That powerful new Johhny Cash video

Last week Columbia Records released a brand new video for a Johnny Cash song as a way of promoting a new album of lost Johnny Cash songs to be released on March 25.

I've been watching it repeatedly everyday since its release. It is powerful imagery and it captures a lot in just under four minutes.

The video starts with some recorded dialogue by Cash: "I'm no slave to whistle, clock, or bell; Nor weak-eyed prisoner of Wall Street.  Let me be easy on the man that's down; Let me be square and generous with all.  And guide me on the long, dim trail ahead that stretches upward, toward the great divide."

The video then takes you on a road trip of America: of the downtrodden, juxtaposed with the luxury that few in this country are privileged to.  Sometimes in color, but mostly in black and white, we see Downtown L.A. Skid Row and its residents; native peoples living in the reservations; jails and prisons and the men who are housed there.

My favorite scene looks like it takes place while driving by a reservation.  From a drivers point of view we see a house with large words spray-painted on them, it says, "My heroes have always killed cowboys."

In a press statement, the Director of the video, John Hillcoat, says:

The lyrics seemed to speak to America as it is now, to the nation that loved him and to the great divide he fought so hard against. This divide has only grown exponentially since he died, so we wanted to show America under this stark light and as a homage to the very reason Cash always wore black: to the shameful increase of the disenfranchised and outsiders

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To watch the video and learn more click HERE.

Tom Morello & others Join Occupy Guitarmy

As many of you radicals know, this May first is International Workers Day, (also known as May Day), and the Occupy Movement is calling on people to participate in a General Strike (No work, no school, no business as usual). Over in New York, specific plans have been made for large protest marches that will include a "Guitarmy."

A call has been made for a 1000 musicians to enlist and other blogs have reported that The Nightwatchman, (AKA Tom Morello), will be leading this guitarmy to Union Square where he will be performing at 4 p.m. alongside artists like Immortal Technique, Ben Harper, Das Racist, and others. Morello has showed the Occupy Movement a lot of support; he's played some sets at a few of the Occupy encampments around the country, including in L.A., and even did a dance party for Occupy at SXSW earlier this year.

Here is what Pitchfork Media has said about the march route:

Morello will also lead a "Guitarmy" of 1,000 guitarists, string players, and singers that will march from New York's Bryant Park, through midtown Manhattan, down to Union Square, culminating in a performance at 4 p.m. An open rehearsal for the performance will begin at 12 p.m. in Bryant Park, to practice Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land", Sergio Ortega's "El Pueblo Unido", Willie Nile's "One Guitar", the Nightwatchman's "World Wide Rebel Song", and the traditional protest song "We Shall Not Be Moved".

The song list seems pretty tame and lame to me, but this is still a pretty cool idea!

Shepard Fairey Remixes 'Hope,' Twice!

When it was announced that world-famous street artist Shepard Fairey had remixed his famous (or infamous, depending on how you look at it) "Hope" poster that was made a household image during the Obama presidential campaign, I had mixed reactions to it. On the one hand, he modified it to support the Occupy movement! However, it was still showed illusions that Obama was on the side of the people, as the bottom of the poster read, "Mister President, we HOPE you're on our side." On his blog, Fairey said:

"This image represents my support for the Occupy movement, a grassroots movement spawned to stand up against corruption, imbalance of power, and failure of our democracy to represent and help average Americans. On the other hand, as flawed as the system is, I see Obama as a potential ally of the Occupy movement if the energy of the movement is perceived as constructive, not destructive. I still see Obama as the closest thing to “a man on the inside” that we have presently. . ."

Obviously, Obama--who hasn't defended the Occupy movement, much less defended it--is not on the side of the 99%. Clearly, many people--who didn't know--have realized that Obama was put in power to represent the 1%.

Apparently, I was not the only one disappointed with the image. Turns out that some Occupy Wall Street organizer sent him a response thanking him for his artistic contribution, but also recommending some changes because he believed the image was not "non-partisan" and seemed like it could misconstrue the Occupy Movement as a front for an Obama re-election campaign. In his blog, Fairey responded to the suggestion, and although he did not fully agree with him, he did revise the Occupy Hope poster! (See below: it reads, "We are the HOPE").

I believe Fairey should be commended, not only for the new version, but for being open to such suggestions.

Miley Cyrus' new radical video

Look, I know what most people are thinking already. I know many people's first instinct is to not care that Hannah Montana is on the side of Occupy Wall Street protesters. But, I actually think this is a pretty big deal.

I mean, this is definitely not the best sounding pop-song ever, and the lyrics are very simple, but the video to this song, ("Liberty Walk"), is fuck'n great!

First of all, the video starts with these words: "This is dedicated to the thousands of people who are standing up for what they believe in..." How can you be against that?

Secondly, the video is nothing but footage from recent protests from all over the world, of people standing up to their governments, corporate greed, and even capitalism. Most of the footage is actually of the Occupy protests around the U.S. (like New York, Oakland, Davis and other cities).

Obviously, Miley's image has been very well crafted by Disney to make them millions, so it's astonishing to me that she's been allowed to make a pro-protest song, and even more that the video contains footage that exposes police brutality. If anything, this video is worth tripping out on. (The last final seconds are very nice).

Original source: Dangerous Minds

Pop-culture support for Occupy Movement

The Occupy Movement, which started with Occupy Wall Street--and has exploded all over the country, has garnered much support from various types of people across the nation, including a lot of people well known in popular culture. I have listed a few and some of what they've said:

Occupy Writers- This started out as a couple dozen writers who pledged to "support Occupy Wall Street and the Occupy Movement around the world," but quickly grew to more than 200 authors. They include some very well established authors like Margaret Atwood, Alice Walker, Neil Gaiman, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Naomi Klein. (Rick Remender, who writes X-Force for Marvel Comics, is also included). Some of the writers have also contributed essays about the Occupy Movement, like children's author Lemony Snicket who wrote a very clever piece, "Thirteen Observations made by Lemony Snicket while watching Occupy Wall Street from a Discreet Distance."

Henry Rollins- A former singer of one of the best hardcore punk bands, Black Flag, wrote a lengthy column in support of the Occupy Movement for his LA Weekly blog last month. In it, he says things like, "People will understand that the Occupy protests are truly organic -- which is why it sometimes looks like there is confusion amongst them. As the weeks go by, every police officer who stomps on and attempts ruinous harm to the First Amendment with arrests will only attract more people to the protests."

Boots Riley- If you're looking for someone on Twitter for insights and information on Occupy Oakland, Boots is the guy to follow! It's not surprise that he has been out there taking over the streets with other Bay area natives, as his music with The Coup and Street Sweeper Social Club is highly political. On November 12, he tweeted, "#OccupyOakland scares em cuz we make connections w labor&studnts&push fightin WallStreet n the workplace.They try2discourage those connects."

Christopher Nolan- The director of such films as "Memento," "Batman Begins," and "Inception" was actually going to film scenes from his current Batman flick, "The Dark Knight Rises," with Occupy Wall Street in the background. However, they changed their minds because, as one website put it, Nolan did not want to "co-opt what’s happening there and around the country."

Superheroes- Click HERE for a funny link that has fictional characters like Superman and Luke Skywalker showing their support for the 99%.

Cartoonists on Occupy Movement

Today, the Cartoon Movement website started a series of cartoons related to the Occupy Movement. The cartoons are from three different artists, covering three different cities. Some of them show the encampments, but most of them do a very good job of describing some of the protesters and various types of people that are participating in this movement.

From their website:

Over the last two months, the Occupy movement has captured worldwide attention. Cartoonists have been on the scene sketching, reporting, and participating. So we asked some of our contributors to share their drawings. Susie Cagle, Sharon Rosenzweig, and Shannon Wheeler bring us sketches from Oakland, Chicago, and New York respectively. We'll have another batch from different cities next week.

My favorite cartoons were from Shannon Wheeler, whose work I'm familiar with because of his Too Much Coffee Man cartoons. Definitely looking forward to the next batch.

Support this: Occupy Comics

I was very excited to find out about this, this past weekend: Some one has taken it upon themselves to organize comic-book writers and artists to create an anthology of comics related to the Occupy Movement, that will also be a fundraiser.

Their web-site and kickstarter page gives these details:

Unless you're living under a rock, you've heard about the Occupy Wall Street movement that has spread across the country and around the world. We believe this is an incredibly unique movement that transcends the usual partisan gridlock and could have a profound affect on all our futures. Even if it dissolves completely, it has changed the conversation in the country and around the world in a way that deserves to be remembered....

This book is intended to be a time capsule of the passions and emotions driving the movement. We are comic book & graphic novel artists and writers who've been inspired by the movement and hope to tell the stories of the people who are out there putting themselves at risk for an idea. What is that idea? Most of the media will tell you the idea is a vague and befuddled mess, but movements don't coalesce around vague, befuddled messes. We hope that through the medium of comics we can share some of the ideas and experiences driving this movement.

What stood out to me about this project is that the contributors are a mix of indie artists and more well-established comic-book creators. Some of the creators who have already signed on to participate are long-time Marvel and DC writer J.M. DeMatteis; "Manhunter" scribe Marc Andreyko; indie artist Molly Crabapple; "30 Days of Night" creator Steve Niles; illustrator Ben Templesmith; "Hack/Slash" creator Tim Seeley; and many others.

I can't wait to donate to this project and check out the finished product (which unfortunately, will take many months). Support this!

Poets Also Occupy Wall Street

The mainstream media is going out of their way to make sure you haven't heard about a movement going on in New York City called Occupy Wall Street, but that has been slowly changing. And, although I don't see this movement as a revolutionary movement, I do think it's a great thing that is going on and it could lead to some very interesting things!

The other day, I was very excited to find out that poetry has now become a part of the #OccupyWallStreet movement. They started a poetry page on Facebook and it seems like they are organizing events and even established a Poetry Corner at Liberty Plaza where many people are camping out (for 12 straight days now).

Below is one of the short statements they have posted up:

"The poetry corner is now open on the northeast corner of the park. It is a public, democratic site. Anyone can organize a reading or event there as long as it is done through consensus with those present. This is leaderless movement. We would like to be the community we seek. Please respect everyone through the use of a vote. Ask for permission from others to speak. Listen to one another. Let everyone’s voice be heard. In doing so, we’ll perform not only poetry but true, participatory democracy."

Original Source: Harriet Blog