Travis Dickerson Recording Studio Forum

Stuffy, I assume by posting the inquiry that you take seriously your children\'s future and realize how incredibly important it effects their future.  Please DO take this seriously, because I believe it\'s more important than 99% realize.

To start, I HIGHLY recommend you check out the material of John Taylor Gatto.  He was teacher of the year in New York 3 times before quitting out of frustration for how bad the compulsory educational system is (not just the public, but most of the private, too).  His book is free online:

http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/underground/index.htm - his most comprehensive book, free online...

http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/historytour/history1.htm

Some audio speeches can be found online, as well:

http://www.radio4all.net/dl.php/johngottomixdown.mp3?file_id=15100&protocol=http&;

http://www.abc.net.au/perth/stories/m955290.ram

http://www.radio4all.net/index.php?op=search&nav=&session=&searchtext=gatto

The first audio link is a lecture given to homeschoolers if I recall correctly.

Check it out, and please let me know what you think.  No matter what you decide, learn about the history of the American educational system (based off the Prussian model) and make the best choice you feel is right.
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PS - One last link, is a loaded 30min lecture given by a professor about marketing to children.  It\'s DISGUSTING!  For example, they have presonality associations to brand names now by the age of three!  If you\'re interested, check it out.

http://www.radio4all.net/dl.php/91-1-20050309-juliet_schor.mp3?file_id=20801&protocol=http&;

I don\'t have children yet, but please do let me know what you think...
- bhead51

Hey Travis, given that Buckethead is picking up his tourdate appearances I was wondering if by any chance you might make an appearance or two, even if you don\'t tour full-time.

btw - I forgot to mention it before but I just wanted to mention that I think you and Buckethead get better and better at complementing each other with each album you release (Population Override being the best imo).

For those of you interested, a recent interview with Noam Chomsky is online for free download:

http://www.lehetmasavilag.hu/chomsky.html

Note:

Tracks 5-7 are the tracks about current events in American foreign policy: Iraq, terrorism, the media, democracy, etc.

Track 10 on "Consumerism & Control" and Track 14 on "Personal Motivation" (& responsibility) is also very worthwhile, imo...

[glb]On the hysteria surrounding Reagan\'s death:[/glb]

"There was something similar after the JFK assassination, but of course the assassination of a living president is quite different. I don\'t recall anything else remotely similar, perhaps since FDR, in the midst of a war, and of course he really was a significant figure, whatever one\'s judgment of him. Reagan is another story: mostly a PR creation in the first place, and massively so in recent years.

During his years in office, Reagan was not particularly popular. Gallup just published poll figures comparing him during office with other presidents. His average ratings during his years in office were below Kennedy, Johnson, Bush I, and Clinton; above Nixon, Ford, Carter. This is averages during their terms in office. By 1992 he was ranked just next to Nixon as the most unpopular living ex-president. Since then there has been an immense PR campaign to convert him into a revered and historic figure, if not semi-divine, and it\'s doubtless had an effect..."

- Noam Chomsky

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As far as "Fahrenheit 911" goes, it looks very promising.  Caution though: Moore will most likely distort a few things to make the movie funnier.  Thus the conservatives and democrats will attack these distortions to discredit him.  However, the main points, such as Bush\'s financial ties to the Bin Laden family, will withstand such attacks and serve as a wake-up call to many...

uh, who cares about the spelling?  this could\'ve been a decent and educative discussion if there was some mutual respect and listening (still could be if anyone has some thoughts still to share)...

Here\'s some more food for thought on Reagan:

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=54&ItemID=5683

[glb]If you\'re short on time, read the link below that I just added.  It\'s a case example of U.S. policy towards El Salvador under Reagan:  [/glb]

http://free.freespeech.org/americanstateterrorism/centralamerica/ElSalvador.html

Here\'s an excerpt:

"According to Rev. Santiago, macabre scenes of this kind aren't uncommon.

\'People are not just killed by death squads in El Salvador -- they are decapitated and then their heads are placed on pikes and used to dot the landscape. Men are not just disemboweled by the Salvadoran Treasury Police; their severed genitalia are stuffed into their mouths. Salvadoran women are not just raped by the National Guard; their wombs are cut from their bodies and used to cover their faces. It is not enough to kill children; they are dragged over barbed wire until the flesh falls from their bones, while parents are forced to watch.\'

Rev. Santiago goes on to point out that violence of this sort greatly increased when the Church began forming peasant associations and self-help groups in an attempt to organize the poor."

[glb]I think it\'s accurate to say that our species is not looking so hot right now.  Anyone else?[/glb]
The United Nations today, at their 10th anniversary of the Convention to Combat Desertification, said that "the Earth is turning into a \'desert wasteland\'...One-third of the Earth\'s surface is at risk"

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040615/ap_on_sc/going_dry

Thanks for the post Travis, I\'m downloading the vid right now.

So is the DVD really going to come out?  Is there any "guesstimate" of a time frame?

Jimi used to practice as much as 16 hours/day when he was cutting his chops most seriously.  He would go to bed with the thing, playing until he fell asleep.  At one point, for laughs, he wouldn\'t talk to people, but would instead use his guitar and answer "yes" with an "uh-huh" type sound and "no" with a "unh-uh" type sound...

(cont\'d)

4. Conclusion: the few words about the matter in the telephone interview published by Salon were quite appropriate in that format, as easily determined.

5. There has been much controversy over a matter that I did not discuss in "9-11," or anywhere: namely, whether al-Shifa also produced chemical weapons. However one evaluates that charge, the crucial fact is that that its production of pharmaceutical supplies and veterinary medicines was known, hence also the likely toll of the bombing, as discussed at once by HRW, and later estimated by others. Accordingly, the opening comment in "9-11" about this topic is perhaps also relevant. To quote:

Though it is merely a footnote, the Sudan case is nonetheless highly instructive. One interesting aspect is the reaction when someone dares to mention it. I have in the past, and did so again in response to queries from journalists shortly after the 9-11 atrocities. I mentioned that the toll of the "horrendous crime" of 9/11, committed with "wickedness and awesome cruelty" (quoting Robert Fisk), may be comparable to the consequences of Clinton\'s bombing of the Al-Shifa plant in August 1998. That plausible conclusion elicited an extraordinary reaction, filling many web sites and journals with feverish and fanciful condemnations, which I\'ll ignore. The only important aspect is that that single sentence -- which, on a closer look, appears to be an understatement -- was regarded by some commentators as utterly scandalous. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that at some deep level, however they may deny it to themselves, they regard our crimes against the weak to be as normal as the air we breathe. Our crimes, for which we are responsible: as taxpayers, for failing to provide massive reparations, for granting refuge and immunity to the perpetrators, and for allowing the terrible facts to be sunk deep in the memory hole. All of this is of great significance, as it has been in the past.

So it is.

On a separate matter, an editor\'s note interpolated in the Salon telephone interview states:

[Note: After the attacks, NATO allies invoked Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty which states, "An armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all."]

Putting aside questions of editorial practice, the interpolation is correct, and its evident irrelevance underscores the accuracy of the statement of mine in the phone interview to which it is appended: that no one claimed that after Sept. 11 the US was under ongoing armed attack in the sense of Article 51 of the UN Charter.

The US could, doubtless, have obtained clear and unambiguous Security Council authorization for its retaliatory attacks; none of those with veto power would have exercised it. But Washington deliberately chose not to receive authorization, just as it deliberately chose not to request extradition of the suspects, and just as at the very same time, it once again rejected a request for extradition of a condemned Haitian mass murderer (not the only case). One can speculate about the motives, but the facts are clear enough, as is the consistent pattern they illustrate.

Noam Chomsky

Chomsky on the Sudanese factory issue:

In response to a request from FAIR Chomsky sent this letter to Salon.com. He wonders if they are going to print it (given his past experiences trying to engage liberals about falsehoods about him) and wonders what lie they will attach to this letter.

To the editor:

I understand that questions have been raised about my reference, in a telephone interview with Susan Hansen (Salon Jan. 16), to estimates of the casualties resulting from the US bombing of the al-Shifa pharmaceutical plant in Sudan in August 1998. Several observations:

1. Hansen opens by quoting my statement, in an earlier interview, that the bombing is responsible for "killing unknown numbers of people (no one knows because...no one cares to pursue it)." That is, there have been no serious studies, by Human Rights Watch or anyone else, as I made explicit.

2. A phrase in a telephone interview does not have quotes, details, or footnotes; that is self-evident. As everyone understands, to determine the accuracy of such informal comments one turns to what is in print, which in this case is particularly clear: the collection of interviews that Hansen cites at the outset as the basis for this interview, "9-11" (Seven Stories press), easily available in print and electronically for two months prior to the Salon interview.

3. In "9-11," the facts are stated accurately and precisely. With regard to HRW, the relevant paragraph reads:

Human Rights Watch immediately reported that as an immediate consequence of the bombing, "all UN agencies based in Khartoum have evacuated their American staff, as have many other relief organizations," so that "many relief efforts have been postponed indefinitely, including a crucial one run by the U.S.-based International Rescue Committee [in a government town] where more than fifty southerners are dying daily"; these are regions in "southern Sudan, where the UN estimates that 2.4 million people are at risk of starvation," and the "disruption in assistance" for the "devastated population" may produce a "terrible crisis."

The source for the other allusion in the Salon phone interview is also given accurately and precisely:

Germany\'s Ambassador to Sudan writes that "It is difficult to assess how many people in this poor African country died as a consequence of the destruction of the Al-Shifa factory, but several tens of thousands seems a reasonable guess" (Harvard International Review, Summer 2001).

[cont\'d in next post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]

Well, I just wrote a big response only to be told that I need to fill in the name field, and lost the whole thing.  So here\'s a quick run-down, anyways:

Chomsky has "rationalized" 9-11 in the sense that he has attempted to understand why Al Qaeda attacked the U.S. and what the U.S.\'s role in terrorism is.  This can be read about in the first chapter of his book 9-11.

As for "denazification," check out the following link, you can get an idea of what Chomsky is saying there (definately appopriate given the author\'s quotation methods - check towards the bottom of the essay or search for the word "denazification"):

http://www.chomsky.info/articles/1971----.htm

As for Pol Pot & Chomsky, probably the most widespread and repeated attempt to criticize him (it\'s a dead horse by now), check out an article by Edward S. Herman, which also deals with some other criticisms of Chomsky:

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=11&ItemID=3948

As for Mao, it is true that Mao made some incredibly positive acheivements (as did Castro).  These acheivements included land redistribution to the poor, which would inevitably result in violence given that there was a fuedal landlord class that owned all the land.  It also included high employment, esp. for women, and an agricultural boom prior to the famine that came with the Great Leap Forward (1958-62).  The famine occured partially because of Mao\'s new policy that made food and water free (decreasing worker incentive and thus productivity) and largely because China experienced the worst weather conditions of the century during this time period (which led to serious declines in food output).  Soviet withdrawal of support also had a detrimental effect on China\'s economy.

Keeping with Mao, Chomsky noted in his book "9-11" that the famine of 1958-62 is often considered a crime of communism.  However, the 120 million that starved to death in India since 1948, when they kicked out Britian, is never considered a crime of democracy by mainstream scholars.  [glb]This point should not be understated. [/glb] What does that say about modern intellectuals?

As for the Sudanese bombing and death tolls, I\'ll have to ask Chomsky and get back to you on that.  The criticism here may have merit.

I must reiterate that anyone who has actually read Chomsky\'s work understands that he never defended the crimes of the Khmer Rouge, the National Liberation Front (Vietnam), or Mao.  He is on record, contrary to what Windschuttle says, for acknowledging the severity of all of their crimes.  For example, he grouped in Mao with Hitler and Stalin when referring to Sukarno\'s (Indonesia) 1965-6 massacre (U.S.-supported).  It is common for those critical of Chomsky to portray him as a defender of violent regimes, an attack based on no evidence whatsoever.

-bhead51

JSTHERACON,

First of all, let me clarify my thoughts on celebrity status as a factor, which I hadn\'t touched upon myself until now. The consideration of celebrity status given the context of the release seems anecdotal.  This is an underground project of experimental music very far from the mainstream, sold on the Internet only, with no advertising and practically no exposure from the music media.  Thus I imagine very few purchasers are superficial fans who give the album irrational praise because Viggo is Aragon.  

Furthermore, I highly doubt that putting Elijah Wood etc. on here was a marketing ploy because this isn\'t even close to a mainstream release.  If Viggo wanted to make money, he could\'ve gone the easy way, it\'s not that hard for an even quasi-talented musician with an established fan-base and sexy looks to sell out.  More likely is that he invited them over to record after making friends with them on the LOTR set.

As for the spoken word thing, you might think Chomsky sucks, however those who perceive society along the lines of Chomsky, Zinn, etc. have a disillusioned feeling about the state of human affairs.  Personally, I think Chomsky is brilliant and Viggo Mortenson\'s spoken word (much of it covers of poets, anyways) both in style and content powerfully personifies the disillusionment experienced by many about societal and global corruption.  Whether or not you agree with Chomsky\'s perspective is matter of political debate and of no significance to the point at hand.

With all due respect, I highly disagree.  There\'s only really 2 tracks that don\'t have a distinct contribution from Buckethead.  Buckethead doesn\'t dominate this album, he fits in, seamlessly in my opinion.  His use of soft chords and riff-rock are awesome, and his use of feedback is absolutely amazing on this album.  I highly recommend this album to any Buckethead fan out there, as it is one of my favorite Buckethead albums.

It\'s not accurate to say this is mostly a spoken word album.  There\'s spoken word on 6 of the 13 tracks, and only tracks 02, 03, & 09 are really heavy on the spoken word.  And as for the spoken word, it\'s not meant to be "energetic," the monotone delivery is expressive of disillusion with the state of affairs in politics and culture.

Additionally, I\'d like to mention that Buckethead\'s contribution to this album is very distinct.  His soft chords and rock elements fit in nicely, and his use of feedback is awesome on this album.  Of course I respect differing opinions, but for me this is one of my favorite Buckethead albums; this isn\'t for those "looking for a hardcore-core Buckethead fix" in the sense that it isn\'t for those avoiding an ambient and experimental album or constantly streaming guitar.

My favorite Buckethead albums would be:
1. Praxis - Transmutations
2. Buckethead - Monsters & Robots
3. Buckethead - Electric Tears
4. Buckethead - Colma
5. Cobra Strike - 13th Scroll
6. Buckethead & Viggo - Pandemoniumfromamerica

What do people here think of Chomsky?  Has anyone read "Hegemony or Survival"?  Personally, I think Chomsky is awe-inspiring and the state of the world is not looking good...