Uma vez perguntei pra um amigo meu, numa dessas várias conversas sobre música na mesa de um bar, se ele lembrava dessa banda. Já ouvi chamarem isso de Punk Rock, Hardcore, mistura de Hardcore e Punk, Pop Punk e até Nerdcore. No fim das contas o que vale é se vc vai gostar ou não do que vai ouvir. Um detalhe bacana sobre esse disco é que ele é de 1982. O primeiro dessa banda da Califórnia. Bom, pode ser que esse leve distanciamento da sujeira normalmente presente no Punk Rock tenha sido o início do hardcore mais melódico dos californianos (NOFX, Pennywise, No Use For A Name, …)

Download: Descendents – Milo Goes to College

Tracklist
1 – Myage
2 – I Wanna Be A Bear
3 – I’m Not A Loser
4 – Parents
5 – Tonyage
6 – I’m Not A Punk
7 – M-16
8 – Catalina
9 – Suburban Home
10 – Statue Of Liberty
11 – Kabuki Girl
12 – Marriage
13 – Hope
14 – Bikeage
15 – Jean Is Dead

I’m not sure I could be further away from John Denver than today’s album, a greatest hits effort from California hardcore pop punks The Descendents.

I’m pretty sure Denver didn’t pen any tunes about flatulence, coprophagia or whale-sperm on hamburgers, nor did he drop the c-bomb or issue a manifesto stating “thou shalt not commit laundry”.

And it’s his loss.

These guys deliver rapidfire tracks high on angst but with tongues firmly planted in cheeks.

I first became aware of these guys through the embarrassingly influential Pump the Volume flick – this scene in particular:

That tune is one of six on this album that come in at under 45 seconds in length. I like food is similarly catchy, and they manage to pack 19 lines of lyrics into the 43 second I wanna be a bear. The album isn’t all so expeditious. As a compilation, it also captures their adventures into poppier territory, including tracks like Coolidge which are better than much of Green Day’s output:

I wouldn’t listen to this most days of my life, but if I wanna pogo around the house (or impersonate a young Christian Slater), it’s near the top of my list.

File under: Some tasty flummery

Do ponto de vista jornalístico, o rock deveria produzir mais caras legais como Sergie Loobkoff — o mesmo vale pela visão de um fã de “boa música”. Entrevistar o guitarrista do Samiam pela segunda vez – sete anos após a primeira conversa — confirma a afirmação!

De malas prontas para o segundo giro pelo Brasil, os californianos a princípio fariam apenas um show em São Paulo (no dia 06/12, no Hangar 110), mas Mr. Loobkoff revela que São José dos Campos e Rio de Janeiro também terão a oportunidade de vê-los ao vivo — por enquanto no MySpace deles só consta a do Rio, dia 10/12!

Confira a conversa exclusiva que tivemos com Sergie, nela ele conta das lembranças da tour brasileira de 2002, de seu trabalho como designer gráfico, literatura, Obama, as maiores farsas da música atual, e, claro, as expectativas para os shows por aqui!

Entrevista: Sergie Loobkoff (Samiam)
Por Ricardo Tibiu
Tradução: Marina Melchers

Queria começar falando da turnê que vocês fizeram por aqui em 2002, mas é impossível não lembrar de uma coisa em particular. Eu te entrevistei por e-mail antes de virem pra cá e na época eu escrevia para um jornal grande daqui… Enfim, quando vi o texto publicado tomei um susto, o editor não pensou duas vezes e o título da matéria foi: “Californianos trazem emocore ao Brasil”…
[Risos] Isso provavelmente foi na época em que a palavra “emocore” era bastante popular e quem sabe seu editor achou que as pessoas teriam mais interesse em ler a matéria. É, a gente não grita e não faz peripécias com as guitarras jogando elas para o alto ou usa maquiagem… então espero que não tenhamos decepcionado ninguém.

Então, como você definiria o som do Samiam para uma pessoa que nunca o ouviu antes?
Essa pergunta é bastante comum quando dou entrevistas. Na verdade, eu nunca falo para as pessoas que conheço ou com quem trabalho que já tive uma banda. E se eles descobrem e perguntam, geralmente respondo “rock… mais ou menos como Foo Fighters ou Green Day”. Eu imagino que se elas nunca ouviram falar do Samiam, então elas não têm interesse ou não sabem muito sobre punk rock. Foo Fighters e Green Day são os pontos de referência mais próximos para elas. Se eu dissesse “nossa banda é mais ou menos como Lemonheads com Bad Brains ou Descendents”, elas diriam “nunca ouvi falar dessas bandas” [risos].
Na verdade eu detesto quando amigos me apresentam para as pessoas dizendo que eu fazia parte de uma banda… para mim é embaraçoso. Geralmente a pessoa pergunta “qual é o nome da sua banda? Ah, nunca ouvi falar…” [risos].

Voltando à tour de 2002, quais são suas lembranças dela?
Nos divertimos tanto… aquela turnê nos levou a vários lugares do Brasil e vimos muitas coisas e conhecemos tanta gente. No meio da turnê eu fiquei muito doente, não comi ou dormi por três dias. Foi horrível. Quando melhorei eu senti como se o peso do mundo tivesse sido tirado das minhas costas, porque ficar assim tão doente em turnê é difícil demais. Eu dormia no chão do ônibus, nos pés de todo mundo, suando como um louco e ao mesmo tempo congelando. E aí eu precisava tocar quando mal conseguia parar em pé. Mas a melhor coisa foi conhecer muitas pessoas legais. Estamos muito ansiosos para ver muitas delas novamente. Bem, com sorte, se elas ainda se interessam e vêm aos shows. Quando você faz parte de uma banda há tanto tempo, é engraçado como as pessoas param de vir aos shows… Elas podem vir aos shows ano após ano, mas em determinado momento elas se casam ou arranjam um bom emprego, e aí perdem o interesse nessa bobagem de punk rock [risos].

Da outra vez vocês vieram para cerca de 10 shows e desta vez teremos uma única apresentação. Por que isso? As pessoas de fora de São Paulo tão achando que o Samiam não gostou delas… Ok, tô brincando!
Originalmente seria apenas São Paulo, mas agora vamos tocar em São José dos Campos e no Rio também. Eu não sei qual a explicação para menos shows, talvez porque vamos tocar no Chile e Argentina dessa vez, então foi uma questão de tempo e também dos compromissos dos membros da banda. Eu adoraria voltar a todas cidades… a decisão não foi da banda. Em São José dos Campos vamos tocar com o Dead Fish, estou muito ansioso para vê-los, vai ser muito legal! Eu gostaria que pudéssemos tocar em Santos com o Garage Fuzz de novo, é uma pena!

O Samiam e o Jawbreaker foram citados no romance Eeeee Eee Eeee (2007), de Tao Lin. Em tempos de crise fonográfica e artistas/músicas tão ruins, acha que foi uma forma de valorização do trabalho de vocês?
Eu nunca conheci Tao Lin pessoalmente, mas trocamos e-mails porque ele queria permissão para publicar algumas de nossas letras. Parece ser um cara legal. É um bom escritor também. Acho que ele é simplesmente uma pessoa que gosta de nossas bandas, então é sempre legal saber de alguém que aprecia o que fazemos. Eu não sei quanto a “valorizar nosso trabalho”, isso soa como se nós nos levássemos muito a sério. O Samiam não é um “trabalho” e nós definitivamente sabemos que há um milhão de bandas por aí, não somos nada de muito especial. Mas é legal. O Jawbreaker é mencionado em um livro de um escritor famoso chamado Dennis Cooper, da década de 90… Eu fiquei extremamente impressionado com aquilo quando o li. Na verdade fiquei chocado e surpreso. O livro era muito estranho, mais ou menos como uma história de amor através dos olhos de um pedófilo… Um homem mais velho e um garoto adolescente… [risos] definitivamente algo que a maioria das pessoas não conseguiria suportar. Era muito estranho… Pensando nisso agora, não faço ideia de por que comecei a lê-lo. Deve ter sido porque alguém me recomendou!

Aproveitando, o Samiam tem cerca de duas décadas e “somente” sete discos, sendo o mais recente de 2006. É impressão minha ou vocês gravam pouco? Já existem planos para um novo álbum?
Pra dizer a verdade, lançamos seis discos em 11 anos, de 1989 a 2000. Não é nada mau. E aí, basicamente, a banda acabou… ou parou de fazer turnês ou gravar seriamente. Nos últimos nove anos fizemos uma turnê ou outra por ano, mas não trabalhamos a banda como nos anos 90. Em 2006, tentamos fazer um sétimo disco, mas foi um fiasco total, alguns de nós brigávamos muito e acabamos fazendo um disco abaixo dos padrões, que me decepcionou muito. As músicas são muito boas, mas o som é horrível. Basicamente há uma divisão na banda, onde uma pessoa quer que o Samiam se torne algo totalmente diferente, mais thrash e com o som fodido, e eu quero que o Samiam soe como Samiam. Para mim, nossas gravações devem ser bastante nítidas, claras e poderosas. Isso era basicamente o motivo das brigas.
Recentemente falamos sobre fazer um disco novo… e eu escrevi e gravei (de forma caseira) nove faixas que acho que seriam ótimas canções do Samiam… mas realmente precisamos dar um jeito na tensão dentro da banda com relação às nossas intenções antes de nos comprometermos a fazer um disco novo. Fazer outro álbum de que eu não tivesse orgulho é algo que partiria meu coração. Ainda assim acho que poderíamos realmente nos redimir com um disco novo “quebrando tudo” em 2010. Vamos ter que esperar para ver!

Quais seriam seus três discos prediletos atualmente?
Isso muda sempre, mas nesse momento eu diria que amo o Where You Been, do Dinosaur Jr., How It Works, do Bodyjar e o álbum branco dos Beatles.

E as três maiores farsas da música mundial de hoje?
Eu não presto muita atenção no cenário musical, mas sempre há os grandes pop stars que são bobos e fazem algo que atraia as massas para ganharem dinheiro sem nenhuma consideração pela arte ou talento. É simplesmente assim que funciona. Uma coisa que tento nunca fazer é escolher determinadas bandas ou artistas e dizer que são horríveis. Claro, eu não gosto de Jonas Brothers ou do Kanye West, mas eles são importantes para muitas pessoas… Então quem sou eu para dizer qualquer coisa negativa sobre eles?! Eu só penso [risos]. Claro, eu acabo de escolher os Jonas Brothers e o Kanye West, então estou sendo um hipócrita… que se foda: eu os odeio! [risos].

Você é designer gráfico, ainda tem feito trabalhos para bandas?
Sim, mas há 10 anos eu fazia umas duas capas de disco por mês, e agora, com a indústria fonográfica na merda, faço uma a cada dois meses. É bastante triste, mas não há dinheiro na música, então não há trabalho. A maioria das bandas tem um amigo que cuida disso para eles de graça. Recentemente fiz a arte do último Strung Out [Agents of the Underground, Fat Wreck Chords, 2009] e estou trabalhando com algo para o Piebald… E fiz uma caixa para o aniversário de 15 anos da Hopeless Records, mas é isso, agora a maior parte da minha clientela não faz parte da indústria fonográfica.

Aliás, ainda sobre esse assunto, fiquei sabendo que recentemente rolaram uns “art shows” e, inclusive, com a participação de nomes como H.R. (Bad Brains), Walter Schreifels (Gorilla Biscuits, Rival Schools), Jonah Matranga (Far, Gratitude), Steve Soto (Agent Orange, Adolescents) e Jeff Pezzati (Naked Raygun, Big Black). Como eram esses eventos e como foi reunir esse time de peso?
Isso foi no final de semana passado e foi muito divertido. Mas eu era apenas um dos artistas, não organizei nada… um cara chamado Joe Nelson [The Killing Flame, ex-Ignite] organizou tudo, trouxe os artistas até Los Angeles. Foi um evento beneficente para duas organizações de caridade, então foi muito legal. O H.R. foi muito interessante, ele é um velho estranho hoje. Parece ser legal e tranquilo, mas meio louco. O Walter foi incrível, ele tem tanta personalidade no palco… Eu não sou gay… mas aquele cara é muito charmoso! É melhor você não levar sua namorada ao show dele [risos]. Pezzati e Soto foram muito legais também. Foi muito legal… e eu vendi três peças também!

Como designer gráfico, como você vê a expansão que essa área teve? Concorda que, por exemplo, anos atrás ninguém diria que a street art e o graffiti se tornariam tão populares. Nem mesmo que a imagem mais forte usada por um candidato à presidência nos EUA seria assinada por um “artista que veio das ruas” – no caso, Shepard Fairey.
Eu não sou mesmo o tipo de artista que Shepard Fairey, então eu não quero parecer um cara metido. Mas falando como um fã de arte, eu acho legal que essa cena exista, que você possa ir a uma exposição onde Barry McGee ou Shepard estão expondo e há centenas de pessoas e muito entusiasmo. E é muito legal que caras como o Farofa, do Garage Fuzz, possam ser convidados para mostrarem sua arte em outros países. É maravilhoso. Mesmo se ele tenha vindo à Los Angeles no ano passado e não tenha entrado em contato comigo… eu só fiquei sabendo depois. Filho da puta! [risos]. E quanto à arte do Obama, Shepard é um grande artista. Antes disso ele fez capas para o Led Zeppelin e para o Smashing Pumpkins e outras coisas enormes, não é como se ele tivesse sido “descoberto” com o lance do Obama… Bem, eu acho que então para o público mainstream, talvez, então eu não fiquei exatamente surpreso. Eu acho que ele arranjou alguns problemas por ter usado uma foto sem autorização para aquele poster… que merda.

Pra finalizar, obrigado pela entrevista, quais são as expectativas para o show no Brasil. Algum recado aos brasileiros?
Minha única expectativa é me divertir. Não há rios de dinheiro e não estamos divulgando um disco ou coisa do tipo. Eu espero poder compartilhar algumas músicas com um público entusiasmado! Encontrar alguns velhos amigos e fazer novos. É sempre divertido estar em uma cidade legal tão longe de casa… São Paulo ou Rio ou São José, é legal. Estou sempre em Los Angeles, pode se tornar algo repetitivo [risos]. Espero que alguns de seus leitores brasileiros que leiam essa entrevista decidam ir até o show, vai saber quando ou se vamos voltar um dia! Obrigado!

Links relacionados:
www.myspace.com/highlightsounds
www.myspace.com/samiam
Sergie Loobkoff [arte]
www.ticketbrasil.com.br [venda online de ingressos]
www.hangar110.com.br

Schlitz

Remember Pub

Joi 12 noiembrie

!!!!

Este a doua oară când văd trioul punk, care cântă pe două voci, la o diferenţă de cinci-şase săptămâni. Mi-a făcut impresia unei formaţii cu poftă mare de cântat. În seara asta am aflat că solistul, care este din Bistriţa, a aşteptat doi ani ca să pună trupa asta la punct.

…

Iarăşi, s-a stat aproape o oră peste ora trecută pe afişe, pentru a da drumul la concert. Schlitz a reuşit să încălzească bine atmosfera pentru Ati & The Shadowbirds. Unii îmi spuneau că seamnănă cu Descendents (cei care au influenţat muzica celor de la Pixies şi REM), alţii comparau trupa cu Green Day (epoca Dookie), iar eu aveam o vagă imagine în minte a primelor albume Police cântate foarte murdar. Comunicarea între artişti pe scenă, contactul vizual cu publicul şi căldura emanată de notele originale ale trupei m-au impresionat plăcut. S-a dovedit o evoluţie clară în ultima lună de zile. Ţineţi-o tot aşa!

Next level: să înveţe publicul refrenele şi melodiile.

FOTO. Schlitz. 12.11.2009

VIDEO. Schlitz. 12.11.2009

MySpace: www.myspace.com/schlitzband

Hold onto your hats, the men from ALL are hitting the East Coast for their first shows there in 7 years! For those of you who have been living in a cave, ALL evolved from The Descendents, a band who once claimed they couldn’t sell out a telephone booth but whose impact on rock is undeniable. The Descendents created ALL, a concept celebrating the satisfaction that comes from one’s highest achievement, eventually naming their new band in tribute to their own personal ideology. After more than 25 years, there have been line-up changes and a complicated chronology for each member involving spouses, kids, doctorate degrees, labels and recording studios, making touring more of a challenge than in less complicated times. ALL will hit Cambridge, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Brooklyn in January 2010 with Scott Reynolds on vocals joining Bill Stevenson (drums), Karl Alvarez (bass) and Stephen Egerton (guitar).

After years of hiatus, ALL reunited at 2008’s Riot Fest in Chicago, setting the stage for additional shows in Japan and in Denver later that year. In July of this year the band headed to their homeland, Southern California for a series of shows, where they were joined by Descendents band mate Tony Lombardo at two shows. Another one-off show in Portland last month set the stage for this brand new set of shows on the opposite coast.

ALL will be joined by Off With Their Heads and Shot Baker for the following shows:

JAN 6 CAMBRIDGE, MA – THE MIDEAST
JAN 7 PHILADELPHIA, PA – FIRST UNITARIAN CHURCH
JAN 8 BALTIMORE, MD – THE OTTOBAR
JAN 9 BROOKLYN, NY – MUSIC HALL OF WILLIAMSBURG

I’m back from a much too brief break in the Spanish capital, visiting friends and old haunts. Discovered a few new ones, too, to which I’ll only happily return. I suppose a handful of days isn’t ever enough to figure out one’s life calling, although a small part of me was banking on some kind of epiphany as I wandered around Salesas and Malasaña. I was also hoping to see Yo, también, a movie about which I initially heard via Elefant Records, because Guille Milkyway (La Casa Azul) composed many of the songs (if not the entirety of the soundtrack?):

If you’ve heard any LCA/Guille stuff, you know that the soundtrack’s only sort of a departure from his usual J-pop/ELO-informed songs. The title track is nevertheless catchy and perfectly matches the mood of this particular love story, which effectively tugs at the heart strings (ok, dude with Down’s Syndrome falls in love with a “broken” woman…hmmm) and probably made a ton of San Sebastián attendees cry.

As for me, I’ve lately been in such a sentimental mood (um, did you see the last post?¹) that I can’t watch the official trailer without wincing…for fear of lacrimatic downpour. Anyway, I have a special sadsack playlist for that², which includes, among others: Jets to Brazil’s precious “Starry Configurations” (why am I waiting for you…to see I’m alive?), Descendents’ “I’m the One” (it says it all right there), and Red Stars Theory’s haunting “A Sailor’s Warning,” featuring the lovely Lois Maffeo on vocals. Now, if only I’d thought to complete the list with a For Stars track, then I’d be set (I have Camera Obscura’s “Let’s Go Bowling” instead), but that’s too much brooding and crying even for someone as sensitive as me. I’ve got too much to do before the winter break, and being depressed and indecisive isn’t going to cut it, unfortunately.

(Image: Adam Sprackling)

¹I even bought a bilingual German/Spanish copy of “The Book of Images” while I was in town!
²’sadsack’ really is the title!

LORD SHIVA- IS HE  A  DRAVIDIAN -ARYAN  HYBRID ?

 His appearance is singularly unattactive, as if he deliberately avoids friendship. Who will like to go near a person with a cobra on his head? He is kind to asuras, who are always fighting  the suras.
Vishnu is patron of the suras. He is sauve, well groomed and relaxed.  His followers, called vaishnavites, are strong in the North India.
People from the South, including Ravan, approach Shiva or help.
In Tamilnadu, the only area of true Dravidians, people are shivites. I doubt whether there is a single Krishna temple there.
In spite of their followers being at logger heads with each other, the two giants among Hindu gods, Shiva and Vishnu, are on very good terms. Once Vishnu assumed the guise of an enchantress. Shiva was so captivated by her charms that he ran after her, and had premature discharge, littering the world with the white metal silver. I read it in Bhagavat Puran. If you read it as a book, just to increase your knowledge, it is an excellent work, whose central theme is :” tragedy of life.”The innumerable number of stories are interesting and offer valuable lessons to the reader.
Vishnu resides in Vaikunth, nearer to the paradise, presided over by Indra.There, all are eating, drinking wines and enjoying the company of dancing girls. Why was Vishnu so partial to them is a mystery. And the two groups, the suras and asuras are descendents of the same parent, with two wives, Dity and Adity. So the story needs investigation by scientific historians. My hypothesis is, that the suras were uncompramising aryans, who conquered the whole of the north Indian plains. The weaker asuras went into the forests, came to terms with the tribals, and resisted the suras’s further advanncement into the southern peninsula. (Some similariy with the Naxal movement ?)  Both tried to befriend the Dravidians, called monkeys because of their black colour and unaryan features.
Shiva lives in Kailash, near Manasarover, unapproachable now. In those days, it was easily accessible. The way to Kalash is green forests, as described in Bhagavat Puran. So the Himalayas may be in their infancy.
Some food for thought !

Fat Wreck Chords estará editando un boxset de 3 cds, esto por motivo de celebrar sus 20 años de creación. La label empezo en 1990 pero edito su primer material dos años despues. El pimer disco incluria exitos del pasado, el segundo canciones raras o “lados B”, el tercero será el 7″ Club del 2001 en un solo cd.

El release incluira 88 canciones de Against Me!, American Steel, Anti-Flag, Avail, Bracket, Chixdiggit!, Consumed, Dead To Me, Descendents, The Dickies, Dillinger Four, Enemy You, Epoxies, Face to Face, The Flatliners, Frenzal Rhomb, Goober Patrol, Good Riddance, Hi-Standard, Lagwagon, The Lawrence Arms, Less Than Jake, The Loved Ones, MxPx, Mad Caddies, Me First and The Gimme Gimmes, NOFX, Nerf Herder, No Use For A Name, None More Black, One Man Army, Only Crime, Propagandhi, Randy, The Real McKenzies, Rise Against, The Sainte Catherines, Screeching Weasel, Sick Of It All, Smoke Or Fire, Snuff, The Soviettes, Star Fucking Hipsters, Strike Anywhere, Strung Out, Swingin’ Utters, Tilt, The Vandals, Western Addiction, Wizo y Zero Down.

No hace mucho que mi sobrino adolescente empezo a darle al patín, me ha costado lo suyo, pero finalmente se ha visto atrapado por su encanto, evoluciona con rapidez y ha empezado a interesarse por todo lo relacionado con la cultura skate. Hara unas semanas lo sorprendí escuchando a los Clash, de algun modo me sentí orgulloso, le pregunte al instante que le parecian y me comento que le gustaban mucho, no me lo podia creer, le dije que tenia esos discos en vinilo lo que devino en una cara de extrañeza….¿vinilo?. En cualquier caso pasados unos dias me llamo para que le grabara algo de musica para patinar, sí tito sí, esa musica que tu escuchas, le comente que yo escuchaba todo tipo de musica aunque evidentemente sabia a que se refería. Inmediatamente me puse a grabarle cuatro o cinco discos que considero fundamentales, al menos para un adolescente con una cierta inquietud contracultural. No podia ser de otro modo, el primer disco que se me vino a la cabeza era obvio, los que os sintais identificado con lo que os cuento sabreis a quienes me refiero. Seguidamente me puse a buscar y rebuscar para acompañar esos discos con un recopilatorio de skate rock, o lo que yo entiendo por skate rock,  aunque este termino simplifique en mucho la magnitud de algunas de estas bandas. Desconozco los gustos musicales del adolescente skaterino actual, pero a los que fuisteis parte de este movimiento hace ya algunos años seguro que lo que vais a escuchar os removera todo por dentro.

No estan todos los que son, pero si son todos los que estan, muchas son bandas miticas, clasicos del genero, otros poco o nada tienen que ver con el mundillo skate aunque si formaron parte de la epoca, para mi claro.

Skate rock comp. (Folk Core)

1. Milk “The knife song”

2. Fugazy “Waiting room”

3. Descendents “Coolidge”

4. Operation Ivy “Sound system”

5. Circle Jerks “Wild in the streets”

6. Doggy Style “Dont hit me up”

7. Ramones “Bonzo goes to bitburg”

8. The Jam “The modern world”

9. Dinosaur Jr “Just like heaven”

10. Angry  Samoans “Time has come”

11. Black Flag “TV party”

12. Wonderful Broken Things ” Roam around”

13. Kirk and the jerks “One way to do it”

14. Lemonheads “Amazing grace”

15. Sub Society “A lot less”

16. Operation Ivy “Knowledge”

17. Kirk and the Jerks “To be a hero”

18. Lemonheads “Ever”

19. Husker Du “First of the last calls”

20. Wipe Out Skaters “Cañonazo”

21. Devil Dogs “Be tru to your school”

22. Barracudas “I cant pretend”

23. Raunch Hands “Live for the sun”

24. Descendents “GCF”

25. Corn Flakes “I believe in you

26.Milk “Theres a war” (by Jason Lee)

27. Wonderful Broken things “Trains”

Aqui os dejo el enlace Skate Rock Comp.

]]> http://jarrodhart.wordpress.com/2009/10/18/family-tree-nonsense/ Sun, 18 Oct 2009 13:26:22 +0000 jarrodhart http://jarrodhart.wordpress.com/2009/10/18/family-tree-nonsense/

For many, learning about their family tree can be a real joy and pleasure.

Realising that a long distant grandfather was in the guild of barber-surgeons, or that you have a criminal or judge or, heaven forfend, someone famous in your lineage, can be a real thrill, and provide you with significant ego-boost, or perhaps a nice feeling of belonging.

The reason why it’s so often a positive experience, is due to an interesting mathematical oversight.

What do I mean?

This fractal can teach us something about ancestry: we have more ancestors than we tend to suppose...

I mean that people can read anything they want from a family tree, and this is made easy by the exponential nature of ancestry.

Would you find it remarkable for someone to say they were directly descended from Isaac Newton, Henry VIII or even Jesus? Would you think more of them?

What about people who say they are ‘from’ somewhere? – “my family originally come from Brittany…”, or “my family fought in the  revolutionary war…”

Analysis…

Now anyone who knows about the maths of ancestry, knows that there is actually very little remarkable about relations with famous people, especially from a long time back. If you have two parents and four grandparents, eight great-grand parents and so on, you can guess the numbers get big quite quickly.

The American revolutionary war was around 230 years ago, so perhaps eight or nine generations[1].  Nine generations back we had perhaps 2^9 (or 512) ancestors, and their folks were probably still around you can add them to the mix (another 1024)  giving over 1500 relatives, all swanning about somewhere in the world around the time of the war.

OK, you might want to reduce the number a bit due to some folks appearing  multiple times in your tree; (yes, in-breeding happens to all of us), but the number is probably still well in excess of  a thousand.

So, with over a thousand ancestors around at the time, the chance of having at least one involved in the war is pretty darn good (especially if you are were born to US citizens). I would argue that for anyone who can trace back three generations (to your eight great-grandparents) in the US, it would be far more remarkable if they didn’t have ancestors that fought in the war.

As you get further back in time, the numbers get more serious. A thousand years back , or forty generations, the straight maths gives 1 099 511 627 776 ancestors. Of course, this is impossible, as there were not enough people in the gene pool; the real number is clearly much lower and this is due to our old friend, in-breeding – where the family tree morphs into more of a family ‘web’ and involves the majority of the (breeding) population of your “gene pool”, the group that share enough in-breeding to behave somewhat like a super-organism. Where cross flow of genes between parts of the pool becomes retarded, (most usually by geographic barriers) the pool may divide and racial difference may develop.

Of course, we live in a time of great ‘connectivity’, and the US is a great example or a melting pot, with a very ‘open’ gene pool. This means that statistically, the chance that all 1000+ of one’s ancestors were around in the revolutionary war is hopelessly optimistic (unless there were special circumstances, like a closed community with a high degree of in-breeding, as may be the case with some religious groups).

So basically, anyone who says their family is all-American, “since the revolution” is being highly selective in their analysis.

Of course, western society does tend to invest much importance in the male line – which is far more specific – and would only give a couple of  chaps alive in ~1780, and if you can indeed prove this then the claim may be considered more interesting.

However, the argument that the male line is more important in some way (such as in the forming of character, or of any particular heritable trait) is pretty unconvincing. So even if you can trace a direct male line to Isaac Newton, this is no guarantee that you will pass your physics tests! Any advantages he had, will have been diluted by the 16,000 or so other folks who contributed just as many genes.

The male and  female lines can actually be traced (using mitochondrial DNA for the female line and Y-chromosomal DNA for the male line), but though this makes it easier to trace these ancestors,  it is perhaps still unwise to assume this line is more important than the thousands of other ancestors.

In the case of the USA, there is another factor, the large family sizes, and the resulting high population growth rate. The population present during the revolution have, by all accounts, been very fruitful. That means that even if you could trace your male line right back to, say, Thomas Jefferson, the chances are, you are not unique.

The Opinion Bit…

I am constantly annoyed by selective analysis of ancestry. I hope that the above simple illustrations alert the reader to this trickery, or at least confirm the reader’s suspicions (or convictions) that much of this is wishful thinking. What is most important to our own ‘value’ in the world is surely what we ourselves decide to do, not what our remote ancestors may have done.

However, I cannot deny that family research is still hugely interesting, even if what it really confirms is that we are all brothers and sisters, and none of us is superior due to our ancestry.

Don’t even get me started on so-called “royalty”!

[1] How long is a generation? http://www.ancestry.com/learn/library/article.aspx?article=11152

Topics: Fall Fashion, Stupid J Crew Barn Jackets Revisited, Dungarees, Long Trail Beer, Overly-Coddled College Kids, Classic Childhood Meals, Beatles Reissues and Favorite TV Comedies of All Time!

Playlist: Mystery of Two, Blind Pilot, Anavan, Owen and The Traditionist.

Preview: “What color is your comforter?” and “Just make one new friend every day!!!”

Play Now: http://www.usedwigs.com/pod/podcast66.mp3

iTunes: Download, Listen and Subscribe

Related Links:

• Long Trail Beer
• Chuck Klosterman Repeats The Beatles
• The Larry Sanders Show
• It’s Garry Shandling’s Show
• Taxi
• Kind of Blue
• The Ben Stiller Show
• Descendents T-Shirt
• The Making of Sgt Pepper
• Dusty Springfield – Beatles Medley

Usually I try to focus on bringing you tunes from the 80s and 90s, but this week I’m going to do more. I’ve got some great tracks from the early 80s and then some really recent bands and bands from the early 2000s that just go so good with the early new wave and punk sounds. I’m also going to be bringing along some classic late 80s/90s tracks. It will be a fun time.

Listen in tonight on KRUI 89.7 fm or online here. Also my dad is here with me. Here he is eating an ice cream. How cute is this man? And, he’s cool he played Johnny Cash.

1. Archers of Loaf, Icky Mettle, Hate Paste
2. The American Analog Set, Promise of Love, Come Home Baby Julie Come Home

3. Crime, San Francisco’s Still Doomed, Frustration
4. Built to Spill & Caustic Resin (1995), EP, One Thing
5. The Stooges, The Stooges (1969), Real Cool Time (Remastered)
6. Northern Picture Library, Paris (1994), Signs
7. Aveo, Battery (2004), Awkward at the Knees
8. Lush, Split (1994), Starlust
9. Frank Black, Teenager of the Year (1994), Space is Gonna Do Me Good (Check this goof ball out!!)

10. The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Strung out in Heaven (1998), Wisdom
11. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Let Love In (1994), Ain’t Gonna Rain Anymore
13. Radio Birdman, The Essential Radio Birdman, Murder City Nights
14. T.S.O.L., T.S.O.L. (1981), Word Is

15. Descendents, Fat (1981), Mr. Bass
16. Pinback, Blue Screen Life (2001), Prog
17. Shipping News, Flies the Fields (2005), Axons and Dendrites

18. Wild Beasts, Two Dancers (2009), All the King’s Men ( I learned about this band and Autolux which was played later from the podcast One Track Mind, their blog can be found here. It’s pretty cool.)

19. Orange Juice, The Glasgow School, Falling and Laughing (track came out in 1980)
20. Autolux, Future Perfect (2004), Turnstile Blues
21. The Sleeper, The It Girl (1996), Dress like your Mother
22. Shop Assistants, Shop Assistants Anthology, I Don’t Want to be Friends with You
23. Talking Heads, Speaking in Tongues (1983), Moon Rocks
24. Young Marble Giants, Colossal Youth, Choci Loni
25. The Cure, Pornography (1982), The Hanging Garden

26. The Verve, A Storm in Heaven (1993), See You in the Next One (Have a Good Time)
27. Guided by Voices, Live at the Wheelchair Races, Over the Neptune/Mesh Gear Fox

Classic on classic

Please note – the History Channel, International History channel, Military Channel, Discovery, National Geographic, and other shows currently on television are all engineered to avoid American History from 1968 to the present.  Oh, yes, there are superficial exceptions: how the army rangers felt who parachuted into Grenada, for example, but no critique of why they were there policy-wise, or how it fed into the on-going Nixon-Republican orchestrated CIA destabilization program for “socialist,” or “democratic” countries that might resist U.S. commercial domination – read: “big multi-national corporations.” JFK’s death, RFK’s death, Dr. King’s and Malcolm’s deaths took the bright vision of America from us, and left the fear-mongering, greedy bastards who may have colluded to kill them in charge of our nation.  Conspiracy theorists are maligned, but there is truth in what they have to say.

I was in Washington D.C. when Nixon was inaugurated.  It was a glum, horrible, overcast day, cold and rainy, bleak, and that’s where he took the country – into a foggy frozen limbo.  Under Nixon, Allende was assassinated in Chile for advancing the democracy and social justice that drove up the cost of doing business for the usual profiteers.  We invaded Cambodia and Laos to cleanse the place of heathen anti-capitalist Vietnamese, whom we nearly bombed and napalmed into the Stone Age, in order to defend an exploitative ruling elite that served western economic and, therefore, our own geo-political economic interests.  Nixon bugged our loyal opposition party’s campaign headquarters, cheating and lying his way not only into election, but re-election.  He set the modern pattern for Oval Office cover-ups and executive stonewalling, and turned up the paranoid distrust and oppression of the American people by its corrupted leaders.

Reagan compounded it.  Reagan reinforced and made it somehow “acceptable,” made us “comfortable” with our subversion.  Whenever possible, Reagan legalized it.  Under Reagan, Cheney and Rumsfeldt began to plan for a “shadow government” to bypass Congress and the Supreme Court, corrupt the Justice Department, and seize power from the rightful, lawful government of the United States; that is, We, the People.  Their “shadow government” serves the interests of the rich, powerful, radical right, elitist leaders of the multi-national corporations, the possessors of the great fascist slave-based capitalist fortunes that have crushed people around the world for generations.  When will we put a full stop to their greedy madness?  It is clear that they know they have to stop us – cold.  They are ruthless, and we should defend ourselves to the death, for they will kill us directly, or indirectly, if we do not.

Indirectly.  They have ruined our environment.

Stolen our money.

Corrupted our government.

Crippled our labor movement.

Ruined our economy.

Attacked the Middle Class.

Forced us out of our homes.

The list of their offenses – crimes they have made legal by reason of seizing the law and twisting it to their tyranny and abuse – is long and despicable.

They are the great criminals of our age.

They are the super pirates, cutthroats, robbers, tricksters, hoodlums, and villains of our time.  They will finally rank as the monsters that destroyed a Golden Age.  We are living at the end of Camelot.  A Dark Age is about to fall, if we allow it to happen, and they – the neocon corporationist republicans – made it happen.

If there is a god of justice, if we do want to save ourselves from the horrors of the neocon fascist creation, there must be a reckoning.  Very soon.

August 1, 2008, PDX, jl

SIX GENERATIONS

Six generations are required to

Forget the people, deeds,

and glories of the past,

The great spaces, places,

Faces, and traces of

The first generation,

Inheritance of the second,

Legacy of the third,

Plaything of the fourth,

Burden of the fifth,

Disinterest of the sixth;

Six generations shall pass

When all shall be

Forgotten but not forgiven

As descendents reinvent

And then eat

Their ancestors

Ancient sins.

jl:pdx, 9-09

WALDO IN REVERY

“What was it that I was thinking?” Waldo asked. “It was in my head a minute ago, but now it’s gone.  That happens more and more, a lot these days, but I don’t care.  I don’t care what golden gem is lost to posterity – if there actually is one.  It doesn’t matter to me that memories are lost because I don’t remember them.  Yet they don’t seem permanently lost.  Just temporarily on hold, awaiting the stimulus, the word, the look, the object, the thing which will reanimate them and I shall recall and in recalling find some new thing and that is the wonder and the mystery and the magic of the inner life.”

“Are you happy now, Waldo?” Monroe asked.

“Regretful, I think.  No, that’s too strong.  I look back with poignancy.  I’ve made a normally pathetic human progress, of note or remark, only because it’s mine.”

“Did you figure it all out?”

“No, some of it, enough to satisfy me that I can’t change human nature, behavior.  I will never find that magic phrase, create that one work which will resonate in every human heart and inspire every human soul.  Not that I couldn’t do it if they were receptive to it.”

“Of course not.  You’re a lot calmer, Waldo.”

“Age, of course.  The fires of youth burn low and now simmer with a pleasant cook.  Haven’t consumed all of the fuel yet, still got some to burn.  I can stroll rather than run through life now.  I can actually see what it is that I’ve been passing and probably ignoring.  My whole life has been enroute, never arrived and that’s just the way it is for everyone if they just stop to admit it.”

“Or recognize it.  Interesting,” Monroe admitted.

VERY IMPORTANT – WORTH YOUR NOTICE:

Now more than ever, Oregon teachers are digging into their own pockets for back to school supplies. When teachers can dig no deeper, students go without.

Please give to a high-poverty classroom in Oregon today. Even a small donation will make learning possible this school year.

You will be joining fellow citizens in America’s Back to School Challenge. Together, I know you can be a force for Oregon public school children.

Sincerely,
Bill Bradley
Former U.S. Senator
Board Member of DonorsChoose.org

p.s. Push your state forward in the Challenge when you give to any classroom project in Oregon. The Challenge ends September 15th!

There is nothing like a classic punk song about coffee.

Descendents “Coffee Mug”

Like what you see feel free to email me at tad@creativesquall.com or check out the Creative Squall website to see how sketches grow up to be complete ideas. If you really like what you see, be sure to subscribe to get updates for the latest Song of the Day.

“So you want perfection. I see your self destruction.”

“Don’t want to spend the rest of my days singing yesterday’s love songs.”

“I like to go out on dates. See a movie, communicate.”

“Your suit can’t hide the truth. You’re a fool and I refuse to be like you. I don’t want to grow up.”

“Let’s see if I can get it right with you this time around. I’m not afraid of losing you…”

Oh Milo, only you could write out my whole life in all of your songs.
The entire Descendants catalog is my life. (And no, it’s not all one giant fart joke… only some of the time.)

Milo Aukerman, you may very well be my soul mate: singer, songwriter and research biochemist.

For those not in the know, he sings in a mid-range tenor, and his generally upbeat lyrics encompass such universal topics as girls/rejection, dependence upon caffeine, and the never ending quest for good food. He is known for his bespectacled, unabashedly nerdy persona and self-deprecating, “anti-rockstar” demeanor.

It’s true love but never meant to be since he is:
A.) Married with children
and
B.) My moms age (45).

*Sigh*
My life would be easier if I liked girls.

Damnit.

Today is my last day of being 19, I know I will never get this day back! In 23 hours I will be 20 years old. That’s basically one foot in the ground. I hate the thought of getting old, have my whole life. You know when you’re a kid and your like ‘I can’t wait till I’m older’ and everyone tells you ‘wait till your older and you’ll be saying I wish I was young’, well anyway I was never one of those kids. I have for as long as I can remember hated the thought of growing up. I’ve drained as much of my teenage years as I could. I still consider myself a kid, and I love that. It makes me anxious to think that tomorrow I’m 20 years old let alone in 10 years I’ll be 30. I just want to curl up in a ball for my 20^th birthday and hope no one notices I’m a year older. I’ve never really thought about making it to 20. I miss my teens already.

Do you like Summer time?  Do you like music?  WELL THEN HAVE I GOT SOMETHING FOR YOU.  I made another Anti-Bummer Summer Mix, and it’s pretty awesome.  You should download it and listen until the first snowfall.  All the songs are about typical summer things like fun, nice weather, girls, change, loss, and unemployment.  Click on the cd covers that I made to download, or just click the link under it.  Get winRAR to open it.  It rules trust me.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?mtf4oug2gzg

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?imny1z2njzj

TRACKLISTING:

1. Descendents//Theme

2.  Monkiers//80 Proof

3.  Frogball//Friday Night

4.  The Ergs!//Pool Pass

5.  Nobunny//Chuck Berry Holiday

6.  Fleet Foxes//White Winter Hymnal

7.  Dillinger Four//Gainseville

8.  Off With Their Heads//Fuck This, I’m Out

9.  The World/Inferno Friendship Society//Me vs. The Angry Mob

10.  Lifetime//25 Cent Giraffes

11.  Lemuria//Hours

12.  The Zombies//Time of the Season

13.  Steinways//It’s My Hair

14.  Witches With Dicks//Die Painfully

15.  Against Me!//You Look Like I Need A Drink

16.  Andrew Jackson Jihad//Lady Killer

17.  JFA//Baja

18.  Ringers//Two Weeks

19.  The Unlovables//Vacation

20.  Frogball//Unemployed

21.  Jawbreaker//Chesterfield King

22.  Buzzcocks//Ever Fallen in Love

23.  mc chris//Cookie Breath

24.  Screeching Weasel//My Brain Hurts

25.  Dinosaur Jr.//Sludgefeast

26.  Descendents//Catalina

27.  Steinways//(Nobody Wants to) Make Out (With Me Because I Wear Sweatpants)

28.  Blink-182//Dysentery Gary

29.  Frogball//Fuck

30.  Lifetime//Knives, Bats, New Tats

31. The Gaslight Anthem// Here’s Looking at You, Kid

32.  Andrew Jackson Jihad//Growing Up