WILLIAMSBURG BROOKLYN BAR GUIDE

President Bush chooses Undersecretary of State John R. Bolton to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations:

At a 1994 panel discussion sponsored by the World Federalist Association, Bolton claimed, “There’s no such thing as the United Nations,” saying that ”If the U.N. secretary building in New York lost 10 stories, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.

Read more on Catch.com