from Editor and Publisher:

Trio of Papers Pull Today's 'Boondocks' Referring to Bush and Drugs

NEW YORK - At least three of the approximately 300 "Boondocks" clients dropped today's strip mentioning President Bush's alleged former drug use.

Aaron McGruder's comic showed one character saying: "Bush got recorded admitting that he smoked weed." Another character replies: "Maybe he smoked it to take the edge off the coke."

According to Universal Press Syndicate, newspapers pulling today's strip included The Detroit News and the Star Tribune in Minneapolis. The Poynter Institute's Romenesko site reported that the Chicago Tribune also dropped today's "Boondocks," with the paper saying the comic "presents inaccurate information as fact."

Universal said the Star Tribune also plans to drop tomorrow's "Boondocks," which again refers to Bush's alleged former drug use.

The syndicate further noted that The Miami Herald plans to pull "The Boondocks" when McGruder addresses a different topic this Friday and Saturday; Universal declined to say what that topic will be.

"We respect the rights of editors to substitute strips or not run them if they feel a comic is inappropriate," said Kathie Kerr, director of communications at Universal.

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 05:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

We can't decide who we dislike more, rightwing anorexic douchebag Ann Coulter or the geriatric anti-socialite Liz Smith, so we'll just call it a draw.

Hats off to the usually apolitical Gawker for refreshing Liz Smith's botox-infected memory on Ann Coulter.

Liz Smith in today's NYPost:
"Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn," wrote Gore Vidal. Well, in that case, I suppose we can say the conservative writer Ann Coulter has lots of style."

And Ann Coulter in 2001:
"We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. We weren't punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities; we killed civilians. That's war. And this is war."

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Our favorite blog, catch.com is back. Go say hello:

We missed you guys!

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 09:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We're looking for an Williamsburg-based intern (or two) with experience in writing about food and/or bars. If this is you and you have some clips, write us here.

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 05:10 PM | Permalink

We don't know if this is terrifying or really amusing.
Click on image to see Tony's collections.

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 05:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Animal Collective at Todd P's club Llano Estacado

A lot of people have been asking us about Todd P's new space The Llano Estacado by the river in Williamsburg (NE Corner of Metropolitan & River St). We finally had a chance to investigate last night at the sold out Animal Collective show (check them out tonight at The Bowery Ballroom). It's a huge windowless 2-level warehouse space with its main stage in the basement. Piss before you arrive, there's a scary makeshift toilet behind a black plastic curtain. The upstairs has a smaller stage and there was some local art hanging. The club is impressively huge and refreshingly lo-fi. Definitely a DIY experiment. There were extension cords hanging from the ceiling. The sound was great even though we felt like we were in some weird post apocalyptic dungeon. Click here to go to promoter and owner Todd P's website.

Here's Todd's explanation of the name:
"The Llano Estacado is pronounced law-no ez-tuh-caw-doh, it's named after a region of West Texas, where the desert meets the Great Plains, and also a place where they willfully mispronounce Spanish words - hence the "L" sound at the beginning rather than a "Y" sound. The name was given by the conquistador Coronado, it translates as "the staked plain," referring (by legend) to the fact that the Spanish drove stakes into the ground to mark where they were, for lack of any natural landmarks."

Click here for upcoming shows and ticket info

more photos and a review of the show after the jump....

the main room downstairs

upstairs stage

we don't know if we were happy to see people smoking or annoyed

upstairs gallery

Opening act, the Icelandic Nix Noltes

animal collective

one of the 5 million hipsters in attendence

Animal Collective - Llano Estacado, 2.25.05
Review by Jeff Campbell

The opening band, Storsveit Nix Noltes, was pretty cool. They were from Iceland. There were like 9 people in the group (violin, cello, bass, trumpet, accordian, two or three guitars, and drums). To me, they sounded like traditional Hungarian folk music. It kind of reminded me of the Secret Chiefs 3's middle-eastern influenced melodies, but Nix Noltes seemed totally genuine and never really broke away from the traditional rhythms. Good stuff.

Animal Collective were a little disappointing, I thought. They were
really good, but I was hoping they would blow my mind or something.
Avey Tare had a cool delay effect on his voice, but it was like that
for their entire set. Same with the guitars...too spacey for my taste. I really enjoy the textures and harmonies on their records but there wasn't much of that last night. They were warmly received though... and it was a big crowd.

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is really disturbing. Click on the picture to read the full story. (Thanks shlonkombakazay)

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

photos by Jeff Campbell

The Animal Collective discuss Vashti Bunyan, drugs, Black Dice, George Bush, and their upcoming "love" record
[Don't miss them live in NY Feb. 24,25]

Following the release of their hugely popular Sung Tongs in 2004, The Animal Collective have been described in countless ways. Hallucinogenic campfire music. Cut-and-paste pop. Avante Folk. And don't forget the obligatory Brian Wilson comparisons. Animal Collective are a difficult band to categorize. Their sound is constantly evolving. Their sound is consistently unique.

The foursome met in Baltimore, where they attended high school together and have been good friends ever since. Like the Elephant Six collective, they record in various incarnations and sometimes even release solo records under the Animal Collective umbrella. The communal approach they take to their music seems in harmony with their humble personalities and their otherworldly aesthetic.

Adding to their mystique, they often wear animal masks on stage, but "only when [they] feel like it" to avoid being reduced to a gimmick.

Most of the members of the Animal Collective have aliases. David Portner goes by Avey Tare. Noah Lennox is Panda Bear. Brian Weitz is Geologist. And Conrad Deaken simply goes by Deaken. Though Noah is often credited as the primary songwriter (his solo release as Panda Bear last year was warmly received by critics) they insist the Collective has no leader. They have their own label, Paw Tracks, though their most recent releases have been with Fatcat.

We met with Avey Tare (above left) and Geologist (above right) at Union Square on an unseasonably warm day in early February. Avey lives in Brooklyn and went to NYU. Geologist was visiting from D.C. He received his undergrad at Columbia.

Avey Tare was wearing a shark tooth necklace. He had mysterious scratches on his hand which had to be the work of a cat or perhaps some more mysterious creature conjured from the netherworlds of their music. They were friendly and articulate, if somewhat aloof, and their comfort with one another made it obvious that they were old and dear friends.

Don't miss their shows this week:

February 24th - SOLD OUT
Storsveit Nix Noltes
Animal Collective
@ THE LLANO ESTACADO
NE Corner of Metropolitan Ave and River St. (in Williamsburg, Brooklyn) 8pm

February 25th
Jah Division
Storsveit Nix Noltes
Animal Collective
Bowery Ballroom (Manhattan) 8pm

***********************************************

People always describe your sound as being psychedelic. Are drugs a part of your music?

AVEY TARE: We record sober, mostly. It's important for us to get things to sound exactly the way we want and recording comes down to really concentrating on what we're doing.
GEOLOGIST: It's work.

How long has the band been playing together as The Animal Collective?

AVEY TARE: Well, as the Animal Collective we've been playing for about three or four years. We used to just call ourselves by our individual aliases, but as we began to play together more on the records it became easier to just go by The Animal Collective.

How did you come up with all of your aliases?



AVEY TARE: Mine is just Davey without the D. And then "Tare" is, like, tearing the name apart, only with a different spelling. A lot of people think it has something to do with "avatar" but I didn't even know what that word meant when I came up with Avey Tare. Noah's always used Panda Bear.... I don't know why....
GEOLOGIST: We all used to make 4 track tapes and the first tape he made he drew a panda bear on the cover.

How about Geologist?

GEOLOGIST: I studied science in college. Somebody thought I studied Geology even though I never did. Anyway it just kind of stuck after that.

Do you have any plans to work with Black Dice again?

AVEY TARE: We haven't talked about anything. We're both sort of on our own schedules.

Are you tight with them?

AVEY TARE: Yeah.
GEOLOGIST: Yeah, we're all really good friends.
AVEY TARE: I used to work with this guy who was gonna put out one of their records and he knew I recorded music. He asked me to record a bunch of their songs. It's called Cold Hands. After that, we started hanging out a lot. They were the first people in New York we felt like we were on the same wavelength with. It was cool just to hang out with them. I've lived with Eric [Copeland of Black Dice] for four years now.

What do your live shows involve? I've heard there's a lot of improv and you play one continuous song.

GEOLOGIST: It's not improv.
AVEY TARE: I think it comes off sounding like improv. We bleed the edges together. It's hard to tell where one song ends and another begins.

How have your live shows been received? I've read there were some conflicts with unreceptive crowds at some of your early shows.

AVEY TARE: Yeah, on one of our first tours, we were actually with Black Dice and there were a bunch of kids [in the audience] who thought they were 1977 Sex Pistols punks. I guess they were looking for a band that had more melodies and vocals. Whereas our focus was more about sounds, space, and environments.
GEOLOGIST: We cleared the room a bunch of times. The second band wouldn't have anyone there watching them.
AVEY TARE: But we play for ourselves when it comes down to it.

Did anyone ever get hostile?

AVEY TARE: We've had stuff thrown at us and we've heard comments like "who the fuck do they think they are, what is this?" But we came to terms with the fact early on that we may not be everyone's favorite band.

But you were a lot of people's favorite band after releasing Sung Tongs. Did the attention surprise you?

AVEY TARE: I think it's always a surprise because every record we do is different from the last one.

Do you enjoy touring?

We're all just the type of people who don't like that lifestyle. Being at home is really important to us. Noah and I toured in 2003 for like three months straight. By the end, we had just had it with each other. The tours we do now are shorter. We won't do a tour that's more than two weeks.

Do you have other jobs?

AVEY TARE: I don't
GEOLOGIST: I'm doing other stuff right now. We could probably afford to live off the band now, but poorly.

Will all four members of the Collective be on the next release?

GEOLOGIST: Yeah. But I'm not on the EP [out on Fat Cat - May 31]. They did it in Europe and I had to work.
AVEY TARE: We met this folk singer, well she's not really a folk singer, she's more of a cult psychedelic singer, Vashti Bunyan. She put out this record that's been one of my favorites for like six years now ever since it got reissued. And we happened to go on tour with this guy who had played with her before. So when we were in Scotland he was like do you want to go out to eat an meet her and we were totally psyched. We started a small friendship and asked her if she wanted to record some songs with us. We had some songs left over from Sung Tongs that we didn't get to record and thought they'd be great with her singing. Fat Cat got some studio time for us and we went in for a weekend and recorded three songs with her. The EP will be similar to Sung Tongs.
GEOLOGIST: It's mellower
AVEY TARE: Yeah, its mellower. And its got Vashti on the vocals.

Was Vashti really into it?

AVEY TARE: She's really shy as a singer so we had to push her. We just kept telling her that her voice is really amazing.

Does the Collective still hang out together or do you see too much of each other professionally?

GEOLOGIST: We're all close friends
AVEY TARE: Yeah, we try not to worry about the band so much and to just be friends.

Are you nervous about your upcoming releases given the amazing press you got on Sung Tongs? Your fans definitely have high expectations.

AVEY TARE: From the bands we like, we always expect something different with each new release. We would always want to do the same and just hope our fans will follow us. It's great that Sung Tongs got us some new fans because now we can bring those people with us and maybe they'll be more open too stuff they wouldn't have normally listened to.
GEOLOGIST: Yeah, and we normally do stuff backwards. We play songs live for a long time and then we release them. As opposed to bands who record a record and then go on tour to support it. Sung Tongs brought out a lot of new fans and some of them were surprised when they didn't see us playing with acoustic guitars on stage, but they were still stoked. Some people will be turned off by the new record if it doesn't sound like Sung Tongs but what can you do? Some people will always be turned off, no matter what you do.

So will you next full length release from The Animal Collective be something totally different?

GEOLOGIST: Yeah, it's gonna be the stuff we're playing live now. It's going to be mostly electric.
AVEY TARE: It's still song and melody oriented but maybe a bit more textured. It's our love record. It's all love songs.

So you're doing some slow jams?

AVEY TARE: Yeah, lots of slow jams. It will be the make-out record of the year.

Here's a question we always ask. What was your first concert?

AVEY TARE: Jackson Five
GEOLOGIST: Beach Boys

Would you ever let your music be played on the O.C. or in a Volkswagen commercial?

GEOLOGIST: I'm not sure about the O.C. My girlfriend watches that but I think its pretty bad.

So you'd be reluctant?

GEOLOGIST: I think I would be.
AVEY TARE: I don't even know the show you're talking about....

It's like 90210 for the next generation

AVEY TARE: ...but I suppose if someone approached us it would come down to what the company was about. The best thing about those opportunities, besides the money which I don't think it would be about for us, is the opportunity for people who wouldn't normally hear your music to be exposed to it.

Is there any public figure you have a lot of respect for?

AVEY TARE: Tom Cruise does everything right. (laughter)

On the flip, is there anyone you want to give a big fuck you to?

AVEY TARE: George Bush
GEOLOGIST: Yeah

I think we're unanimous there. Would The Collective ever do a political record?

GEOLOGIST: No. Some of us are political and others aren't. There's enough bands already doing political records. We got asked to do a show in support of John Kerry but couldn't do it. It was out in LA.
AVEY TARE: If it was a show to help the environment, we'd get involved. I guess that's our biggest issue.
GEOLOGIST: Definitely

So I can't resist a Barbara Walters-esque question. If you could be any animal what would it be?

AVEY TARE: Crocodile for sure.
GEOLOGIST: Shark, I guess. Or maybe something more playful and smart.

So why did you decide to name yourselves the Animal Collective anyway?

AVEY TARE: We've been asking ourselves that all along. It was the only name that encompassed what we wanted to do. And we used to run our own label called Animal. I don't know why, the name just seemed to fit.

--Interview by Robert Lanham

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 07:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)

Korn guitarist finds God, leaves band

NEW YORK (Billboard) -- Korn guitarist Brian "Head" Welch has parted ways with the hard rock act, citing a recent religious awakening.

Welch broke the news Sunday on Bakersfield, California, station KRAB-FM.

"I had it in my heart to come here and explain to you," Welch said. "I'm good friends with Korn. I love those guys, and they love me, and they're very happy for me."

Addressing the aggressive tone of the music he made with Korn, Welch said, "Anger is a good thing, and if kids want to listen to Korn, good, but there's happiness after the anger. I'm going to show it through my actions how much I love my fans."

Welch added that he would be appearing at a local church on February 27, during which time he would "speak (about) how I got to this place in my life, and I'll answer all your questions."

On its official Web site (http://www.korn.com), Korn's remaining members said they respect Welch's wishes and hope "he finds the happiness he is searching for." The group is in the studio working on a new album, due in September, which will be its first since fulfilling its contract with Epic last year.

For now, no replacement for Welch has been named, nor has a new label home for the band.

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)

The New Yorker recently ran a very important, profoundly insightful, and achingly disturbing story on America's covert torture outsourcing program. It's long, like all of the New Yorker's stories, but worth reading every word. It's the most important story written by an American magazine since Seymour Hersch revealed the Abu Ghraib scandal. In case you missed it, Truthout has the full printable version, here:

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/020905M.shtml

This one's too important to miss.

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 10:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We don't know if this guy actually plans on eating Toby, his cute little bunny, but what a great idea.

click her to visit SaveToby.com and read the whole story

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 02:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

Check it out. This proves to be a great show:

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 01:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From The Guardian:
A selection of the best-remembered quotes from the master of the one-liner

Hunter S Thompson on work ...

"Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism."

"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side."

"Publishers are notoriously slothful about numbers, unless they're attached to dollar signs - unlike journalists, quarterbacks, and felony criminal defendants who tend to be keenly aware of numbers at all times."

"I have no taste for either poverty or honest labour, so writing is the only recourse left for me."

"I've always considered writing the most hateful kind of work. I suspect it's a bit like fucking, which is only fun for amateurs. Old whores don't do much giggling."

"I have a theory that the truth is never told during the nine-to-five hours."

keep reading

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 10:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hunter S. Thompson commits suicide:

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~2723492,00.html

RIP Hunter. You are an inspiration.

WRITE YOUR OWN EULOGY IN COMMENTS

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 12:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (18)

by Alexander Lauence
Bands are getting younger and younger these days. Smoosh are two sisters from Seattle who are ten and twelve years old. Their names are Asya and Chloe. With their combined ages, they are still younger than Joanna Newsom. Asya sings and plays keyboards. Chloe plays drums. ROCKRGRL describes them this way: "Imagine a stripped-down version of the first side of Pet Sounds (before Brian Wilson gets cynical) and you have some clue to Smoosh's sound. Musically they more than hold their own." Their effortless talent and imagination is astounding. This is a band that relies on instinct and plays music because it is fun. Needless to say, they're unaffected by the demands of indie cool.

Thus far, Smoosh has played shows with Pearl Jam, Cat Power, Death Cab For Cutie, Sleater-Kinney and Rilo Kiley.

Smoosh started about four years ago, when Chloe's drum teacher, Jason McGerr, the drummer of Death Cab for Cutie, encouraged her to begin playing more seriously. Her sister just happened to have some songs and energy. Years later their demo got around and was played on the radio station KEXP. Soon they were signed to record label Pattern 25. Their album came out in September 2004. I spoke to them on the phone during a lull before touring and recording their second album. I had to call them at 4pm because they didn't get home from school before then.

Their album, She Like Electric is out now. There have been rave reviews in Blender, Tigerbeat, and Alt Press. Their album was The Village Voice's #1 most overlooked record of 2004. Look for the band on the cover of magazines and TV this Spring. They are going to be on CNN with Wolf Blitzer very soon. I spoke to Asya and Chloe right before their big tour with Mates of State and high profile gig at Noise Pop 2005, in San Francisco.

******************************

AL: Hello.

Asya: Hello.

AL: I am Alexander. Who's this?

Asya: Asya.

AL: I am calling from Los Angeles.

Asya: Alright. Cool.

AL: I bought your CD a few weeks ago, loved it, and that's why I am calling you.

Asya: Thanks.

AL: How long have you been playing together?

Asya: Probably about four years. I have been writing songs all my life. I started when I was about five years old. Chloe got her drum set when she was six. She started to get better and she needed to play with another person. So that was the earliest time we started playing together.

AL: Did you take piano lessons before that?

Asya: No. I never took any piano lessons. I learned to play on my own. But after a while I tried to learn how to read music so I could take lessons. But I quit taking lessons with a teacher after a month each time because it wasn't very fun.

AL: You write all the songs in Smoosh?

Asya: I write all the lyrics and piano parts. After I do that Chloe kind of makes up her piano parts. We both contribute to every song.

AL: What are your songs about?

Asya: I never write songs about a person that I know. That has never happened. I just write about things that are around me. I write about going out and not being afraid to try stuff. That is what the song "Rad" is about. Some songs are sort of sad, like "About A Picture."

AL: Is that just because it's a ballad and it sounds more serious?

Asya: Yeah.

AL: What other bands have you played with?

Asya: Let's see. We have played Pearl Jam, Death Cab For Cutie, and Sleater-Kinney.

AL: I heard that Cat Power was dancing around onstage and lip-synching one of your songs.

Asya: That was last year. She was dancing around to "Rad."

AL: Did you see it?

Asya: No I heard about though.

AL: Did you meet Chan Marshall?

Asya: Yeah. She was pretty cool. She was really nice. I like her.

AL: Where do you live?

Asya: We live in Seattle by the University.

AL: Is there some club that you play a lot?

Asya: We like to play at the Showbox. That is our favorite place to play.

AL: At some clubs, you have to be 21 to get in.

Asya: Yeah. We have played at some bars. We have also played at some all ages clubs. When we play at the adult clubs we have to stay backstage the whole time while the other bands play. At all ages gigs sometimes we stay around a little bit and watch the other bands. We don't stay up too late.

AL: Do you know the Trachtenburg Family? There is a girl in the band and I think she is nine or ten years old now.

Asya: Yeah. We know her. She probably wouldn't remember me. She used to go to the same drum school in Seattle as us.

AL: What do you think of their record?

Asya: They are pretty cool. It's a different style of music. It's not what I would listen to.

AL: There are not a lot of people who have done a record who are your age. Bjork did a folk record in Iceland when she was ten. There is the girl in the Trachtenburg Family. Do you know of other bands?

Asya: Yeah. There is a band called The Black Peppercorns. They are from Oregon. There is a high school band called Capitol Basement.

AL: So you are in the Seventh Grade and Chloe is in Fifth Grade. What do people you go to school with think of the band Smoosh?

Asya: Some people think it is really cool. My friends ask me about it all the time. I try to not talk about it a lot or brag. Some people are not interested and act like they don't care. Some people don't like the band.

AL: They are jealous?

Asya: Yeah. I don't think about it too much.

AL: Do you plan on doing a lot of records?

Asya: Yeah. I want to.

AL: Some people in Junior High might think that since Smoosh already has a CD out, they better start hurrying up and get their own band together.

Asya: Yeah. It's possible.

AL: You have two other younger sisters?

Asya: I have three sisters including Chloe. One is a small baby. The other one plays bass guitar. Her name is Maya.

AL: Does she want to be in the band?

Asya: I think that she wants to be in a band. Maya doesn't always play the bass guitar. She does other things.

AL: You don't write love songs? What's up with that?

Asya: I don't feel comfortable writing about that. Some people might get the wrong idea. We are little kids. If I wrote a song about that people would be asking about it.

AL: You are playing a bunch of West Coast shows with Mates of State. Is this the first tour you done?

Asya: It will be the first real tour. We did play two shows with Rilo Kiley. That wasn't a tour, but that was the end of a longer tour fro them.

AL: Have you played anywhere else besides Seattle?

Asya: We have played in New York and in Los Angeles.

AL: Okay. So I have a few questions for Chloe.

(hands phone to Chloe)

Chloe: Hello.

AL: I was reading something about Smoosh in an article. It said that you had a Hilary Duff poster on the wall or something like that. So who do you like better: Hilary Duff or Lindsay Lohan?

Chloe: I am not sure. They are kind of the same. If I had to choose I would probably pick Lindsay.

AL: What do you think of their music?

Chloe: I have never heard Lindsay's music before.

AL: What bands do you like?

Chloe: I like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Death Cab For Cutie, Interpol, Smashing Pumpkins, and Arcade Fire. Bands like that.

AL: Do you like Hip Hop Because some of your songs like "Rad" and "Bottlenose" seem like they are Hip Hop inspired.

Chloe: I like all types of music except country.

AL: Why is the song called "Pygmy Motorcycle?"

Chloe: The title has nothing to do with the song. Asya was thinking about a song name after we recorded it. In school they were learning about animals that week. So when the recording guy, Jason, asked what the title of the song was, she said "Pygmy Marmoset." And Jason said "Pygmy Motorcycle? Okay."

AL: Why is this song called "La Pump?"

Chloe: We have a CD by this band called La Pump Group. They are funny. There's a guy with bushy purple hair and this girl. We were so into it that we decided to call our song "La Pump."

AL: What songs do you play live?

Chloe: We play "Massive Cure," "Pygmy Motorcycle," "Make It Through," "About The Picture," "La Pump." We have a new song we call "Rock Song." We don't have a real title for it yet. Our Dad calls it "Rock Song." He wrote it down. Asya said just call it that so we can remember it.

AL: What do you think of Meg White of The White Stripes? Do you like her drumming?

Chloe: Yeah. I like a lot of drummers. My favorite girl drummer would be Janet Weiss from Sleater-Kinney. I like Jason from Death Cab For Cutie. I like the drummer in the Presidents of the United States.

AL: What do you think of George Bush, the real president now?

Chloe: I don't like to be mean but I think that he has some really strange thoughts that are not really good.

AL: What is your favorite part of being in a band?

Chloe: I don't think it's amazing. I think it's normal. It's just want we do. I don't think it's a big deal that we are kids and there are adults playing. All that matters is that you are playing music. It doesn't matter how old you are.

AL: Well, people might go see Death Cab For Cutie or Mates of State, and they don't know Smoosh is opening for that band. They see you and wonder about these two girls who are ten and twelve. They might think it's a curiosity.

Chloe: I don't like it when people are walking around at a show. They see us playing and go "Those are kids!?"

AL: I was listening to a bunch of CDs last night. These are records with no musical talent and the people can't even sing. Smoosh is a lot better than these people who are twice your age. (laughs)

Chloe: Thanks.

AL: So it should matter what age you are. It's all about present the music and having fun.

Chloe: Yeah. If you are not having fun doing music, you shouldn't do it. You shouldn't do it for money either.

AL: How many records do you think you will do?

Chloe: We are getting ready to do our second one. Well, I don't know. I hope that people like our newer songs. There are a lot of bands whose first album is good and they are really popular and then they are not popular anymore.

AL: What do you think you will be doing in twenty years? Do you think that you will still be doing music?

Chloe: I am not sure. I'll be kind of old. I am not sure if our music will be popular anymore.

AL: Do you think about the future?

Chloe: I do. I will still be in a band in ten years. In twenty years I will just be staying around.

AL: You'll be old. Have you traveled a lot?

Chloe: Yeah. We have been around the United States. Our Mom is Swedish. We go to Sweden every year. We have a lot of fun there. I like it but the ants are big and they will sting you.

AL: Do you like any Swedish bands?

Chloe: I like Abba.

AL: We have been talking a while. That is pretty much all the question I have.

Chloe: Cool.

AL: Thanks for talking with me.

Chloe: Bye.

-----SMOOSH TOUR 2005-------
w/mates of state
2-19 - Los Angeles, CA - The Knitting Factory
2-20 - Long Beach, CA - Koo's
2-23 - San Francisco, CA - Slim's
2-25 - Portland, OR - Meow Meow
2-26 - Seattle, WA - Chop Suey

Downloadable Smoosh photos and mp3s
Live video up at http://pattern25.com
Noise Pop: www.noisepop.com

--Alexander Laurence

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 03:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (24)

From Reuters:
Nudists dine in New York style
By Claudia Parsons

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The diners arrived at a nice Manhattan restaurant on a cold February night and stripped off coats, hats, gloves and scarves. They didn't stop there.

Skirts, shirts, pants, underwear and stockings all ended up stashed in plastic bags by the bar as the patrons got naked for the monthly "Clothing Optional Dinner."

"It's exciting to be in a restaurant nude," said George Keyes, 65, a retired junior high school English teacher.

Nude yes, but not unadorned.

Keyes, a lifelong nudist, wore a necklace, earrings and a black leather "genital bracelet" with red studs. And white sneakers.

The dinner was started by a group of New York nudists who wanted something a bit more elegant than the wilderness getaways and beach resorts they generally frequent.

"When you go away on holiday it's more you're roughing it in the woods, whereas this is a really nice restaurant," said Keyes, a member of gay nudist group Males Au Naturel, or MAN.

John Ordover set up the dining club about a year ago, recruiting members through word of mouth and the Internet.

"Next month is our Easter bonnet event, where everybody has to come wearing an Easter bonnet," said Ordover, a heavyset man with a jovial smile and glasses.

SOMETHING TO SIT ON ...

Around 30 people arrived for the buffet dinner -- organizers specified no hot soup on the menu -- most of them middle-aged, several married couples, some singles, the youngest perhaps in their 30s.

"They're a good class of people, they're no different to you or I," said John Bussi, owner of the midtown restaurant. "They're not hurting anybody, it's not a wild Roman orgy."

Health regulations mean staff must remain clothed even if they wanted to join in. And diners must bring something to sit on -- a towel or, for discerning women, an elegant silk scarf.

The restaurant's manager covered the windows to maintain privacy at the strictly private party. Extra heaters kept the temperature at a comfortable level for nudity.

Ordover's wife, Carol, said they first went on a naturist holiday five years ago and she found the experience empowering. But, she explained, it's "the least sexual thing you can possibly imagine."

"Men in nudist resorts are striking a bargain. They get to see as many naked women as they like as long as they are polite and look them straight in the eye," she said.

Sherry Stafford, a petite and elegant 51-year-old with blond hair and high heels, brought brochures and videos advertising her travel business, Internaturally Travel.

One of the flyers was for a resort called "Hedonism II" whose slogan is "Be wicked for a week." But she said nudists should not be confused with swingers.

"Wearing clothes and going to church does not protect you from moral evil," Stafford said, lamenting what she saw as a tendency to demonize people just because they like to be naked.

Sandy, a slim woman in her 40s, said she never felt self-conscious about her body and was comfortable dining in the nude. But she did admit to being a bit more nervous before a recent naked yoga class attended by around 25 people.

"Everyone was a little concerned there would be people looking around but the good thing is nobody really was," she said, standing at the restaurant's bar before dinner.

"If you try to maintain a yoga position you're going to fall if you start looking around -- and that's more embarrassing than anything else."

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 03:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

News on Danger Mouse and the Gorillaz from the press release (see below). [Note, Danger Mouse remixing Dinah Washington verges on sacriledge. Whose idea was this? That said the Gorillaz project sounds cool.]

"Artist and Producer Danger Mouse has recently finished producing the highly anticipated forthcoming Gorillaz album. The album, titled Demon Days, is due out in May.

Danger Mouse was recently honored in GQ's Man of the Year issue and Entertainment Weekly's Album of the Year as well as 'year end' accolades from SPIN, Vibe, Blender, NME, Wired, Q and Village Voice to name just a few.

In a recent interview with NME, Gorillaz guitarist Noodle said of the album's Demon Days title: "Its' interpretation is completed by the instinct of the listener. In one sense the Demon is a disease and the disease is an absence of thought, a state where people make action without consideration. This is the invisible evil, with a million eyes. This is the return of the ogre, the rise of the beats. Its time is now. The moment we live in has agitated this slumbering giant, the dormant illness. These are the Demon Days, and the land it stalks is the on cusp of a thick fog. In another sense it is time to become the Demon. A time for an action, made with less contemplation, but from a disciplined and considered instinct. Strike with perfection and effect.These are Demon days we exist in. We strike to capture the moment. And hope to contain it, in a balance."

In other news, Danger Mouse has been tapped to produce a Dinah Washington remix for the upcoming Verve Remixed 3 CD. Verve Remixed 3 is due to be released in early April on Verve Records.

Danger Mouse picked the Dinah Washington classic "Baby, did you hear me?" for his contribution to the remix CD.

One of the finest jazz singers of the '50s and early '60s, Dinah Washington is best known for her performances of songs including "What a Diff'rence a Day Makes", "Unforgettable" and "This Bitter Earth". Her life was tragically cut short in 1963 at the age of 39."

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 09:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From AP:

Iraqi Died While Hung From Wrists

SAN DIEGO (AP) - An Iraqi whose corpse was photographed with grinning U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib died under CIA interrogation while in a position condemned by human rights groups as torture - suspended by his wrists, with his hands cuffed behind his back, according to reports reviewed by The Associated Press.

The death of the prisoner, Manadel al-Jamadi, became known last year when the Abu Ghraib prison scandal broke. The U.S. military said back then that the death had been ruled a homicide. But the exact circumstances under which the man died were not disclosed at the time.

The prisoner died in a position known as "Palestinian hanging," the documents reviewed by The AP show. It is unclear whether that position was approved by the Bush administration for use in CIA interrogations.

The spy agency, which faces congressional scrutiny over its detention and interrogation of terror suspects at the Baghdad prison and elsewhere, declined to comment for this story, as did the Justice Department.

Al-Jamadi was one of the CIA's "ghost" detainees at Abu Ghraib - prisoners being held secretly by the agency.

His death in November 2003 became public with the release of photos of Abu Ghraib guards giving a thumbs-up over his bruised and puffy-faced corpse, which had been packed in ice. One of those guards was Pvt. Charles Graner, who last month received 10 years in a military prison for abusing detainees.

Al-Jamadi died in a prison shower room during about a half-hour of questioning, before interrogators could extract any information, according to the documents, which consist of statements from Army prison guards to investigators with the military and the CIA's Inspector General's office.

One Army guard, Sgt. Jeffery Frost, said the prisoner's arms were stretched behind him in a way he had never before seen. Frost told investigators he was surprised al-Jamadi's arms "didn't pop out of their sockets," according to a summary of his interview.

Frost and other guards had been summoned to reposition al-Jamadi, who an interrogator said was not cooperating. As the guards released the shackles and lowered al-Jamadi, blood gushed from his mouth "as if a faucet had been turned on," according to the interview summary.

The military pathologist who ruled the case a homicide found several broken ribs and concluded al-Jamadi died from pressure to the chest and difficulty breathing.

Dr. Michael Baden, a distinguished civilian pathologist who reviewed the autopsy for a defense attorney in the case, agreed in an interview that the position in which al-Jamadi was suspended could have contributed to his death.

Dr. Vincent Iacopino, director of research for Physicians for Human Rights, called the hyper-extension of the arms behind the back "clear and simple torture." The European Court of Human Rights found Turkey guilty of torture in 1996 in a case of Palestinian hanging - a technique Iacopino said is used worldwide but named for its alleged use by Israel in the Palestinian territories.

The Washington Post reported last year that after the Abu Ghraib scandal broke, the CIA suspended the use of its "enhanced interrogation techniques," including stress positions, because of fears that the agency could be accused of unsanctioned and illegal activity. The newspaper said the White House had approved the tactics.

Navy SEALs apprehended al-Jamadi as a suspect in the Oct. 27, 2003, bombing of Red Cross offices in Baghdad that killed 12 people. His alleged role in the bombing is unclear. According to court documents and testimony, the SEALs punched, kicked and struck al-Jamadi with their rifles before handing him over to the CIA early on Nov. 4. By 7 a.m., al-Jamadi was dead.

Navy prosecutors in San Diego have charged nine SEALs and one sailor with abusing al-Jamadi and others. All but two lieutenants have received nonjudicial punishment; one lieutenant is scheduled for court-martial in March, the other is awaiting a hearing before the Navy's top SEAL.

The statements from five of Abu Ghraib's Army guards were shown to The AP by an attorney for one of the SEALs, who said they offered a more balanced picture of what happened. The lawyer asked not to be identified, saying he feared repercussions for his client.

According to the statements:

Al-Jamadi was brought naked below the waist to the prison with a CIA interrogator and translator. A green plastic bag covered his head, and plastic cuffs tightly bound his wrists. Guards dressed al-Jamadi in an orange jumpsuit, slapped on metal handcuffs and escorted him to the shower room, a common CIA interrogation spot.

There, the interrogator instructed guards to attach shackles from the prisoner's handcuffs to a barred window. That would let al-Jamadi stand without pain, but if he tried to lower himself, his arms would be stretched above and behind him.

The documents do not make clear what happened after guards left. After about a half-hour, the interrogator called for the guards to reposition the prisoner, who was slouching with his arms stretched behind him.

The interrogator told guards that al-Jamadi was "playing possum" - faking it - and then watched as guards struggled to get him on his feet. But the guards realized it was useless.

"After we found out he was dead, they were nervous," Spc. Dennis E. Stevanus said of the CIA interrogator and translator. "They didn't know what the hell to do."

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 05:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

John Negroponte is best known for:
A. Overseeing covert funding of the Contras in Nicaragua in the 1980s
B. Covering up human rights abuses carried out by CIA-trained operatives in Honduras in the 1980

From the WSWS:
Iran-Contra gangsters resurface in Bush administration
By Patrick Martin
1 August 2001

The Bush administration appealed to Senate Democrats July 27 to move ahead with the confirmation of two top-level diplomatic nominees whose appointments have been delayed because of their role in defending right-wing dictatorships and death squads in Central America.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph Biden (D-Del) said through a spokesman that a hearing for John Negroponte, nominated for US ambassador to the United Nations, would be held as early as next week. No hearing has yet been set for Otto Reich, nominated for assistant secretary of state for western hemisphere affairs.

Negroponte and Reich are two of the three Bush administration appointees with direct operational roles in the Central American counterinsurgency campaigns of the 1980s. The third is Elliott Abrams, named as director of the office for democracy, human rights and international operations at the National Security Council, a White House position which is not subject to Senate confirmation. Abrams was convicted of lying to Congress about the Iran-Contra affair, but was later pardoned by Bush's father in 1992.

Negroponte was US ambassador to Honduras during the years when the right-wing Nicaraguan Contra forces were based in southern Honduras, just across the border from Nicaragua, supplied and armed illegally by the Reagan administration. Abrams was assistant secretary of state for western hemisphere affairs during that period and worked closely with Oliver North in organizing the illegal arms supplies to the Contras. Reich headed the Office of Public Diplomacy, a State Department agency which illegally funded pro-Contra propaganda both in the US and internationally.

The convicted liar

The selection of Abrams is the most provocative appointment by Bush since his nomination of John Ashcroft as attorney general. Appearing frequently at press forums and congressional committee hearings in the 1980s, Abrams was one of the most belligerent defenders of Reagan's policy of arming the Contra fascists, who waged terrorist assaults on the Nicaraguan population for nearly a decade, killing an estimated 10,000 people.

As Washington Post columnist Mary McGrory recalled, "Members of Congress remember Abrams's snarling appearances at committee hearings, defending death squads and dictators, denying massacres, lying about illegal US activities in support of the Nicaraguan contras. Abrams sneered at his critics for their blindness and naiveté, or called them `vipers'."

Abrams was not merely a mouthpiece or apologist, but an active collaborator in illegal actions which led to thousands of deaths and widespread devastation. He was a regular participant in meetings of CIA, National Security Council and State Department officials who planned the arming of the Contras. When Congress adopted two successive versions of the Boland amendment prohibiting such arms supplies, the operation continued in defiance of the law, at Reagan's direction, with Lt. Col. Oliver North, an NSC official, taking charge.

As the top Reagan foreign policy official for Latin America, Abrams repeatedly testified before Congress under oath that the government was complying with the Boland amendment and that only "humanitarian" aid was being supplied to the Contras. Given his operational role, Abrams was neither misled by other officials nor lying to protect others. Like Oliver North, he was lying to Congress about illegal activities in which he was a direct personal participant.

After four years of public vituperation against the investigation of the Iran-Contra affair, Abrams was finally run to earth in 1991, pleading guilty to two misdemeanor counts of lying to Congress under oath, in order to avoid felony charges. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer called Abrams "an outstanding diplomat" and said the president considered his legal troubles "a matter of the past."

It is a measure of the cynicism of the Bush administration and congressional Republicans that Abrams could be appointed to a high position with his record. They were willing to impeach Clinton as president for lying under oath about Monica Lewinsky, but no such standard applies to lies about an illegal US war which killed thousands of innocent people. Abrams, a collaborator with death squads, is now to be put in a high position with responsibility for addressing human rights issues!

The anti-Castro fanatic

Negroponte and Reich are equally odious figures, although less well known to the public because they did not become Iran-Contra defendants. Otto Reich, who left Cuba in 1960 at the age of 15, is a favorite of the fascistic anti-Castro Cuban exiles in Miami. His appointment was sponsored by the two Cuban-American congressmen from Miami, and by Senator Jesse Helms, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations at the time Reich was nominated.

The joint House-Senate select committee on Iran-Contra found that Reich's unit of the State Department had engaged in "prohibited, covert propaganda" on behalf of the Contras and violated restrictions on State Department appropriations, but in keeping with the overall whitewash of the illegal activity, did not charge Reich himself with any specific offense. The agency was abolished and Reich was shipped out of Washington to a three-year stint as US ambassador to Venezuela, to avoid any further involvement in the scandal.

For the last decade he has worked as a Washington lobbyist for anti-Castro interests, including the US-Cuba Business Council and the US government-funded Center for a Free Cuba. He has also represented the liquor producer Bacardi & Co., whose Cuban distillery was nationalized by the Castro government. Bacardi has a long-running legal dispute with Cuba and the French firm Pernod-Ricard over rights to use the Havana Club rum trademark.

Reich's appointment marks, as one commentator put it, the "Cubanization" of US policy in Latin America, as all political issues in the hemisphere will be focused through the prism of obsessive hatred of Fidel Castro. Reich is an adamant opponent of any relaxation of the US trade sanctions with Cuba. He even denounced the baseball game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Cuban national team, comparing it to "playing soccer in Auschwitz."

During his diplomatic posting in Venezuela he engineered the release from a Venezuelan prison of Orlando Bosch, the Cuban-American terrorist jailed there for plotting the 1976 bombing which destroyed a Cubana airlines passenger jet in flight, killing everyone on board. President George H.W. Bush subsequently granted a full pardon to Bosch.

Among Reich's other lobbying clients are the British-American Tobacco company and Lockheed Martin Corporation, which he assisted in the successful attempt to sell F-16 fighter jets to Chile, breaking a 20-year US policy of not selling high-tech weapons to Latin American countries.

The career criminal

The most important of the three appointments is that of Negroponte to the UN. Negroponte spent his entire working life in the service of American imperialism, participating in many of the bloodiest crimes of the post-World War II, including nine years as a State Department official during the Vietnam War and five years in Central America.

Much of his career itinerary reads like a dossier for some future war crimes tribunal:

* 1964-68, political affairs officer at the US Embassy in Saigon;

* 1969-71, aide to Henry Kissinger in the Paris negotiations with the Vietnamese;

* 1971-73, officer-in-charge for Vietnam in the National Security Council, under Kissinger;

* 1973-75, assigned to the US Embassy in Ecuador (he reportedly quit Kissinger's staff, opposing the Paris settlement as too favorable to the Vietnamese);

* 1980-81, deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific affairs;

* 1981-85, ambassador to Honduras;

* 1987-1989, deputy assistant to the president for national security affairs, reporting to Colin Powell;

* 1989-93, ambassador to Mexico;

* 1993-97, ambassador to the Philippines.

After retiring from the diplomatic corps, he took a well-paid position as vice president for global markets at McGraw-Hill, the big publishing company.

Negroponte's role is best documented for his term as ambassador to Honduras, a country dominated by US corporations and completely dependent on the US government politically and militarily. The US ambassador in Tegucigalpa is the de facto pro-consul who makes or breaks presidents and generals. At Negroponte's direction the Honduran military provided protection and assistance to the Contra terrorists. With his tacit permission, if not active encouragement, the Honduran military carried out systematic murders of refugees from war-torn El Salvador and among its domestic opponents in Honduras itself.

During Negroponte's tenure, US military aid to Honduras grew from $4 million to $77.4 million. Maintaining this aid required the US Embassy to regularly certify that Honduras was in compliance with human rights requirements set down in American laws. Although Jack Binns, who preceded Negroponte as ambassador, had warned about the repressive measures undertaken by the military-controlled regime, Negroponte consistently denied the existence of death squads, political prisoners or politically motivated killings by the Honduran Armed Forces.

He worked closely with General Gustavo Alvarez Martinez, chief of the Armed Forces in Honduras, to send Honduran soldiers to the US-run School of the Americas, where they were trained in psychological warfare, sabotage and many types of human rights violations, including torture and kidnapping. In 1983 the US government awarded the Legion of Merit to General Alvarez.

A CIA-run death squad

The American CIA created the infamous Battalion 3-16 to carry out the murder of Honduran political opponents of the Contra war against Nicaragua. General Luis Alonso Discua Elvir, a graduate of the School of the Americas, was the founder and commander of Battalion 3-16. According to a detailed investigation in 1995 by the Baltimore Sun, Battalion 3-16 kidnapped, tortured and killed hundreds of Hondurans. The unit used "shock and suffocation devices in interrogations. Prisoners often were kept naked and, when no longer useful, killed and buried in unmarked graves."

The Baltimore Sun reporters found that in 1982 alone, during Negroponte's first full year as ambassador, the Honduran press carried at least 318 stories of extrajudicial attacks by the military. The US embassy, however, certified the country's record on human rights in such glowing terms that aides to Negroponte joked that they were writing about Norway, not Honduras. Rick Chidester, a former aide, revealed to the Sun that his supervisors had ordered him to remove allegations of torture and executions from his draft of the 1982 human rights report. When one Honduran legislator complained about the US refusal to denounce the repression, Negroponte told him, "You and others, what you are proposing is to let communism take over this country."

Significantly, several members of Battalion 3-16, long resident in the United States, were suddenly and swiftly deported after Negroponte's nomination was announced. In February the State Department revoked the visa of General Discua, the founder of Battalion 3-16, who had been deputy ambassador to the UN for Honduras and stayed on in the US after his term expired. Discua responded by publicly confirming the US sponsorship of his death squad operation.

A CIA-trained torturer, Juan Angel Hernández Lara, is in court in Florida facing a term of up to two years in prison for reentering the US illegally after being deported. He would be deported again after serving the sentence. The Honduran exile has sought political asylum, arguing that it would be dangerous for him to return to Honduras because his role as an interrogator in the US-sponsored death squads has become known, and relatives of the victims might take revenge. A US District Judge in Florida, Wilkie Ferguson, ruled in May that evidence about Hernández Lara's role in Battalion 3-16 would not be admissible.

Despite the massive evidence of Negroponte's grisly history, the nomination has considerable support from Democrats as well as Republicans. Clinton's last UN Ambassador, Richard Holbrooke, praised Negroponte, calling his nomination "terrific ... good for the UN, good for the foreign service, and I believe it will be good for the United States." Holbrooke was Negroponte's roommate in Vietnam and a coworker on Kissinger's National Security Council.

Holbrooke pointed out that Negroponte has already been confirmed several times by Democratic-controlled congresses, in 1989 and 1993, despite opposition sparked by his record in Vietnam and Central America. "He's gotten through before in a more liberal Congress, so I don't see why he'd have trouble now," the Clinton administration official said, adding, "We need a professional on the job. If professional diplomats are penalized for carrying out the instructions of their government, then we're all in trouble."

The selection of this trio of anticommunist gangsters shows the real face of American "professional diplomats," especially in Latin America. It is an ominous warning that the methods of the 1980s-death squads, subversion, terrorism-are being revived again by the Bush administration to deal with the mounting political instability in Colombia, in Ecuador, in Argentina and throughout that region, as well as internationally.

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 01:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We all know that Napoleon Dynamite got robbed by the Academy. It was clearly the best movie of the year. Ok, maybe it wasn't. But it was damn funny. If you're a fan, this soundboard of clips is essential:

Napoleon Dynamite Soundboard

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Note that this is THE FIRST INITIATIVE Gonzales is pushing for. The most important thing on his evangelical agenda. Maybe S&M is OK Mr Gonzales, since it involves torture?

From Yahoo News:
Gonzales Seeks to Reinstate Obscenity Case

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration said Wednesday it would seek to reinstate an indictment against a California pornography company that was charged with violating federal obscenity laws. It was Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' first public decision on a legal matter.

Billed as the government's first big obscenity case in a decade, the 10-count indictment against Extreme Associates Inc. and its owners, Robert Zicari, and his wife, Janet Romano, both of Northridge, Calif., was dismissed last month by U.S. District Judge Gary Lancaster of Pittsburgh.

Lancaster ruled prosecutors overstepped their bounds while trying to block the company's hard-core movies from children and from adults who did not want to see such material.

The Justice Department said it will appeal the ruling to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia. While acknowledging the importance of the constitutional guarantee of free speech, Gonzales said selling or distributing obscene materials does not fall within First Amendment protections.

"The Department of Justice remains strongly committed to the investigation and prosecution of adult obscenity cases," said Gonzales, who pledged during his confirmation hearing to pursue obscenity cases.

If allowed to stand, Lancaster's ruling would undermine obscenity laws as well as other statutes based on shared views of public morality, including laws against prostitution, bestiality and bigamy, the department said in a statement.

Zicari said he was not surprised by the decision to appeal. "They touted my case for almost a year and a half about this being an important step in kind of stamping out the adult product as we know it," he said in a telephone interview. "You'd think our government has a lot more things to worry about with the war in Iraq (news - web sites)."

Prosecutors charged Zacari and Romano and their company with distributing videos to Pittsburgh through the mail and over the Internet. Mary Beth Buchanan, the U.S. attorney in Pittsburgh, has said the case was not about banning all sexually explicit materials, just reining in obscenity. Extreme Associates' productions depict rape and murder, Buchanan said.

When she announced the indictment in August 2003, Buchanan said the lack of enforcement of obscenity laws during the mid- to late-1990s "led to a proliferation of obscenity throughout the United States."

In his opinion, Lancaster said the company can market and distribute its materials because people have a right to view them in the privacy of their own homes.

Lancaster relied in part on the Supreme Court's June 2003 ruling that struck down Texas' ban on gay sex, which it called an unconstitutional violation of privacy.

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 09:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Robert Moses, Freemasons, and Fornicating Rabbits
This looks right up our alley!

Boozy: The Life, Death, and Subsequent Vilification of Le Corbusier and, More Importantly, Robert Moses ($15)
The Ohio Theatre
66 Wooster St, New York, New York
February 13-March 5
All Performances 8pm

Amidst a blaze of streaming media, ridiculous choreography, and dozens of live fornicating rabbits, famed French architect Le Corbusier inspires builder Robert Moses in his desperate battle to recreate New York," the Off-Broadway company announced. "Boozy: The Life, Death, and Subsequent Vilification of Le Corbusier and, More Importantly, Robert Moses tracks the life of Robert Moses, from idealistic youth to unstoppable power broker, able to turn parched land into glorious bridges, highways, and public housing with a mere flick of the wrist. With guest appearances by Benito Mussolini, FDR, and the ghost of Baron von Haussmann, Moses learns from the greats until true power is finally his. Freemasons dance, FDR levitates, and Daniel Libeskind silently weeps. None shall be spared.

Click here for all the Details

[Let us know in comments how it is.]

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 08:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Right wing douchebag Matt Drudge, finally pulls his head out of his ass and hears about this whole Greenhouse Effect thingee. Sorry Matt, the rest of the world has either already heard about Global warming or is busy denying it to help out their corporate buddies. And now that your head has