Mark Maynard | 2006 | April

neil young: i’ve seen the bush presidency and the damage done

By Mark | April 17, 2006

You may have heard about it by now, but Neil Young is about to release a new record entitled, I believe, “Life with War.” As you might expect from the title, it’s supposed to be political in nature. Word is that the first track is called “Impeach the President.” Well, a few days ago, one of the singers hired to do backup vocals on the single left a post on her website about the experience. Here’s a clip:

…On Wednesday, I was at work when I got a call for a Neil Young session the next day. Needless to say, I was excited about it – Neil Young is one of my musical heroes. When my husband and I got to Capitol, we found 98 other singers, a collection of L.A.’s finest. All I knew was that we were singing on a new Neil Young record, but when the lyrics we were supposed to sing flashed on the giant screen, a roar went up from the choir. I’m not going to give the whole thing away, but the first line of one of the songs was “Let’s impeach the President for lyin’!” Turns out the whole thing is a classic beautiful protest record. The session was like being at a 12-hour peace rally. Every time new lyrics would come up on the screen, there were cheers, tears and applause. It was a spiritual experience. I can’t believe my good fortune at being a part of this…

Let’s hope it packs the same kind of wallop that his song “Ohio” did in the wake of the tragic events that unfolded on the campus of Kent State in May of 1970… “Ohio” was released just ten days after members of the US National Guard killed four unarmed students during a peace protest. It’s taken him a bit longer this time out, but it’s better late than never. Of course, some will say that since he still maintains Canadian citizenship, he doesn’t deserve to have an opinion (in spite of the fact that he lives here, pays taxes, etc). To that, I say, thank god we’ve got at least one cantankerous, old Canadian living among us who isn’t terrified to do what few else will and speak the truth. I wish we had a hundred more like him. (note: Here’s an interesting fact that I just picked up tonight. Young’s father was a well-regarded Canadian journalist.) So, buy the record when it comes out, and help the single some radio play. It’s your patriotic duty.

Posted in Art and Culture | 8 Comments

happy easter from the arc welding children of toledo

By Mark | April 16, 2006

No time to blog tonight (I’m finishing up a comic for the Ann Arbor Paper, and my taxes), but I did want to share these images that I snapped yesterday while hanging around the jungle gym at the Toledo Zoo. I believe the little girl pictured is Japanese. Every time I saw her, she was – like you see her here – wearing her visor like a welder’s mask. It looks as though it was made to be worn like that (there are small, plastic hinges on either side), but, as I’ve never seen anything like it before, I’m guessing that maybe it’s a Japanese thing that just hasn’t made its way into American mass culture yet. At any rate, I thought some of you might find it of interest. (Linette thought that maybe she had some kind of facial deformity, and that’s why she was running around like this, but, as her little brother had a blue version of the same visor, only in the “up” position, I’m guessing that it’s not some kind of special device for the extremely self-conscious.)

And, as today’s a religious holiday, I thought that I’d take the opportunity to direct you to the The Church of Brunch, a cool, little “church without religion” project recently started-up by Dan Gillotte, an MM.com reader in Austin, Texas, and his significant other, Rosie. (An article on the project from their local paper can be found here.) No word yet as to what they have in store for Easter services, but, as the congregation has recently grown to the size necessary to support a choir, my guess is that there’s music involved.

Posted in Pop Culture | 4 Comments

my connection to black sunday

By Mark | April 15, 2006

I just found out that a fellow that I used to work for in D.C. was in John Frankenheimer’s 1977 movie “Black Sunday.” What’s more, he apparently played himself… That was just about the last thing I was expecting to find when I googled his name. I thought maybe I’d find a list of failed companies, and perhaps a mention of a citation for road rage, or something like that, but instead I find that he once appeared in a film alongside a seriously deranged Bruce Dern. I’m still trying to make sense of it all.

Posted in Art and Culture | 10 Comments

the shadow art fair

By Mark | April 15, 2006

As most of you in Michigan know, Ann Arbor has an annual event called Art Fair which brings hundreds of independent artists from all over the country to the city to show and sell their wares each summer. The well-established, highly-regarded event is criticized by some locals for pretty much shutting the city down, but, as it pumps a huge amount of money into the local economy (during a period when the students aren’t here spending their parents’ cash), most would agree that it’s a good thing. Sure, the art can be a little safe and “living-roomy,” but some people like buying art to match their furniture, and I’d rather that they bought their stuff on the street in Ann Arbor, directly from the artist, than through an excretion site of the very evil Thomas Kinkade machine, or some other art-by-the-yard operation.

For a long time now, I’ve been thinking about the Art Fair and all the money it brings into Ann Arbor, and wondering if there might not be an opportunity for us in Ypsilanti to do something, either somewhat similar or completely contrary, that would bring people here. My first thought was that we could have some kind of locals-only event, catering to the folks in Ann Arbor who wanted a break from all the Art Fair madness. Ultimately, however, I decided that it would take too much coordination with local merchants to pull off. I also thought that it might lead to bad blood between Ann Arbor and Ypsi merchants, with the former thinking that we were trying to siphon off their much needed business.

So, I started thinking about the possibility of an event focusing on local creative types that we could have either before or after Art Fair. As luck would have it, at about the same time that I was thinking about all of this, a few of us who had been selling our products through Jennifer Album’s store, Henrietta Fahrenheit (which, sadly, went out of business six months ago or so), started meeting to discuss the problems and opportunities that come along with being a small indie in a sea of big business. (We call ourselves the Michigan Craft Militia, although the members represent a scope of activities broader than the word “craft” would imply.) Well, they liked the idea and started working wth me n fleshing it out.

With these people at the core, we’ve begun to plan for an event in Ypsi, at an as yet undisclosed (but very cool) location, on Saturday, July 15, smack dab between Elvisfest and Art Fair. The working title of the event is The Shadow Art Fair, and the focus is, to put it simply, on local people who make interesting things. We’re just starting, but we’ve got clothing designers, zine publishers, jewelry makers, artists, photographers, record labels and all sorts of other people lined up already. While I don’t expect that we’ll get even .25% of the half-million people that Art Fair, now in it’s 46th year, will attract, I think that those that do come will have a damned good time, and find interesting, unique things that they’d never be able to find otherwise. Just as importantly, however, we’ll be giving people an opportunity to meet, network and discuss the world that exists beyond designer labels and blind (bland) mass-consumerism.

And, most exciting to me, I think The Shadow Art Fair is going to be the perfect little thing for Ypsi, a town, unlike many in America right now, that has been able to keep its unique identity in spite of the rising tide of suburban homogenization. If anyplace should have a DIY Festival, it’s Starbucks-free Ypsilanti. And, while I wouldn’t want this to come across as anti-Art Far, or anti-Ann Arbor in any way, I think that the event, if it comes off like I think that it has the potential to, will show Ypsi to be the kind of place that still values individual creativity and the work of inspired visionaries (in the tradition of Windsor McKay, Elijah McCoy, and Iggy Pop). So….

“Long live Ypsi, and the ability to make shit for ourselves.”

Wish us luck…. And, if you’d like to help out in any way, let me know — especially if you have an idea for a logo.

See you on July 15. (Put it on your calendar.) More news to follow.

Posted in Art and Culture | 7 Comments

“in case of over-population, spread ebola”

By Mark | April 13, 2006

A few weeks ago, Dr. Eric Pianka, in a presentation before the Texas Academy of Science, apparently suggested that, if we want this planet of ours to stay viable, we should find a way to thin the human herd by about 90%. The doctor’s prescription? Ebola.

As you might imagine, some in the doctor’s audience were shocked and horrified. A majority, however, were not. The doctor received a standing ovation after his presentation and was then, a few hours later, named the Distinguished Texas Scientist of 2006… Following are the notes taken by one of the audience members who wasn’t clapping.

…Something curious occurred a minute before Pianka began speaking. An official of the Academy approached a video camera operator at the front of the auditorium and engaged him in animated conversation. The camera operator did not look pleased as he pointed the lens of the big camera to the ceiling and slowly walked away.

This curious incident came to mind a few minutes later when Professor Pianka began his speech by explaining that the general public is not yet ready to hear what he was about to tell us. Because of many years of experience as a writer and editor, Pianka’s strange introduction and the TV camera incident raised a red flag in my mind. Suddenly I forgot that I was a member of the Texas Academy of Science and chairman of its Environmental Science Section. Instead, I grabbed a notepad so I could take on the role of science reporter…

He then showed solutions for reducing the world’s population in the form of a slide depicting the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. War and famine would not do, he explained. Instead, disease offered the most efficient and fastest way to kill the billions that must soon die if the population crisis is to be solved…

AIDS is not an efficient killer, he explained, because it is too slow. His favorite candidate for eliminating 90 percent of the world’s population is airborne Ebola (Ebola Reston), because it is both highly lethal and it kills in days, instead of years. However, Professor Pianka did not mention that Ebola victims die a slow and torturous death as the virus initiates a cascade of biological calamities inside the victim that eventually liquefy the internal organs…

He spoke glowingly of the police state in China that enforces their one-child policy. He said, “Smarter people have fewer kids.” He said those who don’t have a conscience about the Earth will inherit the Earth, “…because those who care make fewer babies and those that didn’t care made more babies.” He said we will evolve as uncaring people, and “I think IQs are falling for the same reason, too”…

Yet five hours later, the distinguished leaders of the Texas Academy of Science presented Pianka with a plaque in recognition of his being named 2006 Distinguished Texas Scientist. When the banquet hall filled with more than 400 people responded with enthusiastic applause, I walked out in protest…

Maybe I should be outraged too, as a huge proponent of civil and human rights, but, as much as I’d really hate to have my family wiped out, it sounds to me as though it’s probably a course of action worth considering along with all the other conceivable options. Yeah, it would suck, but, all things considered, maybe it would be better than just slowly starving to death, and killing the planet in the process. (Speaking of other options, I just had an idea. What if we just made a global announcement this afternoon that anyone who kills nine other people gets to live? That would essentially accomplish the same thing, right? We could give each person on the planet a vest with nine clear pockets. Then, every time you killed someone, you’d simply put their scalp (and all of the scalps that he or she had with them at the time of your encounter) into the pockets of your vest. And, once you got to nine, you couldn’t be killed. (It would be cool if you’d get flown to some really great place, like Euro Disney, upon reaching the magic number, but my guess is that you’d just get some kind of special hat that identified you as a winner.) Instead of scalps, we could also use noses.)

My main concern with the Ebola idea isn’t that it would kill most of us, but that when it came time to implement, that it probably wouldn’t be done equitably. The rich, I’m guessing, would be given the opportunity to buy vaccines, or at least be given a head-start so that they could get settled in their remote bunkers. (There was a wealthy family in the town that I grew up in. From what mutual friends told me, they had a pretty elaborate underground bunker system, created for the purposes of surviving a nuclear war. They also, according to reliable sources, were on a list of people to be contacted if/when missiles were headed toward the U.S., giving them ample time to get situated. I’m pretty sure my family wasn’t on any such list.)

I could write about this for hours, but I have sticks to sharpen, pits to dig and combat moves to learn.

[See also the Four Pillars of The Church of Euthanasia: suicide, abortion, cannibalism, and sodomy.]

update: Apparently Pianka did not advocate the killing of people with Ebola. He simply stated that something along those lines might very well happen. See the comments section for details.

Posted in Observations | 10 Comments