WELCOME TO V. VALE's RE/SEARCH NEWSLETTER #52, September 2006. HERE'S THE NEWS FROM SAN FRANCISCO... ALL READERS ARE INVITED TO SEND CONTRIBUTIONS AND FEEDBACK!

**Pre-Order PRANKS 2 & get free shipping! (U.S. only; Save $4.00) Interviews include Billboard Liberation Front, Yes Men, Cacophony Society, Suicide Club, Ron English, Margaret Cho, Joey Skaggs, Reverend Al from the Art of Bleeding, Jerry Casale, Frank Discussion, John Waters, and more. Plus, you will get the first copies received, a month before they hit stores! Go to https://www.researchpubs.com/orderform.php

First, the commercial: Please support RE/Search by ordering our latest from http://www.researchpubs.com:

() Punk '77 (200 photos, long interview on Punk, and anecdotes from the people there.)

() J.G. Ballard Conversations (includes Mark Pauline, Graeme Revell, and more.)

() J.G. Ballard Quotes ("the wisest man alive on the planet")

() William S. Burroughs T-shirt ("We Intend to Destroy All Dogmatic Verbal Systems" - photo by Ruby Ray)

1. Sat Sept 9, 2006, 7:30pm: RE/Search presents the COUNTER CULTURE HOUR featuring Jihad Jerry (aka Gerald V. Casale, DEVO founder) Channel 29 (S.F. only), 6:30pm. This episode is one of our favorites--we've watched it at least three times, simply to try to "memorize" Jihad's very unpredictable and witty phrasings--what a mastery of language, on some poetic/philosophic level. We want to make that vocabulary ours! Such dexterous deployment of the English language deserves repeated exposure, we think, above and beyond Jihad's lofty conceptual content which takes us out of the petty "reality" level up to a soaring mountain-top view more befitting our intellectual station in life. Well, anyone who truly analyzed DEVO lyrics realized that someone extraordinary was crafting subversive memes disguised as pop music lyrics; just the cleverest and most oblique of rhymes. Google Jihad Jerry and see what comes up! http://www.jihadjerry.com, and http://www.mineisnotaholywar.com And order the CD; the artwork has at least one hidden surprise, which we have yet to decode... I, for one, would like one of those Jihad Jerry ties...

Oh, did we mention that this episode has one of the most trenchant critiques we've encountered on today's post-Orwellian (1984) media-controlled world? Enter here, ye of little hope...

The Counter Culture Hour airs the 2nd Saturday of each month, 6:30pm, Cable Channel 29, San Francisco. If anyone can help show it elsewhere, please contact us: info@researchpubs.com. It runs 58:30. We're especially interested in public-community screenings.

2. A fragmented appreciation of Jean Jacques Perrey at RML, Tu Aug 29, 2006: It was a dream come true to be able to present a concert by Jean Jacques Perrey, and the dream was made possible by Dana Countryman, who not only accompanied the maestro (taking care of all the technical details), but also recorded a first-rate CD with him, The Happy Electropop Music Machine, release date Sept 25, 2006. Jean Jacques kindly signed a CD for us, "I love you mon Ami Vale. I owe you my 3rd career...Jean Jacques Perrey" and this will only go on evilBay over our dead body, so to speak..

Karen Marcelo wrote: "Fun evening! pix (slide show recommended) and short video footage below":

http://flickr.com/photos/k0re/sets/72157594259241035/

Scott Beale wrote: "Amazing show." Here's SB's blog post with link to photos:

http://laughingsquid.com/2006/08/29/jean-jacques-perrey-dana-countryman-photos/

website/blog: http://laughingsquid.com

Joanne wrote: "Oddly enough, during the concert a band was rehearsing next door which sounded like Raymond Scott http://www.sanfordjazz.com/ ...Oh Lord, Jean-Jacques embodies the phrase joie de vivre. That's the best way I can describe the man and his music. He has such a vital energy, and his music is timeless. What a showman. He was utterly swept up in his music; pretending to ride a horse, playing air guitar and shooting indians. The audience was simply along for the ride. It was an hour of happy, fun silliness; wonderfully performed and put forth with tremendous energy and enthusiasm. His reminiscences and stories were filled with optimism and humor. He has fun with life. Jean-Jacques said his goal with his music is to make people happy. He certainly did."

RYAN wrote: "Previous to the show, I wondered exactly who would turn out for this happening, and if the word had gotten out properly, but at the door to the venue around 7:45 I realized that selling tickets was not going to be a problem-- Word of the show HAD indeed gotten around, via enthusiasts, blog posts, a boingboing plug and friends of Vale/RE/Search and we were directed to the viewing and listening down and behind the main performance room. RE/Search folks at the door told us they were instructed to turn no one away, but that we'd have to stick to the viewing room.

"Prior to settling down, my compatriots and I (Evan, a local, and Dawon-- our friend luckily visiting SF for the week!) wandered around Recombinant Labs - a packed standing-room crowd in the main performance space, with ample crowds around both the beer and the RE/Search table. scooped up a copy of Incredibly Strange Music (had read this at the city library years ago back home, but never had a copy of my own) for 10 bucks (cheap!) and found JJPerrey's signature in the inside cover-- the night off to a great start and destined to keep getting better!

"The viewing room was much better than expected--- about 12 consecutive screens wrapped 270 degrees of the walls and sounds being pumped in from overhead, with a Recombinant Labs student (technician?) manning the mix board to make sure the experience was just right for us sitting in the dark, absorbing the Moog/Ondioline melodies.

"Vale did a great job relaying his experiences trying to interview Jean-Jacques in France for Incredibly Strange Music (but we all got the impression that he had tons more tales to tell about his own experience with JJP's music and works)... Jello Biafra was a surprise guest to many, and impressed and educated all in attendance about his deep love for JJP (and Gershon Kingsley)'s wonderful records.

"JJP and Dana Countyman came to stage and followed a scripted, playful interaction as they worked through both classics from JJP's long pop career, along with a number of beautiful compositions from their new record. Within a few songs, we slinked from the screening room to stand against the back wall of the performance space at Recombinant Labs and enjoy intricate melodies and playful modulations and bass rumbling the entire space. I can't remember all of JJP's stories, but the highlights were his tale of playing his bee tape spliced rendition of "Flight of the Bumblebee" (50 straight hours of work splicing tape, he said!?) to Salvador Dali, his touching and moving performance of an eerily lovely song for his daughter Patricia (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xCbaXuBzEI). He also teased the audience about a girl he'd been talking with (wink wink) before the show, and introduced the crowd to his stuffed animal elephant (Micky). The show-stopping for most of the synch nerds in attendance was their closing rendition of E.V.A. that whipped everyone into a celebratory frenzy (oh jeez, me included!!). A wonderful, rare and amazing performance by a living legend -- hats off to Vale and RE/Search for hosting a soon-to-be-famous concert for us in the Bay Area."

"Here are some video clips too, definitely worth linking too, perhaps?:

http://visualguidanceltd.blogspot.com/2006/09/jean-jacques-perrey-dana-countryman.html - Thanks, Ryan"

When he hit the stage, JJ was resplendent in a golden conductor's coat handmade by a Parisian seamstress, and he dedicated his set to the beautiful "Joanna," whom he had met at RE/Search's September 15, 2005 party for him at Varnish Gallery, celebrating the release of Circus of Life, still one of RE/Search's favorite CDs ever (and available from www.researchpubs.com).

Monday night, JJ treated RE/Search's V. Vale and Marian Wallace, plus Jello Biafra, to a delicious Thai dinner at the ground floor restaurant beneath his hotel on 5th and Mission Sts. JJ reminded Vale of the somewhat arduous path toward making that first connection at a restaurant near France's Disneyland, circa 1990. After finally getting the address, we had arrived in Paris to discover JJ had moved to Vichy, France, just the day before! The rest is history...

It seemed most of the crowd (San Francisco show) were electronic musicians, judging by conversations with about fifty people who pre-ordered tickets. We ran into A.C. who reminded us of Clara Rockmore who played the Castro Theater for the premiere of the documentary on Leon Theremin, and who told us that Diamanda Galas is coming to YBCA October 19, 21. Also that Pan Sonic from Japan is coming to RML September 23, 24, 27 (see below in Coming Events), and watch the Asphodel site for more details.

Jean Jacques Perrey had visited us twice in San Francisco in the past decade (a videotaped interview was made some years ago, but needs subtitling), but had never mentioned the fact that he had a daughter living in Switzerland, Patricia Leroy, who accompanied JJ to San Francisco on this concert voyage. The explanation was: "He never discusses his personal life" -- probably good advice for anyone who gets media attention. It was Patricia who told us that when JJ first came to America (1960?), he changed his name from Jean Jacques Leroy to Jean Jacques Perrey -- and we finally got the French pun (Perrey is how Americanos pronounce "Paris" -- get it?!). Here is just another example, among probably thousands of artists changing their name and thus changing their fate -- would "Andy Warhola" be a household name today? We think not... good thing he got rid of that pesky extra "a" at the end...

Speaking of which, the New York Times recently reviewed Ric Burns' new four-hour "Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film." Now will somebody bring it to San Francisco so we can see it on the "big screen"?

The Times review contained the following phrases:

...[Note] the way his early films, shot at the standard sound speed of 24 frames a second and projected at the silent speed of 16 frames a second, slowed down time. (We had never noticed that before)

More broadly, the word ≥genius≤ is used to describe his eradication of the distinction between commercial and fine art and how that changed the way we see the world. As one commentator puts it, our experience of a supermarket was never the same after Warholπs Brillo box sculptures and paintings of Campbellπs soup cans were exhibited as fine art. He is credited as a pioneer of assembly line production and of dissolving the lines between painting and photography.

... Narrated by Laurie Anderson in her best medical technician voice, the movie is an entirely absorbing, occasionally revelatory portrait of a brilliant talent driven to greatness by an inner chorus of demons and angels... What his triumph tells us about ourselves ã as a society in which every aspect of life is commodified ã is not reassuring.

ANDY WARHOL: A DOCUMENTARY FILM goes on the air Sept. 20 and 21 on PBSπs ≥American Masters.≤

Note: RE/Search thanks SRL show manager/producer Babalou for her masterful crowd management skills; Elisabeth Beaird; SRL's Joanne, Nina Alter, Doug Sutton & Sandra; John Sulak/Dani D and pal; Sandra Derian and pal; and everyone else who helped make a great Jean Jacques Perrey concert actually happen. And Karen Marcelo/Scott Beale for photography. Also, RML's Tana, Chris, Bryan, Masa and others who were indispensable.

3. An Appreciation of Herbert/Jonah Sharp @ Mezzanine by Stephane von Stephane, ex-Search & Destroy staffer.

What to wear to a Herbert show...

Apparently pajamas are best.

At least if you are to take your cue from Herbert's band members. Actually most of them were wearing smoking jackets, some of them pajamas and Herbert himself had on black silk shorts under his bathrobe and was barefooted. (Pretty big feet too, and you know what that means~easier to stub one's big ol' toe while running around on stage!) The music is funkysexy techno. If Prince were a nerdy white british guy, he'd be Herbert. (And since I think nerds are cool, and I love Prince, that's a compliment!)

Matthew Herbert plays 'thinking man's techno', is somewhat political with his lyrics when there are any, and explores the John Cage found-object soundscape. In yet another incarnation he is the synthesizer-wizard version of Duke Ellington, playing with a full on Big Band accompanied by honey-throated chanteuses. He has a recording label called Accidental and his website is: MAGICANDACCIDENT.com. He has produced recordings or done re-mixes or worked with the likes of Bjork, Yoko Ono and Jonah Sharp, the opening act for the show at the Mezzanine.

Jonah is also known as Spacetime Continuum. He relocated from London where he was one of the folks behind the famous raves in the hologram factory. (Multi-dimensional madness.) He is now in S.F. and still making music. He may be best known for musically riding side-saddle as Terrance McKenna fired off an amazing spoken word thing one night at a rave that got recorded. I think I was there...I remember Stephen Kent playing didjeridu...or was that on some other plane...I dunno...

I was definitely there the night PiL played at RE/Search's J.G. Ballard CRASH book release party, 1984, at Fort Mason in a huge indoor building. Johnny Lydon was wearing pajamas on stage that night. It was a comment on the slumber that had befallen us in the U.S. for re-electing Ronald Reagan. That was why I'd agreed to participate in Survival Research Lab's car crash scene that night. I felt that only a spectacle on the scale of crazy destruction might wake people up. What a weird night. A pierced Fakir hung from meat hooks from the ceiling, cars crashed, people wore exploding meat-packs, smoke from the burger stand mingled with smoke from the smoke machine, PiL careened in pajamas, chaos reigned. I had agreed to play a crash victim, had not known in advance that I would be 'decorated' with blood (real, mixed with fake~not cool). I exited on cue, as Eric Werner's battering ram vehicle behind revved its engine ready to smash into my smoke-engulfed 'crash car'. Trouble was, my girlfriend could not exit her side of the car, as the door handle was not working...I waited for her to come out of the 'fog', as I watched from the sidelines now as the battering ram prepared to crunch our car. I went to look for her but didn't see her until after. Matty or Mark got her out at the last minute, having to first put out a fire that had flared up by her door.

Yeah, that'll wake you up, all right...

I do regret that prior to the start of the performance when a reporter asked what it was all about, I was too distracted by the sticky blood all over me to give my political speech about wanting to shock people into awareness of where our country was headed under Reagan. But it wouldn't have changed anything. People are still asleep, for the most part. So, put on those pajamas, folks, and go on out to a show...

Coming up this month I would suggest going to Yoshi's Sept. 25th for Sarah Manning's cd release party. She is in my opinion the least-known, greatest living jazz sax player and should be seen as often as possible! Satin 1940's p.j.'s would go nicely at this event. Also BLONDIE at Table Mountain Casino in Friant, CA Sept 18th. I'd recommend animal print flannels and Where The Wild Things Are slippers for this show. See you there! - Stephane von Stephane

4. What We've Attended: Stolen at the Roxie Theater. A disturbing independent film about the theft of 13 paintings (Rembrandts, Vermeers, etc) from a small private museum in Boston, circa 1990. The paintings were never returned. The theft occurred St. Patrick's Night, by two fake policeman with a stolen cop car who overpowered the museum guards, tied them up in the basement, and spent an hour and a half removing the paintings and absconding with them. The IRA, the Irish Mafia, and who knows who else is implicated in this crime against the world. What was most disturbing is the thought that anyone can steal a police uniform, a cop car, and perpetrate any kind of kidnapping, assassination or theft and probably get away with it scot-free. Remember the two New York City cops on trial for having perhaps committed 21 Mafia murders in the past decade or so? No, they weren't convicted, either.

5. What We've Been Listening To, Reading, etc...

() A crowning plug for Jihad Jerry's "Mine Is Not a Holy War" - a strongly blues-inflected every-song-is-great CD release that feels very satisfying to our ears. The release date is Sept 12, 2006--the day after 9/11. This album from DEVO founder Jerry Casale and his "heavy" friends is unhesitatingly recommended by us as a classic. As a friend and recent listener put it, "If Jihad Jerry doesn't win a Grammy, there ain't no justice!"

We liked the CD so much we transcribed all the lyrics, so we could sing along. However, the official CD artwork includes the lyrics for 10 of the 12 songs -- the two missing lyrics are pretty much fully understandable. And the words we couldn't decipher were "way" better than what we had transcribed -- is there a lesson here somewhere? There's a lot of humor in these songs: "Remember, you look through your glasses/but the rest of the world looks AT them." For some reason we like the line "We all too human/In heat/24/7." Listen to free full 12-track CD: http://music.aol.com/songs/new_releases_full_cds?defaultTab=19

() Received but still not yet evaluated: The Psychedelic Pioneers, a video documentary from Kahani Entertainment. (Google for more...)

6. QUOTES

Taken or paraphrased from Korzybski's 1932 classic, Science and Sanity (a major influence on the young William Burroughs):

WE ARE ALL A WORK IN PROGRESS. We're verbs, not nouns. You are not an "is." We "make" music, we are not "musicians."

INTELLIGENCE?

"A high intelligence has a larger span or field; it knows more about the past and looks further into the future."

HISTORY

"All history shows...that the majority appears 'always wrong,' and that all that we call 'progress,' 'civilization,' 'science,' has been achieved by a very small minority. Such an understanding should guide our future conduct if we desire better results than we have at present."

As our lives are lived entirely on the unspeakable level... actions, functions, processes, performances, feelings, emotions -- this level is obviously first in importance, and the VERBAL LEVEL, which is only AUXILIARY, comes next in importance."

Description comes first, inferences next.

Suppressing or repressing our feelings is dangerous, and should be avoided.

From a great new book, Luis Bunuel: The Complete Films by Bill Krohn (Taschen--yes, most Taschen books are like television, but this book actually was written by a real writer):

"Give me two hours a day of activity, and I'll take the other twenty-two in dreams."

"I'm passionate about insects. You can find all of Shakespeare and de Sade in the lives of insects."

"Liberty is a phantom. I've thought about that sincerely and I believe it. Freedom is no more than a ghost of mist. Man can seek it out, even believe he has grasped it... and in the end he is left with only fleeting bits of mist in his hands."

"It's very attractive to me to see thighs with something viscous running down them because the skin is brought closer; it's as if we were not only seeing them but touching them."

"Dreams are uncontrollable. Their secret has not yet been discovered. I wish I could direct my dreams according to my desires. Then...I would never wake up."

"For me Surrealism was not an aesthetic, just another avant-garde movement; it was something to which I committed myself in a moral and spiritual way. You can't imagine the loyalty Surrealism demanded in all aspects of life."

"We wore all sorts of disguises: street sweepers, university assistants, priests. It was an amusing way to study the social classes."

"Reality without imagination is only half of reality."

"Freud opened a marvelous window into man's interior, but Freudian interpretation has been converted into a religion with answers for everything."

"I always try to avoid reminding the viewer that there is a camera."

"If we could only find the courage to leave our destiny to chance, to accept the fundamental mystery of our lives, then we might be closer to the sort of happiness that comes with innocence."

"The best actors I've worked with have been children and dwarves."

"Thank God I'm an atheist."

"God and Country are an unbeatable team: they break all records for oppression and bloodshed."

7. Recommended Links:

() Vale, do you know about this film? The book is disturbingly creepy. They keep pushing the release date - it's got some unsettling stuff in it. The author is an interesting guy. http://www.tidelandthemovie.com/main.html - Cheers, Joanne

() http://www.joshkeyes.net - a master of the cross-section

http://xroads.virginia.edu/%7EUG02/yeung/actioncomics/cover.html - original SUPERMAN story, with bonuses including a brave cowboy tale, a poor man's Mandrake the Magician and a South Seas adventure with "Cottonball" the native, Sticky Mitt Stimson, a whitewashed Marco Polo against foreigners, "Pep" Morgan (a poor man's Joe Palooka taking the story line from Cagney's "City for Conquest" but with a happier ending against the dark-skinned "Bushman"), a few more knockoffs, can culminating in a grand flourish with a Johnson Smith ad! What more could a red-blooded budding racist ask for? maybe some of the work of "Pop" Conrad?

http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/photos/whopperhopper.html

more hoax cards:

http://www.photographymuseum.com/talltale.html

() http://infants-blood.info - comes in Christian flavor, for blood-sucking Jews [N.B. this may be offensive to some, but it is parody]

() http://www.stupidiotic.com/information.php?info_id=14 - privacy specs

() http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1990/spring/esquire-v-walker-1.html

http://www.thingsyouneverknew.com/website/store/cat_search.asp?UID=2006082514084301&ltype=cat&keyword=JHAL&cat%5Fkeyword=JHAL - from Johnson Smith, purveyor of fine novelties since 1914

() From Derek Botelho: This [by Stephen Colbert, on The Daily Show] is HILARIOUS. About the Patriot Act...watch it, you won't be disappointed. The audio is out of sync however. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6otbnLMDVM&mode=related&search=

() RE BANKSY's PARIS HILTON CD prank release of 500 'doctored' CDs: "Thanks for sending this along, Vale. I love that the spokeman for Virgin sheepishly admints that it's "a very good stunt". I just found actual images of the altered CD packaging here:

http://gossip.elliottback.com/2006/07/10/paris-hiltons-album-cover/ - ENJOY! - Ryan

() lowest budget film: http://www.melwelles.com/littleshop.html

http://tesla.liketelevision.com/liketelevision/tuner.php?channel=129&format=movie&theme=guide

8. J.G. Ballard News: (Order J.G. Ballard's new novel, Kingdom Come from amazon.ca - it's not published in the U.S.A.)

[JGB List comments:] Pippa Tandy: "I would be interested to know if as an adolescent visiting grandparents in Birmingham after the war, he saw the work of any of the English Surrealists, for example Conroy Maddox. Maybe someone else on the list knows this. David?"

"Conroy Maddox? A new name to me. But then I profess ignorance about many post-WWII British artists. However, I have heard of some, and I am even familiar with the work of a few. Given his intense interest in the visual arts, and given the fact that (as he's told us in interviews) JGB visited many art galleries as a young man in the early-to-mid 1950s, I think we have to assume that he was familiar with most -- he is likely to have known all the names, and seen examples of their work, even if he didn't always approve them.

"I think there's proof of this in JGB's novels and stories, since he has surnamed characters often enough after British artists of the mid-20th century: people like Graham Sutherland, Keith Vaughan, Roland Penrose, and the Cornish artist Peter Lanyon. I was reading about the last-named just recently and was interested to note that he died an appropriately "Ballardian" death. A former WWII RAF pilot, Lanyon took up gliding as an activity in 1959, in order to get closer to an appreciation of the West Country landscape -- seen from above, at low-flying altitudes. Sadly, he died in 1964 as a result of injuries sustained in a gliding accident. -- David P.

Again, we recommend you order RE/Search's J.G. Ballard Conversations from http://www.researchpubs.com

9. Feedback from Readers:

() V, I'll get started on the Neil Hamburger stuff for you right away. I'll also send you some great underground recorded prank calls you might not have...

Yeah, I went to the SRL San Jose Show, Aug 11 (Closest cinematic equivalent: Godzilla's "Destroy All Monsters"' Monster Island scene.)...and found it ominously poignant--a parody of a construction site (destruction site?) (I have a fear of tractors - maybe because my repulsive dad had several...)

Fellow trickster Houdini used similar imagery: the strait-jacketed madman hanging from a crane in front of a skyscraper...And for more with the construction site signifier: Harlequin David Bowie getting Mother-nagged while they are stalked by a bulldozer in the "Ashes to Ashes" video.

Oh yeah, I'll get you a copy of Argento's "Julia" film he did last year for Showtime, and his upcoming "Do You Like Hitchcock?" [note: RE/Search is a huge Dario Argento fan] Plus, the Goblin takeoff band Zombi played last week at Bottom of the Hill but I missed it. More Later. - Jeff Friend.

() from NINA ALTER, SRL Crew Member: At the SRl San Jose show 8/11/06, we had a lot of trouble mounting the 3-headed dog onto the walking machine. When we finally got it secure, we discovered it had been put on backwards, so we had to run the machine in reverse! There wasn't time to redo it...

() Hi Vale! Joey D'Kaye (nee Swails) here (Crime keyboardist).

I'm travelling in Europe right now, currently in Ireland, touring with Daft Punk. I hope all is well for you and yours. But the reason I'm dropping you a line is that I saw something very interesting on BBC-4 in my hotel room yesterday: The song "Gangster Funk" by Crime being used as the soundtrack for a K-Swiss commercial. I damn near spewed coffee out of my nose. I dropped Johnny a line asking if he or Hank knew about it, but I haven't heard back yet. I just thought you might find that interesting. You can see the video by going to www.kswiss.com, clicking the "Europe" tab and clicking the "On The Go" video link. I'm coing back to the States next Monday and I'll try to make it to the Jean-Jacques Perrey concert if I can shake off the jet lag. Hope to see you then. Best, Joey

() Sent to us: Why Bush Can't Talk: It's not the drugs, and it's not senility.

Bush's press conferences and unscripted remarks are so painfully bad, it spurs the question: what is his PROBLEM? People have remarked that he wasn't that way when he was the Governor of Texas, and therefore theorize that he has deteriorated due to premature senility or a lifetime of drug use. I think the reason George Bush stumbles, ends sentences midway through to jump to another thought, rattles off non-sequiturs, and makes up words, is that George Bush is breaking under the strain of lying almost all the time about almost everything...lying is hard work, and he's trying to hold several different false scenarios in his head while not blurting out what he's really being told behind closed doors.

Bush looks like a person stumbling over the easiest things, but in fact, he's not a person unable to relate simple facts. He's a person trying hard to NOT relate simple facts. He's a person trying to avoid the pitfalls of saying what's on his mind, and trying to keep his stories straight.

As I lawyer, I see people trying to construct false scenarios all the time. But you don't remember lies the way you remember truth. It's easier to remember, e.g., how fast you were driving than it is to remember the exact lie you told the police officer about how fast you were driving. People who lie have to put a lot of energy into keeping their lies consistent with each other and, well, consistent with undeniable facts.

My grand theory is that Bush's entire presidency, from the beginnings of his campaign until now, is based on his taking public stances that at least obscures goals and positions shared secretly. He and his Roves have always accepted that the majority of the country wouldn't want him if they knew the promises he made to the right wing christians and the rich, if they knew the actual effect of his tax cuts, if they knew the evidence behind environmental damage, and on and on. Now, he's hiding the entire foreign policy fiasco(s), who is being held by him incognito, who is being spied upon, what he knew before 9/11, and on and on and on.

If you had so much to hide, you too would only use canned speeches, carefully vetted by speechwriters who don't know the real story anyway, to keep it all straight, and you would stumble and hem and haw in all other circumstances.

Which explains why his problem wasn't so evident as Texas Governor. Bush's brand of crony capitalism and piestic christianism went down well in Austin, at least for a governor with no real constitutional authority: Bush only had to repackage himself for the national race, essentially submerge his real persona and his real ideas and his real goals and pretend to a compassionate, not-asshole conservativism.

You know how they tell you, on a date, just be yourself? nd how you think, no, I don't want her to meet that guy just yet? Well, Bush and Rove have been saying that for six years, and Bush has been schizo, trying to send signals and winks and nods to his fundamentalist christians and send money to his corporate sponsors while slinging a load of bull at the nation. Add to that all the bodies he has to keep buried, and you've got a guy who is in a state of flop sweat every time he has to open his mouth in public.

Bush isn't senile, or drug addled. He's a lying asshole. And it's hard work. Only truly gifted and intelligent sociopaths like Rove and Cheney can rattle it off. Bush can't. [end]

() PRANKS 2 can be pre-ordered - free shipping (save $4), PLUS get the book a month before it hits stores! http://www.researchpubs.com

From CHRIS NAKASHIMA-BROWN: "Vale, speaking of rebellion against consumerism, I was delighted to see on Boing Boing today that you have a new edition, Pranks 2 coming out. I still keep the original close at hand as a desk reference. Hopefully this will give Ron English and the BLF, among others, much deserved wider recognition. I am thrilled to see so much new material from RE/Search. What else is in the pipeline?

"RE/Search Pranks 2 book coming soon: This fall, iconic counterculture chronicler RE/Search will release the long-awaited sequel to their seminal Pranks! book published in 1988. The new book features inspirational interviews with The Yes Men, Ron English, John Waters, monochrom, Billboard Liberation Front, and many more tricksters. Hit the RE/Search site for excerpts and pre-order information. From the introduction: "What are pranks? For us, pranks are any humorous deeds, propaganda, sound bites, visual bites, performances and creative projects which pierce the veil of illusion and tell the truth. Pranks unseriously challenge accepted reality and rigid behavioral codes and speech. Pranks deftly undermine phoniness and hypocrisy. Pranks lampoon sanctimoniousness, self-glorification, selfmythologizing and self-aggrandizement. Pranks force the laziest muscle in the body, the imagination, to be exercised, stretched, and thus transcend its former self.The imagination is what creates the future; that which will be. http://www.boingboing.net/2006/08/25/research_pranks_2_bo.html

"And I hope you will be capturing the Jean Jacques Perrey concert in some permanent media for those of us who can't make it in person! http://researchpubs.com/features/perreyfeat.php - Chris Nakashima-Brown, www.nakashima-brown.net

() Hi Vale, The recommended link to the Screamers, "122 Hours of Fear," on youtube.com is one of Target Video's Screamers recordings. There are actually a number of Target Videos that individuals have put up on You Tube. Guess one has to look at it as promotion. I am reminded of the discussion at Beyond Baroque regarding downloading and music. It applies to video as well. - Hope all is well. Cheers, Jackie

() FRAUDSTERS DUPE NAGIN, BLANCO, EXECUTIVES, CNN; GROSSLY MISREPRESENT HUD, DoE, WAL-MART, EXXON POSITIONS; SPAWN FALSE HOPES AMONG BLACKS - Article: http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/08/28/hud.hoax/

False announcement in full: http://www.hano.us/falsehopes.html

Video of false announcement: http://www.hano.us/hudsmall.mpg

An irresponsible, unemployed, middle-class huckster posed as an assistant to HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson and insinuated himself into a Gulf Coast Reconstruction Conference yesterday.

Speaking alongside New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, the poorly-coiffed scofflaw announced that HUD was reopening all public housing in New Orleans to former residents.

"It is terribly sad that someone would perpetrate such a cruel hoax and play on the fears and anxieties of families who are desperate to return to their homes," said HUD spokesperson Donna White.

(http://www.hud.gov/news/release.cfm?content=pr06-neworleansph.cfm)

"We are destroying those homes for good reason," White continued. "It is terribly sad that some people can't understand that. That lack of understanding speaks for the low level of government education in this country."

HUD would like to make the following points perfectly clear once and for all:

∑ HUD will NOT refrain from demolishing 5000 units of undamaged public housing simply because they are undamaged.

∑ HUD will NOT let people come home simply because they want to, are part of the city, and constitute a much-needed workforce.

∑ HUD is NOT encouraging Wal-Mart to withdraw from low-income neighborhoods in order to "stanch" the flow of money out of these neighborhoods, nor does it prefer "local" businesses.

∑ There is NO partnership between HUD, health departments and the CDC to provide adequate health care to low-income residents.

∑ A national tax base for public schools is NOT on the horizon of HUD or the Department of Education. U.S. public schools will continue to be funded from local taxes, which will continue to mean commensurate and proportionate levels of funding for schools in rich and poor neighborhoods. HUD does NOT believe equality of opportunity must begin in grade one, but believes it is a far more flexible concept.

∑ Also, Exxon has asked HUD to make clear that it will NOT pay $8.6 billion from its $35 billion in profits this year to close down the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet and otherwise repair the damage caused by the oil industry to the natural protections surrounding New Orleans.

These are all lies, monstrously cruel, generative of oceans of false hopes and sadness.

The cruelty of fostering false hopes among a population long victimized by U.S. government policies is unfathomable. Virginia L., a would-be resident of the St. Bernard housing project, expressed her disappointment succinctly. "George W. Bush lives in public housing," she said. "Why don't they evict him?"

A contractor was equally critical. "I'm not angry at them for pulling this joke, I'm angry that it's not for real." (See video.)

May God afflict the perpetrators of this cruel hoax with all the varieties of damage they so amply deserve."

Media Contacts:

Donna M. White, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street S.W., Washington, DC 20410, 202-708-0980

Rene Oswin, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street S.W., Washington, DC 20410, r_oswin@hano.us

() From RYAN: "Interesting stuff! Very exciting--I was listening to New Traditionalists by Devo today and thinking to myself how excited I am to read the Gerald Casale interview!!

I saw these two things from Laughing Squid, but I'm guessing you probably saw them?

http://laughingsquid.com/2006/09/03/passage-sculpture-prank/

∑ sculpture defaced while the artists are away at burning man! - Violet Ray took some great photos, and reported that some prankster got up on these two huge metal "Burning Man" figures and welded on a bong with smoke in one hand and a Zippo-type lighter in the other, and got away with it.

http://laughingsquid.com/2006/08/29/jean-jacques-perrey-dana-countryman-photos/

∑ all the pics from the awesome JJP show last week!!

maybe not super-amazing, but recent (a few days ago!) pics of our man, JG Ballard at an art show in london over the weekend!

http://madeinchina69.blogspot.com/2006/09/central-st-martins-fine-art-ma-show-jg.html

and another photo here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/catfunt/231641790/in/photostream/

exciting! Kingdom Come came out yesterday in the UK, i hear:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/explorer/0007232462/2/ref=pd_lpo_ase/202-2554141-0655050?ie=UTF8

best - Ryan

() Hello, I thought the gang at RE/Search might be interested in this: Two limited edition prints from the new Jean Jacques Perrey CD "The Happy Electropop Music Machine" will be available for purchase at the web site of artist Joe Lacey. http://www.joelacey.com/ A limited run of 100 fine art prints of the CD's cover art (50 of them hand signed by JJP himself). Also available is the print "Ragtime For Robots" which was used on the back of the CD. - Ed Ward

() I heard a great interview with some of the folks from Pirate Cat radio today. As you may know, they are a "pirate" (unlicensed) FM station, involved with radical politics and happening music.

Traditionally, pirate stations have been at constant odds with the FCC and consider them the enemy. Pirate Cat seems to get along fine with them, making sure their signal isn't interfering with other stations and services, which is that the FCC is (or should be) primarily focused on.

Every few months, they get an order from the FCC to shut their station down or risk severe consequences. They reply by sending a copy of U.S. Code of Federal Regulations title 47 section 73.3542, and haven't been shut down yet:

http://www.piratecatradio.com/about.php#leg

"Authority is granted, on a temporary basis, in extraordinary circumstances requiring emergency operation to serve the public interest. such situations include: emergencies involving danger to life and property; a national emergency proclaimed by the President or the Congress of the USA and; the continuance of any war in which the United States is engaged, and where such action is necessary for the national defense or security or otherwise in furtherance of the war effort."

In other words, since we are in a "state of war", they have every right to operate an unlicensed station. The original thinking was that such stations could help disseminate emergency information and so on.

I love it - either the FCC has to say we really aren't in a state of war, or allow them to continue with their work, much of which is directly opposed to what Bush & Co. are doing.

So he says the "war" has been a great thing for radio pirates. I love it when people can play the system like this. -- Uncle Wiggily

10. COMING EVENTS in the BAY AREA:

() Thur Sept 7, 5pm - 111 Minna St Gallery, FREE, Dandelionblack, a collective of 7 female photographers, opens an alt-culture show of images.

() Sat Sept 9, FREE, The Eighth Annual Power to the Peaceful Festival, 9am-5pm, Golden Gate Park (Speedway Meadow, 415.865.2170. Michael Franti & Spearhead bring together an eclectic lineup of musicians and activists, including Blackalicious, Sila and the Afrofunk Experience, SF's DJ Maneesh the Twister, and many more, all in the name of social justice.

() Sat Sept 9, 9PM, CHEAP, Johnny Bartlett writes that The Barbary Coasters will be playing with the Boars (great band from San Francisco) and the Kilaueas (surf band from Germany) at the Ivy Room, Albany, San Pablo/Solano Sts. If you haven't heard, the Ivy Room is being sold, so this might be the last time to see a great show at the dive bar we know and love. This is a prelude to our upcoming North West tour. See www.thebarbarycoasters.com

() Sat Sept 9, 7pm-midnite, $5.00. Photo Show including Ruby Ray, Jim Jocoy, Jim Marshall, etc. DJ music, performances. ROOT DIVISION GALLERY, 3175 17th Street, S.F. 415.863.7668 www.rootdivision.org http://www.fecalface.com/calendar/calendar.php?mode=view&id=1062

() Sat Sept 9, 8pm, $15.00, the Living JARBOE (ex-Swans, a goth/industrial group) with GOWNS, Recombinant Media Labs, 763 Brannan/7-6th Sts.

() Tue Sept 19, FREE, 5:30-7:30 PM, Insights 2006 reception, show of photos by the blind or visually impaired, including works by Annie Hesse, who was in the Punk scene in San Francisco, late 70's-early 80's. S.F. City Hall, lower level, 1 Carlton Goodlett Place.

() Tue, Sept 26, 7pm, BRUCE STERLING lecture FREE at CCA'S Timken Lecture Hall, 1111 8th St (at 16th/Wisconsin). Info: (415) 551-9251 "Bruce Sterling is the legendary master of the cyberpunk science fiction genre and a founder of the Viridian Design movement, which explores radical green technologies to deal with impending ecological collapse. Sterling has written, ≥Donπt become a well-rounded person. Well-rounded people are smooth and dull. Become a thoroughly spiky person. Grow spikes from every angle. Stick in their throats like a puffer fish. . . . Learn about the stuff that was buried because it was too experimental or embarrassing or inexplicable.≤ In 2005 he was ≥visionary in residence≤ at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. He is a professor at the European Graduate School, Saas-Fee, Switzerland.

11. EXTRA SPECIAL EVENT: FROM FINLAND: PAN SONIC at RML, Fri September 23rd, Sat Sept 24th and Wed Sept 27th, 9pm: The VERY important PAN SONIC / Ryoichi Kurokawa events at Recombinant Media Labs are NOT to be missed - this is a very powerful Cinesonic show with exceptional artists! Advance tickets (thru Paypal - www.asphodel.com; recombinantmedia.net) are $20 at the door. Reservations are strongly suggested! RML, 763 Brannan/7th-6th Sts, S.F.

The first half of the show will be an audio-visual cross-media concert utiziling the whole AV surround-video setup in the 16-channel RML Theater. Visuals will encircle the entire room. Fresh from playing to a thousand people at Ars Electronica, Ryoichi Kurokawa transfigures and distorts original analogue material ("natural" images) with digital processes, so virtual images merge with "real" images in a 3-dimensional way. He constructs his own audio-visual language merging pictures and sounds to mimic the way the human brain processes information.

The second half is more raw, fantasmagoric and anarchic. PANASONIC - two wild and imaginative Finnish electronic musicians - achieved overnight notoriety when Panasonic threatened to sue them; subsequently they changed their name to PAN SONIC or PANSONIC. Their musical approach has been described as "amazing" and "fantastic" as they improvise their coming-at-you-out-of-nowhere industrial sonicscapes live in concert.

"Finnish minimalist techno group PAN SONIC are among the most active and well-known artists from that country's tiny experimental techno underground, and the first to reach acclaim at an international level. Pursuing the jagged edges of minimal techno and hardcore, the group have earned an enduring association with industrial and noise music through their incorporation of concise production techniques and power-tool electronics... Formed in Turku in the early '90s. PANSONIC began as the duo of Mika Vainio and Ilpo Vaisanen. They have toured Europe and Japan and recorded the Endless LP with SUICIDE vocalist Alan Vega. "PAN SONIC have remained true to their original and pioneering use of their special handmade, purpose built analog tone generators, more from the old radio style set than synthesizers, with the occasional use of digital samplers for the more rhythmic sounds. They are very much into sounds felt by the body and the effect of various frequencies on the brain." (from reviews)

A very rare appearance by a Finnish group certain to spark discussion and debate as to the future of electronic sound innovation. The RML Theater supplies state-of-the-art technology sound sourcing - the perfect context for presenting cutting-edge industrial music from the northern steppes of Eastern Europe. Event curated by Naut Humon.

SEPTEMBER 2006 RE/Search eNewsletter written by V. Vale & contributors. Newsletter and website powered by http://www.laughingsquid.com

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RE/Search Publications, 20 Romolo Suite B, San Francisco, CA 94133. Tel (415) 362-1465 Email: info@researchpubs.com website: http://www.researchpubs.com

CONTENTS:

INTELLIGENCE?

HISTORY