Monthly Archives: March 2011

03/31/11

Hitting the Snooze

President Obama spoke yesterday regarding his goal to reduce our reliance on imported oil by a third, in the coming decade. The vision is largely predicated on increased domestic drilling and production. As anyone would concede, the concept is a stop gap. It does not, in fact, improve our ability to separate from the very fuel which is indisputably and perilously finite.

Others have observed the psychology of our energy predicament that we can only seem to muster any urgency over it when gas prices are severe (predictably every summer right before vacation) but when they reasonably stabilize we seem to conveniently forget the circling danger. Like hitting the snooze. The metaphor is not mine. I just thought it was accurate.

This Groundhog Day price cycle rhythm of angst and apathy is going to leave us stranded.

Performed by ipoet. Music produced by dj transform.

Today’s song blog here:

Groundhog Day

03/28/11

50 Year Emergency

Man, this one was a near miss. Some difficult personal tragedy yesterday. And then I had to travel. Wrote a bit in the car. Punched it out about 2 am. Pretty exhausted.

Soft protests in Syria have led to the lifting of 50 years of emergency law, which suspended whatever normal legal “protections” existed for her people. This marshall law has enabled decades of the same types of abuse, and worse, that citizens of other Middle Eastern countries have risen recently in protest against.

50 years is an uncommonly long emergency, I would say. I’m glad that President al-Assad feels comfortable in concluding that the systemic threat to his people is finally over such that the rule of “law” may be restored. Something tells me, though, that the laws on the books aren’t going to exact any real noticeable improvement on the lives of Syrian citizens. Just a hunch.

I traveled in Syria in the mid-90s. It’s a hard place. I saw both what makes us terribly common and world’s apart all at the same time. As usual, it’s hard to hate or fear that which you know better about. Today’s song is a celebration of a baby step towards additional liberty and civility in Syria and a recollection of a personal set of experiences that daily help me remember that there are human beings half way around the world that are largely made of the same stuff as I am.

Performed by ipoet. Music produced by dj clutch.

Today’s song blog here:

Damascus Road (Dominoin' Part 4)

03/24/11

Open Eyes

A difficult story in the first U.S. face transplant, performed on a Dallas Wiens. 25 years old and a father, Dallas lost nearly the entire topography of his face in a work related accident involving a high voltage line. The generosity of a donor has given him a miraculous shot at some semblance of human appearance and facial function. To me, the pictures are essentially impossible to view. I do not say this lightly; I believe I would have been inclined to take my own life. Dallas, in his own words, however, chose betterness over bitterness. And, in that choice he sees, in some sense, more clearly than us all. His personal support site is here.

You gotta face the world.

Performed by ipoet. Music produced by dj clutch.

Today’s audio here:

Face the World

Oh, and to show you how real this ipoet business is, peep my recording conditions last night at 1:23 am. My wife is in Australia and my parents are in town to help with the kids. I didn’t want to ipoet-lullaby them to sleep, so I retreated to the garage. And, yes, that is a scooter; a child’s sippy cup in the shape of a witch’s head; and our two recycling bins in the background. I had to shoo a raccoon from our cat’s food bowl before settling down to record at my daughters’ craft table. No lie. I do this for the glamour.

03/21/11

Somebody’s Friend

The United States of America participated in an allied shelling of Libya over the weekend in execution of a U.N. Security Council Resolution that the civilians of Libya be protected against the brutality and occupation of the military regime.

Intervention is such a difficult strategic and policy call. There is tragedy worth diverting, by military and other means, all over the world, every day. How we choose to apply our broad but finite resources to intervene in human suffering is a lot more complex than whether or not they simply need it; because, of course, they always do.

Gadhafi is brutalizing his own people. But, so have many, and recently, before him. Not all bad acts have received the luxury of our response. Military action against autonomous nation states is a grave decision. We have done it a lot lately.

May we always strive to be a blessing and kill none. Sometimes people give us no choice.

Performed by ipoet. Music produced by dj clutch.

Today’s audio here:

Bless With a Gun

03/16/11

Long Beach Brothers

Long Beach, California had a rough day. A small-engine plane crash killed five and critically injured a sixth. Also, Long Beach native and rap legend, Nate Dogg, died of complications from a previous stroke at the age of 41. For better and worse, he was a part of the soundtrack of my youth. He remained active and relevant even until his death.

Mark Bixby, a victim of the plane crash, was a member of one of the founding families of Long Beach. Nate Dogg was a member of one of the founding families of the g funk gangsta rap era. Their respective tragedies are a study in contrast that is the dichotomy of Long Beach itself.

Life is strange. Regulators, mount up.

Performed by ipoet. Lyrics include classic Nate Dogg material. Produced by Sundance.

Today’s ridin’ audio here:

Regulate

03/15/11

ipredict March Madness

In case you missed it or chose to conveniently forget, I presciently predicted, on January 3, 2011, that Pitt would beat Duke for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship. As March Madness begins tonight, I wouldn’t want you to think that I was hiding behind the possibility that you simply wouldn’t remember. I stand by my prognostications.

Wager safely.

Go Paladins.

03/14/11

A Lullaby

It’s bracket Monday, and, while I’d love to execute my first ever NCAA tournament song, including a rant about Florida at a 2 seed and jokes about Va Tech’s perpetually burst bubble, this site is committed to nonsense delayed (or maybe epitomized). The death toll in Japan has exceeded 10,000 but that figure likely has no statistical viability considering the chaos it pantomimes to measure. Sentimental gestures are largely embarrassing. To say we stand in solidarity is like the offer of a toy boat against the crush of a tsunami.

There is One who loses sleep over all of our tragedy; hasn’t rested for an eternity. Maybe Japan can, if even for only a while. It’s almost bedtime in Japan. Goodnight.

Performed by ipoet. Music produced by Diaz from Hungary.

Today’s lullaby here:

Goodnight Japan

03/11/11

A Regrettable Bonus: Tragedy in the Pacific

I’m happy to offer a third entry this week but not happy for the circumstances that prompted it. As you are likely aware, Japan’s east coast was hit by a devastating tsunami yesterday, propelled from the epicenter of an 8.9 earthquake some 230 miles offshore. Tens of thousands have been evacuated and hundreds are already reported dead or missing. That number will sickeningly increase.

Every day we stand humbly in the shadow of Providence and the terrible majesty of its creation.

A slumbering mother dragon.

Performed by ipoet. Produced by Sundance.

Mother Dragon

03/10/11

Live Request Thursday: La Jefa

I had a request from Christian Latimer to cover today’s story in song, which I was thrilled to oblige.   One of the benefits of song blogging is the collaborative opportunities between the artist and the audience, which traditional musical composition has not largely allowed for.  I think there is a lot more in this vein to be explored.

In regards to the story, a 20 year old college student, mother of one, Marisol Valles Garcia, volunteered last year to be the police chief of arguably the most violent city in all of Mexico, Praxedis G. Guerrero, Chihuahua.  This week she was run out of town under what appears to be the threat of murder or kidnap by local drug cartels.  She fled to El Paso, TX and may be seeking asylum there.  The Mayor of Praxedis fired her for abandoning her post.  You think?  I’m pretty sure she’ll readily accept the pink slip over the car trunk.   Hers is the most recent example of the medieval drug violence that still somehow persists even to this day not literally a mile from our own borders.  The cartels murder with impunity public officials and law enforcement and kidnap routinely, for ransom, children and other family members of the affluent.  It is all unspeakable both for the tragedy and the impossible truth that somehow it can’t be stopped.

The exact concept of “the police chief,” in this case, may be more akin to a kind of community liaison.  It’s not clear.  She managed a small staff of unarmed deputies, either all or largely female.  Her willingness to put herself and her son in harms way is worthy of our note and esteem.  She did, however, flee in the face of the danger she vowed to fight.  I’m not sure what that means.  I, of course, would have caved at the first hard stare.  Have I mentioned that I have a low pain threshold?

She was affectionately known as La Adelita.  Woman warrior.

Performed by ipoet.  Concepted by Christian Latimer d/b/a Conduct Lionhardt.  Music produced by Fab da Eclectic.

La Adelita

Surprise and related second post today, see below.  Preview of new sintax.the.terrific record, Prince With a Thousand Enemies.

03/7/11

Above-the-Fold Freestyle Feature [Take 2]

This is always a punt of sorts.  To do a freestyle instead of a song.  But, I feel like my relative consistency has bought me at least some goodwill, right?   Plus, I think the freestyle feature keeps things interesting, and people seem to like it for the novelty.  It’s just one more variation on this experiment in song-blogging.  Freestyling the news stories of the day elevates an already contemporaneous exercise into one of almost pure spontaneity.

As always, a freestyle is an unwritten, unrehearsed rap.  Entirely extemporaneous.  [I have previously and briefly recognized some of the confusion over the etymology of the word "freestyle," here, and won't do it again, now.]

I logged on to CNN.com, noted the time, and then freestyled the headlines.  A verbal screenshot.  Not written.  Not premeditated.  For better, but mostly worse, spontaneous.

Performed by ipoet.  Music produced by Sundance.

Today’s audio word jumble here:

Off the Head (lines) 3-6-11