open call

Posted on June 19, 2008

‘sup folks -

this one goes out to hip hop artists in particular.

i’ve had this idea for a concept album floating around in my head for a while but haven’t had the time to sit down and write it all out, and as i was thinking about it again yesterday i realized it would make a great compilation.

the comp would be called ‘letters from the underground’ and the idea is an album made up of songs that are all letters from members of an underground revolutionary cell.  the setting is a dystopian not-too-distant future where the threat of ‘terrorism’, rising oil prices, and looming economic collapse have allowed corporations to seize control of everything directly and set up a ‘ruling committee’ made up of the heads of all the biggest corporations that rules all of north america (and from there most of the rest of the world) by direct decree.  it’d be light on the sci-fi ish, heavy on politics.  Something like an updated version of 1984, but told with personal stories and a variety of perspectives and in the form of music.

the letters could be about anything – how much someone misses their family, a poem for a comrade who’s been killed by the pigs, political rants about the system, ballads about if and how nonviolent resistance is still possible, songs about direct action and underground organizing in the face of heavy repression, even accounts of hunting down and assassinating members of the ruling committee, anything.

it’d be distributed online for free as a promo over the rapanarchists.net site and include links to websites and info for all of the artists who contributed.  i’d like to have it be a compilation of only explicitly anarchist hip hop artists, but if there isn’t enough interest I’ll open it up to other genres of music as well.

If you’re interested, let me know.  we need 8-14 tracks total to make this work.  feel free to forward this if you know someone who’d be a good addition to the comp.

the deadline to send in tracks would be end of july, august at the latest.

Eulogy for Utah Phillips

Posted on May 24, 2008

I just got the news that Utah Phillips, one of the strongest and most consistent voices in America for the rights and dignity of working class people and for a free world based on human values, has passed away in his sleep at the age of 73. (http://www.kvmr.org/utah_letter.html – Utah Phillips has Left the Stage)

What follows are just a few of my thoughts, as one performer to another, speaking about a man who influenced me and my music tremendously over the years. I would not presume to present this as anything other then that, just a few words of gratitude and sorrow, nothing more. Utah’s family has posted an official obituary on his website – http://utahphillips.com/. Ya’ll should go check it out. Also, The family requests memorial donations to Hospitality House, P.O. Box 3223, Grass Valley, California 95945 (530) 271-7144 www.hospitalityhouseshelter.org

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What’s in a Name?

Posted on April 16, 2008

An open letter to all my fans, friends, supporters, & comrades.

Ya know, it’s funny how much little things – trivial things – mean. Take names for instance, a few letters, a syllable or three, a totally meaningless abstract symbol – and yet it can contain a persons entire identity, history, sense of self even. It’s huge. I’ve been thinking about names a lot lately, not least because I’ve noticed that there are an awful lot of folks running around calling themselves Lynx. I can’t blame ‘em, after all Lynx’s are pretty damn cool, but it does present a bit of a problem for me since as an independent musician all I really have is my name and whatever name recognition I’ve earned in the last decade or so since I started making music and in the last seven years since I released my first album. Read more