From ballistanc at yahoo.com Wed Jul 1 14:40:38 2009 From: ballistanc at yahoo.com (juan De La Cruz) Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2009 13:40:38 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] =?utf-8?q?Fw=3A_Reflexiones_del_compa=C3=B1ero_F?= =?utf-8?q?idel?= Message-ID: <591123.82751.qm@web35502.mail.mud.yahoo.com> --- On Wed, 7/1/09, betancouour romana wrote: From: betancouour romana Subject: Fw: Reflexiones del compa?ero Fidel To: "juan De La Cruz" Date: Wednesday, July 1, 2009, 4:33 PM --- On Wed, 7/1/09, betancouour romana wrote: From: betancouour romana Subject: Fw: Reflexiones del compa?ero Fidel To: luzmasluz at luzmasluz.org Date: Wednesday, July 1, 2009, 4:29 PM --- On Wed, 7/1/09, betancouour romana wrote: From: betancouour romana Subject: Reflexiones del compa?ero Fidel To: ricardoliriano at hotmail.com Date: Wednesday, July 1, 2009, 4:27 PM ....compa?eros, acabamos de recibir las "Reflexiones del compa?ero Fidel" donde vuelve a cofirmar en su discurso que siempre ha sido un estratega burgu?s-reformista de tomo y lomo.??En su?reflexi?n no encontramos una critica revolucionaria de la "consulta popular" como mecanismo de dominaci?n burguesa, como una practica de canalizaci?n de las energias proletarias?hacia la izquierda del capital para mantener al proletariado como base y carne de ca?on de una facci?n de la burguesia mundial que ha estado apoyando la via constitucional.?? ? Para?nosotros?el uso de la tecnica?del golpe de?Estado siempre est? latente en el seno de esa m?quina de dominaci?n de clase.? Entonces el lenguaje burgues reformista de Fidel no arroja ninguna luz sobre las contradicciones del proceso?a pesar de que termina su reflexion diciendo que "...con ese alto mando golpista no se puede negociar, hay que exigirle la renuncia y que otros oficiales m?s j?venes y no comprometidos con la oligarqu?a ocupen el mando militar...".? ? Dicho de otro modo, la facci?n burguesa a la izquierda del capital quiere dejar la naturaleza de clase de?la sociedad y el?Estado intactas para que todo siga como si no pasara nada en Honduras.? De lo que se trata, a partir de una?interpretaci?n comunista de las contradicciones, es de impulsar?la generalizaci?n de los enfrentamientos?proletarios contra todas las fracciones del capital en pugna hasta derrotarlas?e instaurar la dictadura de nuestras necesidades. ? Nada que perder!! A las calles proletarios!!? --- On Mon, 6/29/09, Lenin Solano wrote: From: Lenin Solano Subject: To: "Adil Jim?nez" , "Agueda Sarante" , "Belgia Soler" Date: Monday, June 29, 2009, 10:07 PM ? From: ofic.politica at codetel.net.do To: pazdominicana at hotmail.com; forosocial2006 at yahoo.es; pidhddrd03 at hotmail.com; orlando_gonza at hotmail.com; miel19_cursa at hotmail.com; adpinstitucion at gmail.com; cndhrd at hotmail.com; misioneradepaz at hotmail.com; ignaciorch at hotmail.com; jochiguevara at hotmail.com; s.fulgencio at codetel.net.do; feflas6 at gmail.com; sencapl30 at hotmail.com; evetec at hotmail.com; feflas8 at hotmail.com; felixg552 at hotmail.com; turbi12 at yahoo.es; juventudcaribe at hotmail.com; leninsolano at hotmail.com; manuel at felabel.org; pctml at hotmail.com; virtudesalvarez at yahoo.com; rchaljub at hotmail.com; raldysr at yahoo.com; jt_olivero at hotmail.com; bioconservacion at hotmail.com Subject: Reflexiones del compa?ero Fiel UN ERROR SUICIDA Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2009 08:25:08 -0400 ? ? Reflexiones del compa?ero Fidel ? UN ERROR SUICIDA ? En la reflexi?n escrita la noche del jueves 25, hace tres d?as, dije: ?Ignoramos qu? ocurrir? esta noche o ma?ana en Honduras pero la conducta valiente de Zelaya pasar? a la historia.? Dos p?rrafos antes hab?a se?alado: ??Lo que all? ocurra ser? una prueba para la OEA y para la actual administraci?n de Estados Unidos.? La prehist?rica instituci?n interamericana se hab?a reunido al otro d?a en Washington, y en una apagada y tibia resoluci?n prometi? realizar las gestiones pertinentes de inmediato para buscar una armon?a entre las partes en pugna. Es decir, una negociaci?n entre los golpistas y el Presidente Constitucional de Honduras. El alto jefe militar, que segu?a al mando de las Fuerzas Armadas hondure?as, hac?a pronunciamientos p?blicos en discrepancia con las? posiciones del Presidente, mientras solo de modo meramente formal reconoc?a su autoridad. No necesitaban los golpistas otra cosa de la OEA. Les import? un bledo la presencia de un gran n?mero de observadores internacionales que viajaron a ese pa?s para dar fe de una consulta popular, a los cuales Zelaya habl? hasta altas horas de la noche. Antes del amanecer de hoy lanzaron alrededor de 200 soldados profesionales bien entrenados y armados contra la residencia del Presidente, los que apartando rudamente la escuadra de la Guardia de Honor secuestraron a Zelaya, quien en ese momento dorm?a, lo conducen a la base a?rea, lo montan por la fuerza en un avi?n y lo transportan a un aeropuerto en Costa Rica.? A las 8 y 30 de la ma?ana, conocimos por Telesur la noticia del asalto a la Casa Presidencial y el secuestro. El Presidente no pudo asistir al acto inicial de la consulta popular que tendr?a lugar este domingo. Se desconoc?a lo que hab?an hecho con ?l. La emisora de televisi?n oficial fue silenciada. Deseaban impedir la divulgaci?n prematura de la traicionera acci?n a trav?s de Telesur y Cubavisi?n Internacional, que informaban de los hechos. Suspendieron por ello los centros de retransmisi?n y terminaron cortando la electricidad a todo el pa?s. Todav?a el Congreso y los altos tribunales envueltos en la conspiraci?n no hab?an publicado las decisiones que justificaban la conjura. Primero llevaron a cabo el incalificable golpe militar y luego lo legalizaron. El pueblo se despert? con los hechos consumados y comenz? a reaccionar con creciente indignaci?n. No se sab?a el destino de Zelaya. Tres horas m?s tarde, la reacci?n popular era tal que se vio a mujeres golpeando con el pu?o a los soldados, cuyos fusiles casi se les ca?an de las manos por puro desconcierto y nerviosismo. Inicialmente sus movimientos parec?an los de un extra?o combate contra fantasmas, m?s tarde trataban de tapar con las manos las c?maras de Telesur, apuntaban temblorosos sus fusiles contra los reporteros, y a veces, cuando la gente avanzaba, los soldados retroced?an. Enviaron transportadores blindados con ca?ones y ametralladoras. La poblaci?n discut?a sin miedo con las dotaciones de los blindados; la reacci?n popular era asombrosa. Alrededor de las 2 de la tarde, en coordinaci?n con los golpistas, una mayor?a domesticada del Congreso depuso a Zelaya, Presidente Constitucional de Honduras, y design? un nuevo Jefe de Estado, afirmando al mundo que aquel hab?a renunciado, presentando una firma falsificada. Minutos despu?s, Zelaya, desde un aeropuerto en Costa Rica, inform? todo lo ocurrido y desminti? categ?ricamente? la noticia de su renuncia. Los conspiradores hicieron el rid?culo ante el mundo. Otras muchas cosas ocurrieron hoy. Cubavisi?n se dedic? por entero a desenmascarar el golpe, informando todo el tiempo a nuestra poblaci?n. Hubo hechos de car?cter netamente fascista, que no por esperados dejan de asombrar. Patricia Rodas, la ministra de Relaciones Exteriores de Honduras, fue despu?s de Zelaya el objetivo fundamental de los golpistas. Otro destacamento fue enviado a su residencia. Ella, valiente y decidida, se movi? r?pido, no perdi? un minuto en denunciar por todos los medios el golpe. Nuestro embajador hab?a hecho contacto con Patricia para conocer la situaci?n, como lo hicieron otros embajadores. En un momento determinado les solicit? a los representantes diplom?ticos de Venezuela, Nicaragua y Cuba reunirse con ella, que, ferozmente acosada, necesitaba protecci?n diplom?tica. Nuestro embajador, que desde el primer instante estaba autorizado a brindar el m?ximo apoyo a la Ministra constitucional y legal, parti? para visitarla en su propia residencia. Cuando estaban ya en su casa, el mando golpista envi? al mayor Oceguera para arrestarla. Ellos se pusieron delante de la mujer y le dicen que est? bajo protecci?n diplom?tica, y solo se puede mover en compa??a de los embajadores. Oceguera discute con ellos y lo hace de forma respetuosa. Minutos despu?s penetran en la casa entre 12 ? 15 hombres uniformados y encapuchados. Los tres embajadores se abrazan a Patricia; los enmascarados act?an de manera brutal y logran separar a los embajadores de Venezuela y Nicaragua; Hern?ndez la toma tan fuertemente por uno de los brazos, que los enmascarados los arrastran a los dos hasta una furgoneta; los conducen a? la base a?rea, donde logran separarlos, y se la llevan. Estando all? detenido, Bruno, que ten?a noticias del secuestro, se comunica con ?l a trav?s del celular; un enmascarado trata de arrebatarle rudamente el tel?fono; el embajador cubano, que ya hab?a sido golpeado en casa de Patricia, le grita: ??No me empujes, cojones!? ??No recuerdo si la palabra que pronunci? fuese alguna vez utilizada por Cervantes, pero sin duda el embajador Juan Carlos Hern?ndez enriqueci? nuestro idioma. Despu?s lo dejaron en una carretera lejos de la misi?n y antes de abandonarlo le dijeron que, si hablaba, pod?a sucederle algo peor. ??Nada es peor que la muerte!?, les respondi? con dignidad, ?y no por ello les temo a ustedes.?? Los vecinos de la zona lo ayudaron a regresar a la embajada, desde donde de inmediato se comunic? otra vez con Bruno.? Con ese alto mando golpista no se puede negociar, hay que exigirle la renuncia y que otros oficiales m?s j?venes y no comprometidos con la oligarqu?a ocupen el mando militar, o no habr? jam?s un gobierno ?del pueblo, por el pueblo y para el pueblo? en Honduras. Los golpistas, acorralados y aislados, no tienen salvaci?n posible si se enfrenta con firmeza el problema. Hasta la se?ora Clinton declar? ya en horas de la tarde que Zelaya es el ?nico Presidente de Honduras, y?los golpistas hondure?os ni siquiera respiran sin el apoyo de Estados Unidos. En camisa de dormir hasta hace unas horas, Zelaya ser? reconocido por el mundo como el? ?nico Presidente Constitucional de Honduras.???????? Fidel Castro Ruz Junio 28 de 2009 6 y 14 p.m. ? From cb31450 at gmail.com Thu Jul 2 13:37:39 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Thu, 2 Jul 2009 15:37:39 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Remarks Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907021237u755a2d2wd7bb505b32774672@mail.gmail.com> Author: Sam Webb, National Chair First published 07/01/2009 00:54 (Remarks to National Committee Meeting June 20, 2009) I make no attempt to be comprehensive in these remarks. My aim is much more modest, as you will see. Let me begin with a simple observation: If the last 30 years were an era of reaction, then the coming decade could turn into an era of reform, even radical reform. Six months into the Obama presidency, I would say without hesitation that the landscape, atmosphere, conversation, and agenda have strikingly changed compared to the previous eight years. In this legislative session, we can envision winning a Medicare-like public option and then going further in the years ahead. We can visualize passing tough regulatory reforms on the financial industry, which brought the economy to ruin. We can imagine the troops coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan while U.S. representatives participate in a regional process that brings peace and stability to the entire region. In the current political climate, the expansion of union rights becomes a real possibility. Much the same can be said about winning a second stimulus bill, and we sure need one, given the still-rising rate, and likely long term persistence, of unemployment. Isn?t it possible in the Obama era to create millions of green jobs in manufacturing and other sectors of the economy in tandem with an attack on global warming? Can?t we envision taking new strides in the long journey for racial and gender equality in this new era, marked at its beginning by the election of the first African American to the presidency? And isn?t the overhaul of the criminal justice and prison system ? a system steeped in racism ? no longer pie-in-the sky, but something that can be done in the foreseeable future? All these things are within reach now! I make this observation because in the ebb and flow of the first six months of the Obama presidency, it is easy to lose sight of the overall dynamics and promise of this new era. Obama?s role The new conditions of struggle are possible only ? and I want to emphasize only ? because we elected President Obama and a Congress with pronounced progressive and center currents. So far Obama?s presidency has both broken from the right-wing extremist policies of the Bush administration and taken steps domestically and internationally that go in a progressive direction. At the same time, the administration hasn?t gone as far as we would have liked on a number of issues. On economic matters as well as matters of war and occupation we, along with others, advocated bolder actions. All and all, however, the new President in deeds and words ? and words do matter ? has created new democratic space for peace, equality, and economic justice struggles. Whether this continues and takes on a consistently progressive, pro-people, radical reform direction depends in large measure on whether the movement that elected him fills and expands this space. The struggle going forward, much like the New Deal, will be the outcome of a contested and fluid process involving broad class and social constituencies, taking multiple forms, and working out over time. It will pivot on the expansion of social and economic rights, the reconfiguring of the functions of government to the advantage of working people, and the embedding of a new economic architecture and developmental path into the nation?s political economy. No less importantly, it will also entail the recasting of the role of the U.S. in the global community along egalitarian and non-imperial lines. ?What?s all this talk about reform?? you may be asking. ?Aren?t we radicals? Isn?t socialism our objective?? Yes, socialism is our objective and, according to recent public opinion polls, it is increasingly attractive to the American people. But clearly it is not on the immediate political agenda. Neither the current balance of forces nor the thinking of millions of Americans ? the starting point in any serious discussion of strategy and tactics ? has reached that point. That socialism isn?t on the people?s action agenda, however, doesn?t mean that we should zip our lips. Quite the contrary! We should talk it up and bring our modern, deeply democratic Twenty-First-Century vision of U.S. socialism into coalitions and mass movements. And with the use of the Internet we can reach an exponentially bigger audience than we could in the past. As for our radicalism, we should be as radical as reality itself. And reality strongly suggests that our main task is to bring the weight of the working class and other democratic forces to bear on the reform process with the aim of deepening its anti-corporate content and direction. Current phase of struggle How do we understand the current phase of struggle? On the one hand, our strategic policy of defeating right wing extremism doesn?t quite fit the new correlation of class forces. On the other hand, neither have we arrived at the anti-monopoly stage of struggle ? a stage in which corporate class power is confronted on every level of struggle. In short, we are in transitional phase that contains elements of both. In the course of this struggle, political conditions ? consciousness, organization, unity, and alliances, including temporary and conditional alliances ? will hopefully mature to the point where corporate power emerges as the main hindrance to radical democracy and socialism in the minds of tens of millions. We can conjure up pure forms of struggle and direct and unencumbered paths to socialism in our impatient minds, but they don?t exist in real life. The struggle for a socialist future is complex, contradictory, roundabout, and goes through different phases/stages of struggle. Propaganda and agitation by themselves won?t bring people to the threshold of socialism. They need their own experience in struggle for their essential (what is essential is variable and expands over time) needs. The question People aren?t sitting on their hands. Anger is out there, hardship is widespread, and the fight back is taking shape. And yet, it is fair to ask: does the level of mobilization of the diverse coalition that elected President Obama match what is necessary to win his administration?s immediate legislative and political agenda ? let alone far-reaching reforms, such as military conversion to peacetime and green production, a shorter work week, a ?war? on poverty and inequality, democratic ownership of critical economic sectors, and a retreat from empire? I think the answer is no ? not yet. A favorable alignment of forces exists and mass sentiments favor change. But political majorities and popular sentiments are consequential only to the degree that they are an active and organized element in the political process. And herein lays the role of the Left. Its main task, as it has been throughout our country?s history, is to persistently and patiently assist in reassembling, activating, uniting, educating, and giving a voice to common demands that unite this broad majority. The Left's political analysis, its solutions to today's pressing crises, and its vision of radical democracy and socialism, rooted in national realities, will receive a fair and favorable hearing from millions of Americans to the degree that Left activists are active participants in the main labor and people?s organizations struggling for vital reforms today ? jobs, health care, retirement security, quality public education, equality and fairness, immigration reform, a foreign policy of peace and cooperation, and a livable environment and sustainable economy. Those who narrow down the role of the Left to simply being a critic of every move of the Obama administration or insist on Left demands as the only ground for broad unity cut down the Left?s capacity to be a growing part of a much larger coalition that could remake America. Some on the Left dismiss the new President as simply another centrist or a right social democrat, or an unabashed spokesperson of Wall Street. Still others call him the new face of imperialism. I find it unwise for many reasons to put President Obama into a tightly sealed political category. We should see the President and his administration as a work in progress in an exceptionally fluid situation. Let?s remember that he is the leader of a diverse multi-class coalition and a party with different currents. Let?s not forget about the balance of forces in Congress that has to enter his ? and hopefully our ? political calculus. Let?s not turn any one issue into a litmus test determining our attitude toward the administration and Congress. Let?s be aware that he has to keep a coalition together for his long-term as well as immediate legislative agenda. Let?s give President Obama some space to change and to respond to pressures from below. Finally, we should resist pressures from some sections of the Left, and a few in our Party, to define the current struggle as one that arrays the people against President Obama. That?s not Marxism; it?s plain stupid. The American people and their main mass organizations have good reason to be angry and frustrated, but few embrace an approach that turns the Obama administration into the main roadblock to social progress. That we have spurned such an approach too is to our credit. (Read the outstanding speech of AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka to the national convention of CBTU, in which he speaks of labor?s positive view of the new administration and the new openings for class and democratic struggles that now exist.) We can help re-bend the arc of history in the direction of justice, equality, and peace. But only if we, and millions like us, pursue a sound strategy that unifies broad sections of the American people and looks for alliances no matter how temporary and conditional. Majorities make history, not militant minorities. President Obama and progressive Congresspeople can?t be the only change agents and will be change agents only up to a point. Our responsibility is to support them, prod them, and constructively take issue with them when we have differing views. But more importantly ? and this is the heart of the matter ? we have to reach, activate, unite, educate, and turn millions of Americans into ?change agents? who can make the political difference in upcoming struggles. Our parents and grandparents were such bottom-up change agents in the Depression years. Unhappy with the pace and substance of change, they sat down in plants and in the fields, marched for veteran benefits, petitioned local relief agencies, lobbied for a social safety net, established unemployed groups, organized industrial workers into the CIO, opposed discrimination and racism, turned multi-racial unity into an organizing principle, and, we should note, re-elected Roosevelt and a New Deal Congress in a landslide in the 1936 elections. The American people today would do well to follow their example. Likewise, communists of our generation should draw from the example of our Depression-era comrades. Because they were guided by a sound strategy that accented struggles for economic and social reforms and because they employed flexible tactics, and because they didn?t conflate their mood with the mass mood, they were a vital part of this process too. Struggle for health care reform The mobilization that the labor movement and others carried out tirelessly last year in the elections is exactly what is needed now. How else can health care for all, the Employee Free Choice Act, economic relief, comprehensive immigration reform, a transfer of funds from military spending to massive green job creation, and a tax policy that weighs heavily the wealthiest families and corporations be won? The Right Wing, the American Medical Association, the pharmaceutical and insurance companies have drawn a line in the sand on health care. They hope to defeat any legislation in the near term and in doing so to fatally weaken the administration?s legislative program in the longer term, much like they did in the Clinton years. The core of this struggle, whether we like it or not, turns on the inclusion of a public option in a health care bill. President Obama reaffirmed his support for such an option and the Congressional Progressive Caucus recently expressed its full support for a public option that is government run, covers everyone, and goes into effect right away. Meanwhile, Republicans, with help from some Democrats, are ganging up against any public option, while at the same time introducing measures to weaken health care reform and confuse the American people. True to form, the right-wing media is the megaphone of this effort. Mass mobilization is needed Over the summer this fight will be waged like an election campaign by the labor movement and progressive forces. Across the country activists will be asked to knock on doors and make phone calls to build a massive groundswell for health care reform. This campaign provides a great opening to strengthen our clubs and build the broader movement. Some of our clubs are in the thick of the fight; some are looking for ways to become engaged. Each district and club should discuss how to carry this fight forward in a way that results in new friends, new readers of the People?s World, and new members of the Party and Young Communist League. A few ideas: ? speak to neighbors and friends about their health care stories and suggest what they can do. ? share coverage of the Peoples World in either its print or electronic form and ask if they would like the paper every week in one or another form. ? prepare a special agenda for your club meeting with invited guests. ? help build participation in rallies and events of unions and other organizations. ? organize speak-outs and town hall meetings with others. ? collect signatures on petitions, make phone calls, employ the internet, and organize visits to your elected officials. While we support HR 676 as the most advanced demand in the current debate, it should not be counterpoised to a Medicare-like public option. In the single payer movement and the campaign for a public option, our role isn?t to sharpen differences, but rather to build maximum unity against the health care industrial complex and its supporters (Democratic as well as Republican) in Congress and for meaningful health care reform. Economic crisis over Another observation that I want to make is to beware of talk of better economic times around the corner. We may be over the worst of it; we may have avoided a 1930s-type depression; but it?s quite another thing to suggest that we are on the road to recovery. Yes, there have been some indicators that show improvement in the economy; but we shouldn?t read too much into them (as the business press does). After all, there are more signs that suggest that we haven?t reached bottom yet, that the recovery is still not in sight; and that more government intervention is necessary. Unemployment hasn?t peaked, even though the official rate is nearly ten per cent. Poverty is growing, and among the long-term poor, the crisis is dire. Manufacturing is hemorrhaging jobs ? none more so than the auto industry. Banks, as quiet as it is kept, hold mountains of toxic assets. Debt is nearly off the charts. Credit markets are far from fluid. Business investment is off. And housing prices fall and foreclosures rise. On a global level, signs of renewed economic activity are few. Maybe the best we can say is that the decline of the economy is slowing down, thanks to massive government intervention, but hasn?t bottomed out. If this is so then three questions follow: first, when will the economy hit bottom? Second, when will the economy begin a vigorous and sustained renewal? Third, is the economic crisis reconfiguring the geography of economic power on a global level? On these questions there is no consensus. Some say that the economy will bottom out soon to be followed by a recovery early next year. Other economists are more pessimistic. Citing the enormous piling up of debt over the past 20 years, overcrowded world commodity markets, technological displacement, capital flight, downward pressures on profitability, and so forth, they predict little economic bounce for some time to come. Months ago it was said that the downturn could be ?L-shaped? rather than ?V-shaped.? In other words, the crisis begins with a steep decline in economic activity followed by long period of economic stagnation. I suspect that this is what will happen, thus making sustained government and people?s intervention an imperative. In my view this should take at least three forms: First, more economic stimulus: the economy is underperforming and nearly 30 million workers are unemployed or underemployed and that number hasn?t peaked yet. Second, restructuring is imperative. The old economic model that rested on bubble economics, cheap labor, financial manipulation and speculation, deregulation, capital outsourcing, environmental degradation, and so forth, has to be replaced by a new model that expands and restructures the productive base and is ?people and nature? friendly. Finally, the economy has to be democratized. The wizards of Wall Street and inside the Beltway failed miserably, in fact, so miserably those economic decisions that affect the welfare of millions shouldn?t rest in their hands. The resistance to such measures will be massive. It will take a labor-led coalition far bigger than what exists now to drive the process. Furthermore, even in the event that such a coalition materializes and pushes through such measures, the organically embedded economic contradictions and crisis tendencies of capitalism will erupt in one form or another. There is no such thing as a crisis-free capitalist developmental model. Sooner or later, it exhausts its potential and gives way to sharp and ultimately irresolvable contradictions located at every level of the capitalist economy. In the meantime, the struggle for immediate public sector jobs and relief should command our attention. We, along with the labor movement, the nationally and racially oppressed, women, youth and others, have to help the unemployed find their voice and forms to express their demands and organize their struggle. In addition to articulating class wide demands, we have to argue for special measures that address the catastrophic situation in the African American, Latino, Asian American, American Indian, immigrant, and other minority communities. The lack of jobs is at the heart of this dire situation, but it also includes malnutrition and hunger, poor health care, shabby housing, high dropout rates, homelessness, racial profiling, police brutality, criminalization, and so on. The job crisis requires special discussion and initiatives with our allies. They should be concrete and realistic. As for the impact of the current crisis of capitalism on the geographical distribution of economic power on a global level, it is enormous and consequential. While the U.S. and European market economies report negative growth rates, the economies of the emerging giants ? China, India, and Brazil ? are expanding this year and this trend will continue at a faster rate next year. If this trend continues ? and there is no reason to think that it won?t ? the implications and consequences will be profound and long lasting. An end to violence Still another observation that I would like to make is this: against the background of the bloodiest century in human history and this decade of war, genocide, boycotts, and threats and counter threats, thanks in large measure to the Bush administration and our own imperialism, humanity is seeking a new world order in which peace and justice are its organizing principles. The vast majority of people desire the easing of tensions, an end to violence, and the normalization of relations between states. They want dialogue and negotiation, not war and threats. And they hope that the U.S. government will choose a constructive role in world affairs. President Obama has captured this sentiment well in several speeches before vast audiences. His emphasis on human solidarity, diplomacy, cooperation, and peaceful settlement of outstanding issues is striking an emotional chord worldwide. In nearly every region of the world, the President has expressed a readiness to engage with countries that during the Bush years were considered mortal enemies ? Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, and others. In Latin America, he indicated that the administration would like to put relations between our government and others in the region on a different footing. In a historic speech in Prague, he voiced his desire to reduce and ultimately abolish nuclear weapons. Earlier this month, in an unprecedented address in Cairo he indicated his eagerness to reset relations with the Muslim world, sit down with the Iranian government, and press for a two state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. And only this week, he has been circumspect with regard to the massive social explosion in Iran over the rigged election and right-wing theocratic rule. He has quietly made his allegiances clear, but not in a way that would play in to the hands of the ruling reactionary regime. While the administration has yet to fully match its words with practical deeds, what it has said and done so far constitutes a qualitative turn compared to the previous administration. Nevertheless, more needs doing before we are on a distinctly new course. In Afghanistan and North Korea, a negotiated solution to both conflicts that includes increased economic and humanitarian aid is urgently needed. Military occupation and troop buildup in Afghanistan and the imposition of sanctions against North Korea are extremely dangerous and will postpone any resolution of those crises. To go further, if one or the other (or both) metastasizes into a bigger conflict, it could be the undoing of this administration. Don?t get me wrong: terrorist activities and nuclear proliferation are both enormous dangers, but the solutions to these have to be sought along other lines and involve regional and international players. In Iraq, the U.S. withdrawal plan is proceeding, with the first stage being withdrawal from Iraqi cities by July. President Obama has reiterated his intention to stick with the pullout deadlines. Even with the caveats about what U.S. forces might remain, this is a major victory for the peace movement. The struggle over what forces remain will depend in large part on the Iraqi people's democratic and progressive forces, as well as our own peace movement. In the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Netanyahu, in an about-face, said he could live with a two-state solution. And even with all the caveats and demagogy surrounding the ?concession,? I believe that it signifies recognition, albeit forced, on Likud?s part that public opinion is shifting against them in Israel, Europe, and the U.S. In this country the peace movement has to note particularly the changing dynamics in U.S. opinion, including in the White House and Congress, including Jewish members of Congress. Netanyahu got a different reaction than he expected when he met with Congressional leaders when he was in Washington recently. While he wanted to focus on Iran, they pressed him on the settlements. And, that pressure will only grow if the new Israeli government continues in its actions to pursue its present policy. As far as Cuba is concerned, we are at a crucial moment in U.S.-Cuba relations. The Obama administration has indicated its readiness to reset relations with Cuba and has taken some very modest steps in words and deeds in that direction. But obviously much more needs to be done to end all travel restrictions, lift the blockade, resume trade, and free the Cuban 5, who languish in maximum security prisons. That said, the good news is that diverse groups have an interest in normalizing the relations between our two countries, including in the Congress. Finally, we are in a moment when our ability to change our foreign policy will bear directly on our capacity to address economic and social problems at home. Currently, 53 percent of the discretionary spending of the federal budget goes to the military. Thus, ending wars, closing military bases, and cutting military spending coupled with diplomacy, cooperation, and respect for international law and national sovereignty is good economic as well as good foreign policy. But there is a hitch. Both Republicans and Democrats are upset at the minimal steps the administration is proposing to cut specific ?unnecessary? or useless weapons systems. So we have a struggle on our hands. And it will be fought out in ?the court of public opinion,? at the ballot box, and in the economic trenches. So far the peace movement has an array of plans to challenge the military appropriations process, including town hall Congressional meetings on foreign policy during the August recess. We should participate and support them. Bottom line: the country and the Obama administration need a more vocal peace movement in order to reconfigure our role in world affairs and address the economic crisis. Mentality of marginalization Another observation that I want to make is that because of McCarthyism, the Cold War, and the long economic expansion following WW II, the Left has been on the edges of politics for more than a half century. During this time, our ability to impact on broader political processes in the country has been narrowly circumscribed ? nothing like the 1930s, nothing like the Left in many other countries. While we stubbornly fought the good fight and made undeniable contributions over the past half-century, we were not a major player; we didn?t set the agenda or frame the debate; we didn?t determine the political direction of the country; we were not a decider. But this could change. Because of the new political, economic and ideological landscape, the Left has an opportunity to step from the political periphery into the mainstream of U.S. politics. It has a chance to become a player of consequence; a player whose voice is seriously considered in the debates bearing on the future of the country; a player that is able to mobilize and influence the thinking and actions of millions. Whether we do depends on many factors, one of which is our ability to shake off a ?mentality of marginalization? that has become embedded in the Left?s political culture over the last half of the Twentieth Century. How does this mentality express itself? In a number of ways ? in spending too much time agitating the choir; in dismissing new political openings that if taken advantage of could create the conditions for mass struggle; in thinking that partial reforms are at loggerheads with radical reforms; in seeing the glass as always half empty; in conflating our outlook with the outlook of millions; in turning the danger of cooptation into a rationale to keep a distance from reform struggles; in enclosing ourselves in narrow Left forms; and in damning victories with faint praise. In this peculiar mindset, politics has few complexities. Change is driven only from the ground up. Winning broad majorities is not essential. There are no stages of struggle, no social forces that possess strategic social power, and no divisions worth noting. Finally, alliances with unstable allies and distinctions between the Democratic and Republican parties are either of little consequence or disdainfully dismissed. Unless the Left ? and I include communists ? sheds this mentality, it will miss a unique opportunity to grow and leave a distinct imprint on our country?s direction. A final observation before closing is that I wholeheartedly welcome the proposals to reconfigure our work that you received and that we are going to discuss later today. I don?t have any of the reservations about this that some have. The upside of this new means of communication, education, organization, and fund raising is that it is nearly limitless. I think it is going to make a huge difference in our ability to reach, influence, and interact with a mass audience ? something that we haven?t ever been able to do in a systematic way so far. Every aspect of our work will experience new potentials, including grassroots organizing and club building. I hope we enthusiastically adopt these proposals. Assuming for the moment that we do, it is fair to say that we will have our work cut out for us. But as is often said, we have a world to win! Thank you. Download the PDF version. From farmelantj at juno.com Sun Jul 5 13:24:30 2009 From: farmelantj at juno.com (Jim Farmelant) Date: Sun, 5 Jul 2009 15:24:30 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] [Marxism] (fwd) Ralph Dumain revisits Boris Hessen Message-ID: <20090705.152431.6012.2.farmelantj@juno.com> Here are some links on Boris Hessen, Jim Farmelant On Sun, 05 Jul 2009 07:01:58 -0400 Les Schaffer writes: > [from Jim Farmelant, came as html-only] > > ----- Forwarded Message ----- > > Introduction to The Social and Economic Roots of Newton's > 'Principia' by > Boris Hessen Robert S. Cohen's essay on Hessen is at: http://www.autodidactproject.org/other/hessen-cohen.html > > Hessen's famous essay was originally published in English > translation in: > > Science at the Cross Roads; Papers Presented to the [2nd] > International > Congress of the History of Science and Technology Held in London > from > June 20th to July 3rd, 1931 by the delegates of the U.S.S.R. > (London: > Kniga, Ltd., 1931), pp. 151-212. Hessen's essay is at: > > Note also: > > " The Social and Economic Roots of Newton's Principia" by Boris > Hessen > Translated by Phlippa Shimrat; edited by Peter McLaughlin & Gideon > Freudenthal > (Note: different translation from the original published > translation) > > Social Milieu and Evolution of Logic, Epistemology, and History of > Science. > The Case of Marxism > by Valentin A. Bazhanov Bazhanov's essay is at: http://www.ulsu.ru/staff/homepages/bazhanov/english/canary_e.pdf > > ____________________________________________________________ Workers Compensation Legal Advice. Click here http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/BLSrjpTOcqEzLpt8QEVL2oJXwaSPzqE2FEPZ91B32k9DWHeTegm8I1zeYxi/ From Waistline2 at aol.com Mon Jul 6 08:11:28 2009 From: Waistline2 at aol.com (Waistline2 at aol.com) Date: Mon, 6 Jul 2009 10:11:28 EDT Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] China Business: Dollar's future in US hands Message-ID: Asia Times Online China Business Jul 2, 2009 Dollar's future in US hands By Henry C K Liu Since 2008, I have been widely recognized on the Internet as the person who changed China's policy regarding the US dollar by advocating since 2002 that Chinese exports should be denominated in yuan. Chinese readers doing a Google search on my Chinese name will find numerous posts to that effect. The issue is not whether Asian central banks will continue to have confi dence in the dollar, but why Asian central banks should see their mandate as supporting the continuous expansion of the dollar economy through dollar hegemony at the expense of their own non-dollar economies. Why should Asian economies send real wealth in the form of goods to the US for foreign paper of declining value instead of selling their goods in their own economy? Without dollar hegemony, Asian economies can finance their own economic development with sovereign credit in their own currencies and not be addicted to export for fiat dollars that repeatedly lose purchasing power because of US monetary and fiscal indiscipline. As for Americans, is it a good deal to exchange your job for lower prices at Wal-Mart? (See Follies of fiddling with the yuan, Asia Times Online, October 23, 2003, for a detailed analysis of the relationship of the Chinese currency to the dollar.) In a September 2004 article, I wrote: "China needs to activate its domestic market to balance its overblown foreign trade. The Chinese economy can benefit enormously by the aggressive deployment of sovereign credit for domestic development and growth, particularly in the slow-growth western and central regions. Sovereign credit can be used to stimulate domestic demand by raising wage levels, improve farm income, promote state-owned-enterprise restructuring and bank reform, build needed infrastructure, promote education and health care, re-order the pension system, restore the environment and promote a cultural renaissance. While exchange control continues, China can free its economy from the dictate of dollar hegemony, adopt a strategy of balanced development financed by sovereign credit and wean itself from excess dependence on export for dollars. Sovereign credit can finance full employment with rising wages in the Chinese economy of 1.4 billion people and project it towards the largest economy in the world within a very short time, possibly in less than five years. The expansion of its domestic economy will enable China to import more, thus also allowing it to export more without excessive and persistent trade gaps. Much needs to be done, and can be done to develop the full potential of China's economy, but exporting for dollars is not the way to do it. "China is in the position to kick start a new international finance architecture that will serve international trade better. China has the option of making the yuan an alternative reserve currency in world trade by simply denominating all Chinese export in yuan. This sovereign action can be taken unilaterally at any time of China's choosing. All the Chinese State Council has to do is to announce that as of a certain date all Chinese exports must be paid for in yuan, making it illegal for Chinese exporters to accept payment in any other currencies. This will set off a frantic scramble by importers of Chinese goods around the world to buy yuan at the State Administration for Foreign Exchange (SAFE), making the yuan a preferred currency with ready market demand. Companies with yuan revenue no longer need to exchange yuan into dollars, as the yuan, backed by the value of Chinese exports, becomes universally accepted in trade. "Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which import sizable amount of Chinese goods, would accept yuan for payment for their oil, so will Russia. This can be done without de-pegging the yuan from the dollar and SAFE can retain it position as the exclusive window for trading yuan for other currencies without any need for new currency control regulations. The proper exchange rate of the yuan can then be set by China not based on export to the US, but on Chinese conditions. "If Chinese exports are paid in yuan, China will have no need to hold foreign reserves, which currently stand at more than $480 billion [2004 figure, $2 trillion in 2009]. And if the Hong Kong dollar is pegged to the yuan instead of the dollar, Hong Kong's $120 billion foreign-exchange reserves can also be freed for domestic restructuring and development. Chinese trade surplus would stay in the yuan economy. China is on the way to becoming a world economic giant but it has yet to assert its rightful financial power because of dollar hegemony. "There is no stopping China from being a powerhouse in manufacturing. Many Asian economies are trapped in protracted financial crisis from excessive foreign-currency debts and falling real export revenue resulting from predatory currency devaluation. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), orchestrated by the US, has come to the 'rescue' of these distressed economies with a new agenda beyond the usual IMF conditionalities of austerity to protect Group of Seven (G7) creditors. This new agenda aims to open Asian markets for US transnational corporations to acquire distressed Asian companies so that the foreign-acquired Asian subsidiaries can produce and market goods and services inside Asian national borders as domestic enterprises, thus skirting potential protectionist measures. The United States, through the IMF, aims to break down the traditionally closed financial systems all over Asia. This system mobilizes high national savings to finance industrial policies to serve giant national industrial conglomerates with massive investment in targeted export sectors. The IMF, controlled by the US, aims at dismantling these traditional Asian financial systems and forcing Asians to replace them with a structurally alien global system, characterized by open markets for products and services and crucially, for financial products and services. The focus is of course on China, for as US policymakers know: as China goes, so goes the rest of Asia. "Trade flows under neo-liberal globalization in the context of dollar hegemony have put Asian countries in a position of unsustainable dependency on foreign, dollar-denominated loans and capital to finance export sectors that are at the mercy of saturated foreign markets while neglecting domestic development to foster productive forces and to support budding domestic consumer markets. In Asia, outside the small elite circle of well-heeled compradores, most people cannot afford the products they produce in abundance for export, nor can they afford high-cost imports. An average worker in Asia would have to work days making hundreds of pairs of shoes at low wages to earn enough to buy one McDonald's hamburger meal for his family while Asian compradores entertain their foreign backers in luxurious five-star hotels with prime steaks imported from Omaha. Markets outside of Asia cannot grow fast enough to satisfy the developmental needs of the populous Asian economies. Thus intra-region trade to promote domestic development within Asia needs to be the main focus of growth if Asia is ever to rise above the level of semi-colonial subsistence that will inevitably translate into political instability. "The Chinese economy will move quickly up the trade-value chain, in advanced electronics, telecommunications, and aerospace, which are inherently 'dual use' technologies with military implications. Strategic phobia will push the US to exert all its influence to keep the global market for 'dual use' technologies closed to China. Thus 'free trade' for the US is not the same as freedom to trade. Increasingly, the world's nations will all procure their military needs from the same global technology market. Depriving any nation access to dual-use technology will not enhance national security as the deprived nation can easily shift to asymmetrical warfare which is more destabilizing than conventional armament. "Still, China will inevitably be a major global player in the knowledge industries because of its abundant supply of raw human potential. Even in the US, a high percentage of its scientists are of Chinese ethnicity. With an updated educational system, China will be a top producer of brain power within another decade. World leaders in high-tech, such as Intel and Microsoft, are actively pursuing cross-border R&D wage-arbitrage in Asia, primarily in China and India. As China moves up the technology ladder, coupled with rising consumer demand in tandem with a growth economy, global trade flow will be affected, modifying the 'race to the bottom' predatory competitive game of two decades of globalization among Asian exporters to acquire dollars to invest in the dollar economy, toward trade to earn their own currencies for investment in domestic development. "Asian economies will find in China a preferred alternative trading partner, possibly with more symbiotic trading terms, providing more room to structure trade to enhance domestic development along the path of converging regional interest and solidarity. The rise in living standards in all of Asia will change the path of history, restoring Asia as a center of advanced civilization, putting an end to two centuries of Western economic and cultural imperialism and dominance. "The foreign-trade strategies of all trading nations in recent decades of neo-liberal globalization have contributed to the destabilizing of the global trading system. It is not possible or rational for all countries to export themselves out of domestic recessions or poverty. The contradictions between national strategic industrial policies and neo-liberal open-market systems will generate friction between the US and all its trading partners, as well as among regional trade blocs and inter-region competitors. The US engages in global trade to enhance its superpower status, not to undermine it. Thus the US does not seek equal partners as a matter of course. With economic sanctions as a tool of foreign policy, the US has been preventing, or trying to prevent, an increasing number of US transnational companies, and foreign companies trading with the US, from doing business in an increasing number of countries deemed rogue by Washington. Trade flows not where it is needed most, but to where it best serves the US national security interest. "Neo-liberal globalization has promoted the illusion that trade is a win-win transaction for all, based on the Ricardian model of comparative advantage. Yet economists recognize that without global full employment, comparative advantage is merely Say's Law internationalized. Say's Law states that supply creates its own demand, but only under full employment, a pre-condition supply-siders conveniently ignore. After two decades, this illusion has been shattered by concrete data: poverty has increased worldwide and global wages, already low to begin with, have declined since the Asian financial crisis of 1997, and by 45 percent in some countries, such as Indonesia. "Yet export to the US under dollar hegemony is merely an arrangement in which the exporting nations, in order to earn dollars to buy needed commodities denominated in dollars and to service dollar loans, are forced to finance the consumption of US consumers by the need to invest their trade surplus dollars in dollar assets as foreign-exchange reserves, giving the US a rising capital account surplus to finance its rising current account deficit. [Wages everywhere are continuing to decline with no bottom in sight in the current credit crisis.] "Furthermore, the trade surpluses are achieved not by an advantage in the terms of trade, but by sheer self-denial of basic domestic needs and critical imports necessary for domestic development. Not only are the exporting nations debasing the value of their labor, degrading their environment and depleting their natural resources for the privilege of running on the poverty treadmill, they are enriching the dollar economy and strengthening dollar hegemony in the process, and causing harm also to the US economy. Thus the exporting nations allow themselves to be robbed of needed capital for critical domestic development in such vital areas as education, health and other social infrastructure, by assuming heavy foreign debt to finance export, while they beg for even more foreign investment in the export sector by offering still more exorbitant returns and tax exemptions, putting increased social burden on the domestic economy. Yet many small economies around the world have no option but to continue to serve dollar hegemony like a drug addiction." That was written in 2004. Now, at long last, jolted by the global financial crisis that began in July 2007, China is finally demanding that its export be paid in Chinese yuan. But this demand should not be interpreted as a push to make the yuan a reserved currency for international trade. China only wants to denominate its bilateral trade in yuan. It has no desire in making the yuan a reserve currency for international trade in which China is not directly involved. Because of the size of the economy, the dollar will continue to serve as a preferred reserve currency, but only if the US puts its own financial house in order. Henry C K Liu is chairman of a New York-based private investment group. His website is at _http://www.henryckliu.com_ (http://www.henryckliu.com) . (Copyright 2009 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.) **************Looking for love this summer? Find it now on AOL Personals. From rdumain at autodidactproject.org Thu Jul 9 05:18:54 2009 From: rdumain at autodidactproject.org (Ralph Dumain) Date: Thu, 09 Jul 2009 07:18:54 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] smackdown of Sarah Palin Message-ID: . . . courtesy of Vanity Fair: http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2009/08/sarah-palin200908 From cb31450 at gmail.com Fri Jul 10 08:08:50 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Fri, 10 Jul 2009 10:08:50 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Partial list of famous musical artists who died as young or younger than Michael Jackson Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907100708u4429c293w1ac312c13441a993@mail.gmail.com> Michael Jackson 50 Bessie Smith 37 Billie Holiday 44 Charlie Parker 34 John Coltrane 40 Jimi Hendrix 28 Mozart 35 Tupac Shakur 25 Biggie Smalls 24 Elvis Presley 42 Fats Waller 39 Judy Garland 47 Marvin Gaye 44 David Ruffin 50 Paul Williams 34 John Lennon 40 Edith Piaf 47 Janis Joplin 27 Jim Morrison 28 Paul Chambers 33 Duane Allman 24 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duane_Allman Howard Duane Allman (November 20, 1946 ? October 29, 1971) was an American lead guitarist, co-founder of the Southern rock group the Allman Brothers Band, and respected session musician. He is best remembered for his brief but influential tenure in that band, expressive slide guitar playing, and formidable improvisational skills.[citation needed] A sought-after session musician both before and during his tenure with the band, Allman performed with such established stars as King Curtis, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, and Herbie Mann. His contributions to the 1970 album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs by Derek and the Dominos went on to become a part of Rock history. Phillipe Wynn 43 Philipp? Wynne (April 3, 1941 ? July 13, 1984), born Phillip Walker, was an American R&B vocalist. Best known for his role as the lead singer in the popular R&B group The Spinners (a role he shared with fellow group member Bobby Smith), Wynne scored notable hits such as "How Could I Let You Get Away", "The Rubberband Man", "One of a Kind (Love Affair)", "I'll Be Around", "Mighty Love", "Sadie", "Could It Be I'm Falling in Love", and "Then Came You" (with Dionne Warwick). After leaving The Spinners, Wynne never regained the same success, although his voice was featured in hits such as "(Not Just) Knee Deep". Wynne died of a heart attack while performing at a night club on July 13, 1984. Charlie Christian 26 Hank Williams 29 Florence Ballard 32 Mary Wells 49 Tammi Terrell 24 Scott Joplin 48 Dinah Washington 39 Nat King Cole 45 Buddy Holly 22 Ritchie Valens 17 From rdumain at autodidactproject.org Fri Jul 10 08:13:46 2009 From: rdumain at autodidactproject.org (Ralph Dumain) Date: Fri, 10 Jul 2009 10:13:46 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Partial list of famous musical artists who died as young or younger than Michael Jackson In-Reply-To: <5c2e4d230907100708u4429c293w1ac312c13441a993@mail.gmail.co m> References: <5c2e4d230907100708u4429c293w1ac312c13441a993@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: And all of them far worthier of attention than Michael Jackson, except for Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls--good riddance! And what this has to do with this list, I can't imagine. _________________________________________ "If you don't know the '70s, you don't know shit!" From cb31450 at gmail.com Fri Jul 10 10:41:12 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:41:12 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Comrade Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907100941r4b046d82o1f74dde77e3f223a@mail.gmail.com> http://www.evergreenreaders.com/online_publication.htm >>> "Evergreen Readers and Writes" 07/10/2009 11:33 AM >>> Dear Comrade Charles Brown, Revolutionary Greetings! Enclosed is an article, Recession: A Bolshevik Viewpoint, which I would like to have your comments about. If you wish to publish it anywhere, please do. Best regards, Zihannasheen ************************************************************************************************************************** ************************************************************************************************************************** Team Leader of Translation, Transcription and Editing Services for: English, Tibetan, Nepali, Urdu, Hindi, Sanskrit, Kashmiri, Ladakhi, Zanaskari, Sherpa and other Nepali and North Eastern Indian Languages... Chief Editor: Evergreen Readers and Writers-- A Literary Quarterly in English, Hindi, Urdu and Nepali-- GPO Box 25145, Kathmandu, NEPAL Tel: +977-1-4800044 Fax: +977-1-4800871 www.evergreenreaders.com Skype: zihannasheen at skype.com Yahoo: zihannasheen at yahoo.com MSN: rjnjaatheen at hotmail.com CV, Project History and References at: http://www.proz.com/profile/56268 ************************************************************************************************************************** ****************************** From cb31450 at gmail.com Fri Jul 10 13:37:06 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:37:06 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Behind the Facade Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907101237n5314d69aic1936cecb451fa6@mail.gmail.com> NY Times, July 4, 2009 Op-Ed Columnist Behind the Facade By BOB HERBERT Meeting Michael Jackson in the mid-1980s was one of the creepier experiences of my life. I was an editor at The Daily News and had to present him with an award in a large room with just a handful of onlookers and a photographer at Madison Square Garden. I wasn?t put off by the fact that Jackson, then in his mid-20s, couldn?t make small talk. Lots of people have trouble with that. There was something about his overall behavior that weirded me out. He seemed, even then, to be a person who was trying with all of his being to step outside of reality and leave it behind. Emmanuel Lewis, the child star of the hit TV series ?Webster,? was with Jackson that evening. The undersized Lewis was probably 13 at the time, but he looked much younger, maybe 7 or 8. Jackson seemed to relate only to Lewis. He made faces at the tiny boy and giggled as Lewis hopped around and climbed over furniture, much to Jackson?s delight. I remember thinking as I left the Garden that Jackson had treated Lewis almost as a pet. I?ve never heard any suggestion of anything improper about the relationship between Jackson and Lewis. But what I wish I had thought more about in those long-ago days of Michael-mania was the era of extreme immaturity and grotesque irresponsibility that was already well under way in America. The craziness played out on a shockingly broad front and Jackson?s life, among many others, would prove to be a shining and ultimately tragic example. Ronald Reagan was president, making promises he couldn?t keep about taxes and deficits and allowing the readings of a West Coast astrologer to shape his public schedule. The movie ?Wall Street? would soon appear, accurately reflecting the nation?s wholesale acceptance of unrestrained greed and other excesses of the rich and powerful. In neighborhoods through much of black America, crack was taking a fearful toll. Young criminals were arming themselves with ever more powerful weapons, and prison garb was used to set fashion trends. Motown was the label that gave us the Jackson 5. But when Michael and his brothers released their first album in 1969, the label had already reached its creative peak and most of the best work ? the stunning originality of the Miracles, the Marvelettes, Mary Wells, Martha and the Vandellas, the Supremes, the Temptations, and others ? had been done. Hip-hop would soon appear, and then the violence and misogyny of gangsta rap. All kinds of restraints were coming off. It was almost as if the adults had gone into hiding. The deregulation that we were told would be great for the economy was being applied to the culture as a whole. Women could be treated as sex objects again as misogyny, hardly limited to hip-hop, went mainstream. (Have you looked at network television lately, or listened to the radio?) Astonishing numbers of men abandoned their children with impunity. Most of the nation seemed fine with the idea of going to war without a draft and without raising taxes. In many ways we descended as a society into a fantasyland, trying to leave the limits and consequences and obligations of the real world behind. Politicians stopped talking about the poor. We built up staggering amounts of debt and called it an economic boom. We shipped jobs overseas by the millions without ever thinking seriously about how to replace them. We let New Orleans drown. Jackson was the perfect star for the era, the embodiment of fantasy gone wild. He tried to carve himself up into another person, but, of course, there was the same Michael Jackson underneath ? talented but psychologically disabled to the point where he was a danger to himself and others. Reality is unforgiving. There is no escape. Behind the Jackson facade was the horror of child abuse. Court records and reams of well-documented media accounts contain a stream of serious allegations of child sex abuse and other inappropriate behavior with very young boys. Jackson, a multimillionaire megastar, was excused as an eccentric. Small children were delivered into his company, to spend the night in his bed, often by their parents. One case of alleged pedophilia against Jackson, the details of which would make your hair stand on end, was settled for a reported $25 million. He beat another case in court. The Michael-mania that has erupted since Jackson?s death ? not just an appreciation of his music, but a giddy celebration of his life ? is yet another spasm of the culture opting for fantasy over reality. We don?t want to look under the rock that was Jackson?s real life. As with so many other things, we don?t want to know. From ballistanc at yahoo.com Sat Jul 11 11:54:21 2009 From: ballistanc at yahoo.com (juan De La Cruz) Date: Sat, 11 Jul 2009 10:54:21 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Fw: Contra el terrorismo de Estado Message-ID: <695070.89731.qm@web35501.mail.mud.yahoo.com> --- On Sat, 7/11/09, betancouour romana wrote: From: betancouour romana Subject: Fw: Contra el terrorismo de Estado To: "juan De La Cruz" Date: Saturday, July 11, 2009, 1:45 PM --- On Sat, 7/11/09, betancouour romana wrote: From: betancouour romana Subject: Fw: Contra el terrorismo de Estado To: "Karamba Babe" Cc: "betancouour romana" Date: Saturday, July 11, 2009, 1:45 PM --- On Sat, 7/11/09, betancouour romana wrote: From: betancouour romana Subject: Contra el terrorismo de Estado To: ricardoliriano at hotmail.com Date: Saturday, July 11, 2009, 1:44 PM Compa?eros, ? Les estamos enviando un documento que est? circulando en diferentes continentes en torno al agravamiento de las condiciones del terrorismo de Estado en Iran.? Estamos trabajando su traduccion al Espa?ol pero la urgencia de la situacion nos impuso distribuir el original en ingles.? "Iran: Un llamado urgente para defender la juventud arrestada de la tortura y ?desaparicion?"From A World to Win News Service: Iran: "Urgent call to defend arrested youth from torture and 'disappearance'" July 6, 2009. A World to Win News Service. Following is a call issued 3 July by the Iranian student newsletter Bazr (www.bazr1384.com, www.bazr1384.blogfa.com, e-mail: bazr1384 at gmail.com) Horrifying news is leaking out from prisons and underground detention centers where people arrested in the recent uprisings are being held. It is important to start a massive campaign to expose the on-going crimes and massacres and to demand the unconditional and immediate release of all political prisoners. In Iran, families of past and recent political prisoners can be the nucleus to initiate the campaign. But, at this point in time, Iranians abroad can play a very significant role in this matter. Even the gatherings on the anniversary of the massacres [of communists and other revolutionary political prisoners] of 1988 can be an occasion for this. There is talk of brutal and inhumane tortures inflicted on youths and others detained in the recent uprising, with the intention to kill them. At the same time pressure is being put on marked and known people, like reporters and activists in the camps of Mousavi and Karoubi [the two main figures of the electoral opposition] to confess to their alleged crimes. It seems that in case of youths they are adopting the policy of "disappearing" prisoners developed in Latin America. A prison guard serving his national service at Evin prison explained that in the prison quarters allocated to the Basiji [militia members] and the information center of the Revolutionary Guard (Pasdaran) where no one else is allowed to enter there, severe torture is going on every day, and they are all unnerved because of the screams and cries from within; and that every day at least 10 corpses of people who died under torture are thrown in ambulances and carried out to buried in unmarked graves. The aim of the mass arrests and physical abuse in both public places where people are watching and detention centers is to scare everybody off. I myself know of a few cases where people were arrested because of their age or physical appearance. They were released after 10 hours of beatings and verbal abuse, with the hope of sending out a message. This is not the authorities' sole tactic. They are going through the pictures taken by surveillance cameras to pick out the most militant and active youths who were involved in street fighting in and around the Basij centers and state institutions, in an attempt to eliminate them from the mass uprising. In the most recent days, people shouting slogans from their rooftops have been picked and taken to detention centers. The authorities are attempting to murder a few hundred people before the start of the school year, when they most probably face problems from teachers and students alike. It is also probable that schools will be half empty when they open. The secretary of education recently announced that 300,000 students eligible to take the National University entrance exam did not come forward to claim their entrance exam cards, nor did they participate in the national exams. Who were these people? Why didn't they take part in the exams? Some say it was a form of protest and others say they had lost their interest in taking the test and had no heart and mind for it. A few hundred may have become fugitives. The education secretary also announced this year only 20 percent of the entrance exam slots will be allocated to Islamist "revolutionaries" and Basiji, instead of the usual 40 percent. This, he implied, means that there will be that much more room for everyone else. But actually, it was understood such allocations no longer existed, so the intent is the opposite of what he claimed. This may signal a plan to fill the universities with Basiji to crush the student movement. It is of utmost importance that our comrades in the Iranian diaspora massively campaign on the issue of detainees who are being "disappeared". The coup-makers are not even showing any mercy for the regime?s own factions. One indication of how they are treating the people involved in their own internal conflicts is the case of a retired prominent figure in the Ministry of Information now an active member of the Rafsanjani/Mousavi [opposition] camp. He sent a letter to Zarghami (head of Iran?s radio and television authority) complaining that he had been kidnapped, beaten for a few hours and released. If they behave in such a manner towards their own, can you imagine what they would do with students and youth who rose against them? The situation is urgent ? don't waste time! Send us your comments. From karldallas at f2s.com Sun Jul 12 10:56:11 2009 From: karldallas at f2s.com (Karl Dallas) Date: Sun, 12 Jul 2009 17:56:11 +0100 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Michael Jackson - Marxism-Thaxis Digest, Vol 69, Issue 6 Message-ID: Lke much we have read about Michael Jackson this contribution lacks any analysis in Marxist terms of why at this particular juncture in the crisis of capitalism this particular evidence of its "dying culture" (Caudwell's useful phrase) becomes the focus of the diversion of human energies from the task of moving on to the next, more ratonal stage in human development. Of course Jackson was sick, of course capitalism is also and always sick, but the task is to say why this, and why this now? -- -- For the latest news about Palestine, go to the website of the Palestine Information Bureau, www.palinfo.org.uk. Go well ------------------------------------------ Karl Dallas Tel: +44(0)1274 823949 Mobile/cell: +44(0)788 077 0721 Buy CDs, videos, books etc from the HoustonMedia aStore at (UK) http://astore.amazon.co.uk/housto-21 or (US) http://astore.amazon.com/wwwkarldallas-20. From rdumain at autodidactproject.org Sun Jul 12 11:10:19 2009 From: rdumain at autodidactproject.org (Ralph Dumain) Date: Sun, 12 Jul 2009 13:10:19 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Michael Jackson - Marxism-Thaxis Digest, Vol 69, Issue 6 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Of course this stuff is silly. Aside from the obvious, it might be interesting to delve into the ideological content of Jackson's songs and his views. Also, the social basis of his pathology. But to tell the truth, I'm more interested in the Jazz Icons DVDs, consisting of video footage of concerts by the greats such as Sonny Rollins, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, John Coltrane, etc. I want to spend my time with real music, not pop culture bullshit. At 12:56 PM 7/12/2009, Karl Dallas wrote: >Lke much we have read about Michael Jackson this contribution lacks >any analysis in Marxist terms of why at this particular juncture in >the crisis of capitalism this particular evidence of its "dying >culture" (Caudwell's useful phrase) becomes the focus of the diversion >of human energies from the task of moving on to the next, more ratonal >stage in human development. >Of course Jackson was sick, of course capitalism is also and always >sick, but the task is to say why this, and why this now? > >-- From dhenwood at panix.com Sun Jul 12 11:13:09 2009 From: dhenwood at panix.com (Doug Henwood) Date: Sun, 12 Jul 2009 13:13:09 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Michael Jackson - Marxism-Thaxis Digest, Vol 69, Issue 6 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <05E7DED4-854F-4468-BD67-30AC21CA775E@panix.com> On Jul 12, 2009, at 1:10 PM, Ralph Dumain wrote: > Of course this stuff is silly. Aside from the obvious, it might be > interesting to delve into the ideological content of Jackson's songs > and his views. Also, the social basis of his pathology. > > But to tell the truth, I'm more interested in the Jazz Icons DVDs, > consisting of video footage of concerts by the greats such as Sonny > Rollins, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, John Coltrane, etc. I want to spend my > time with real music, not pop culture bullshit. But it's immensely popular with the working class, while the stuff you list is not. So how does a Marxist deal with that? Doug From rdumain at autodidactproject.org Sun Jul 12 11:19:03 2009 From: rdumain at autodidactproject.org (Ralph Dumain) Date: Sun, 12 Jul 2009 13:19:03 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Michael Jackson - Marxism-Thaxis Digest, Vol 69, Issue 6 In-Reply-To: <05E7DED4-854F-4468-BD67-30AC21CA775E@panix.com> References: <05E7DED4-854F-4468-BD67-30AC21CA775E@panix.com> Message-ID: Not a problem for me. A problem for you? At 01:13 PM 7/12/2009, Doug Henwood wrote: >On Jul 12, 2009, at 1:10 PM, Ralph Dumain wrote: > > > Of course this stuff is silly. Aside from the obvious, it might be > > interesting to delve into the ideological content of Jackson's songs > > and his views. Also, the social basis of his pathology. > > > > But to tell the truth, I'm more interested in the Jazz Icons DVDs, > > consisting of video footage of concerts by the greats such as Sonny > > Rollins, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, John Coltrane, etc. I want to spend my > > time with real music, not pop culture bullshit. > >But it's immensely popular with the working class, while the stuff you >list is not. So how does a Marxist deal with that? > >Doug From dhenwood at panix.com Sun Jul 12 11:23:30 2009 From: dhenwood at panix.com (Doug Henwood) Date: Sun, 12 Jul 2009 13:23:30 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Michael Jackson - Marxism-Thaxis Digest, Vol 69, Issue 6 In-Reply-To: References: <05E7DED4-854F-4468-BD67-30AC21CA775E@panix.com> Message-ID: On Jul 12, 2009, at 1:19 PM, Ralph Dumain wrote: > Not a problem for me. A problem for you? > > At 01:13 PM 7/12/2009, Doug Henwood wrote: > >> On Jul 12, 2009, at 1:10 PM, Ralph Dumain wrote: >> >>> Of course this stuff is silly. Aside from the obvious, it might be >>> interesting to delve into the ideological content of Jackson's songs >>> and his views. Also, the social basis of his pathology. >>> >>> But to tell the truth, I'm more interested in the Jazz Icons DVDs, >>> consisting of video footage of concerts by the greats such as Sonny >>> Rollins, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, John Coltrane, etc. I want to spend >>> my >>> time with real music, not pop culture bullshit. >> >> But it's immensely popular with the working class, while the stuff >> you >> list is not. So how does a Marxist deal with that? Not a prob in the sense of what I like. I'd rather listen to Elliott Carter than Michael Jackson. But isn't it something worth thinking about that many of us find the stuff the working class likes to be dreck? From rdumain at autodidactproject.org Sun Jul 12 11:37:57 2009 From: rdumain at autodidactproject.org (Ralph Dumain) Date: Sun, 12 Jul 2009 13:37:57 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Michael Jackson - Marxism-Thaxis Digest, Vol 69, Issue 6 In-Reply-To: References: <05E7DED4-854F-4468-BD67-30AC21CA775E@panix.com> Message-ID: Well, Adorno started thinking out this over 65 years ago. And this is when popular taste was probably far more discerning than it is today, pace Adorno's notions about jazz. The steady debasement of pop music since the late '70s is not much of a mystery, and with generational turnover and the revolution in media technology, it's easy to condition children practically from birth to consume the shit that gets churned out with ever having to hear any real music, popular or otherwise. The results are easily discernable. Oddly, one feels older even than what one really is in confronting the young and ignorant. What was once mega-popular becomes completely unknown to the clueless teenager of today. The memory hole has swallowed up all knowledge of the past, even the most common knowledge. I think of a gaggle of teenage black girls I encountered in the subway a year or two ago. They inquired what I was listening to on my headphones, and subsequent conversation revealed they never heard of P-Funk, George Clinton, or Bootsy. What's this world coming to? It's not like thinking about this is a novelty. I think Marx wrote 150 years ago that the more human our technology becomes, the more like machines people become. But he never imagined it would all come to this. At 01:23 PM 7/12/2009, Doug Henwood wrote: >On Jul 12, 2009, at 1:19 PM, Ralph Dumain wrote: > > > Not a problem for me. A problem for you? > > > > At 01:13 PM 7/12/2009, Doug Henwood wrote: > > > >> On Jul 12, 2009, at 1:10 PM, Ralph Dumain wrote: > >> > >>> Of course this stuff is silly. Aside from the obvious, it might be > >>> interesting to delve into the ideological content of Jackson's songs > >>> and his views. Also, the social basis of his pathology. > >>> > >>> But to tell the truth, I'm more interested in the Jazz Icons DVDs, > >>> consisting of video footage of concerts by the greats such as Sonny > >>> Rollins, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, John Coltrane, etc. I want to spend > >>> my > >>> time with real music, not pop culture bullshit. > >> > >> But it's immensely popular with the working class, while the stuff > >> you > >> list is not. So how does a Marxist deal with that? > >Not a prob in the sense of what I like. I'd rather listen to Elliott >Carter than Michael Jackson. But isn't it something worth thinking >about that many of us find the stuff the working class likes to be >dreck? From cb31450 at gmail.com Mon Jul 13 06:31:00 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Mon, 13 Jul 2009 08:31:00 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Partial list of famous musical artists who died as young or younger than Michael Jackson In-Reply-To: References: <5c2e4d230907100708u4429c293w1ac312c13441a993@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907130531u7ea14099v41078ade01b37212@mail.gmail.com> Clearly ,even, Michael Jackson reached out to White people in a graphic and bodily manner , even. He sort of turned himself into a White person. He married Elvis Presley's daughter, the princess of white anglo saxon working masses. What a political marriage of old. He had children with very wasp working class women. He's the original uniter , not divider. Black and white , unite and fight, workers of all races unite. And he was an extraordinary artist. On 7/10/09, Ralph Dumain wrote: > And all of them far worthier of attention than Michael Jackson, > except for Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls--good riddance! > > And what this has to do with this list, I can't imagine. > > > > > _________________________________________ > > "If you don't know the '70s, you don't know shit!" > > > _______________________________________________ > Marxism-Thaxis mailing list > Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu > To change your options or unsubscribe go to: > http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis > From cb31450 at gmail.com Mon Jul 13 06:48:47 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Mon, 13 Jul 2009 08:48:47 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Michael Jackson Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907130548i72eae3f1keeda73480eadc7ef@mail.gmail.com> Well, Adorno started thinking out this over 65 years ago. And this is when popular taste was probably far more discerning than it is today, pace Adorno's notions about jazz. The steady debasement of pop music since the late '70s is not much of a mystery, and with generational turnover and the revolution in media technology, it's easy to condition children practically from birth to consume the shit that gets churned out with ever having to hear any real music, popular or otherwise. The results are easily discernable. Oddly, one feels older even than what one really is in confronting the young and ignorant. What was once mega-popular becomes completely unknown to the clueless teenager of today. The memory hole has swallowed up all knowledge of the past, even the most common knowledge. I think of a gaggle of teenage black girls I encountered in the subway a year or two ago. They inquired what I was listening to on my headphones, and subsequent conversation revealed they never heard of P-Funk, George Clinton, or Bootsy. What's this world coming to? ^^^^^^^^^ CB: I bet George Clinton and Bootsey recognize Michael Jackson as one of the baddest motherfuckers of all times. From rdumain at autodidactproject.org Mon Jul 13 07:10:51 2009 From: rdumain at autodidactproject.org (Ralph Dumain) Date: Mon, 13 Jul 2009 09:10:51 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Partial list of famous musical artists who died as young or younger than Michael Jackson In-Reply-To: <5c2e4d230907130531u7ea14099v41078ade01b37212@mail.gmail.co m> References: <5c2e4d230907100708u4429c293w1ac312c13441a993@mail.gmail.com> <5c2e4d230907130531u7ea14099v41078ade01b37212@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: Reading your posts, I dread whatever senility awaits me. At 08:31 AM 7/13/2009, c b wrote: >Clearly ,even, Michael Jackson reached out to White people in a >graphic and bodily manner , even. He sort of turned himself into a >White person. He married Elvis Presley's daughter, the princess of >white anglo saxon working masses. What a political marriage of old. He >had children with very wasp working class women. He's the original >uniter , not divider. > >Black and white , unite and fight, workers of all races unite. > >And he was an extraordinary artist. > >On 7/10/09, Ralph Dumain wrote: > > And all of them far worthier of attention than Michael Jackson, > > except for Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls--good riddance! > > > > And what this has to do with this list, I can't imagine. > > > > > > _________________________________________ > > > > "If you don't know the '70s, you don't know shit!" From Waistline2 at aol.com Mon Jul 13 11:47:36 2009 From: Waistline2 at aol.com (Waistline2 at aol.com) Date: Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:47:36 EDT Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] The "little nigger" thing Message-ID: In a message dated 7/10/2009 3:45:09 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, _cb31450 at gmail.com_ (mailto:cb31450 at gmail.com) writes: - How about " little nigger who knows nothin about nothin" Comment This translation works for me. Apparently, the "little nigger" knows "something about something." The difference between Bush W. and the Obama election is that Obama won his election and Bush was appointed by the Supreme Court based on excluding millions of peoples vote. Then the voters voted for Bush because they liked him and his white unity program. American voted for Bush because he said I am going to be a military president, give you money and improve your life. The voters - majority, said "ok." Then he did not deliver the bacon. And the soldiers started arriving home with plates in their heads and genetic distortions from "nuclear." Blowback changes America. Killing a 10,000,000 means nothing to America and the American people if there is no blow back or impact on the murderers. Sure, a handful of us care but this is nothing. What Obama knows and is doing in real time is realigning American policy domestically and foreign. The Obama coalition has momentarily pushed the domestic historic fascist/white chauvinist current to the fringe of American politics. Interestingly, the majority of humanity seems to have an interest in shattering the leading edge of this deadly ideology. See, Bush W. called for a Holy War; a war of Christians - white peoples, against everyone on earth, who is not white or Christian. White unity calls forth its counterpart in the former colonies: national ideological unity against the historically oppressing peoples, who are white. America?s first black President makes a new national dialogue possible. Or rather, the spontaneous push for a new and different national dialogue called forth our first black president. This is not a coincidence. This first black President is a historic crossing of the color line. Perhaps, stating this backwards is more palatable. Obama?s candidacy and victory is the social response to something else - economic, social decay and 40 years of desegregation. No one was fooled into supporting Obama candidacy. Were the voters fooled into supporting Bush W? No. Was Bush first presidential bid contested? Yes. Bush W. as president meant white unity won the day and everyone in America knows that. Yet, eight years later we somehow end up with a "little nigger that knows nothing about nothing" and is capable of fooling people into voting for him. Obama?s articulated vision and words were presented in contrast with the white chauvinist vision and oratory of John McCain?s "Country First" candidacy. "Country First" means the same as "Law and Order" - lets step on the black people, take their voting rights, increase police murders, exclude them from the social life of the country, kill Arabs and strengthen white unity. The voters rejected this ideology and voted their pocket books and wallets. Senator Clinton phony populist appeal to "real hard working Americans" was more of the same thing. The American working class, as a class, is evolving to a point where "you cannot talk to us in the same any old way." The idea that Obama represents a black face on American imperialism, rather than profound changes that have taken place in American society and the structure of capital is more of the same stale white chauvinism, turned inside out. 110 years of non-stooping fighting and dying has forced the issue. A significant amount of blacks and whites, going back to John Brown and reverend Elijah Lovejoy, have fought and died over equality of blacks, as an issue of class. Obama being elected means something in the thinking of the American people has changed. A McCain victory - "Country First" would strengthen the fascist political axis of American politics and government. McCain would have extended what is called "The Southern take over of American politics." The social and ideological base of the Republican Party, expressed, as the Bush W. alignment, remains the core states of the old Southern Confederacy. The Democratic Party of 2008 was not the Democratic Party of the pre-Civil War years. In both periods the Democratic Party expressed a different alignment and correlation of class forces. In Clinton and Edwards?s case, had they won, any discussion of socialism would have been as a black issue or something needed for the blacks, with the whites needing greater economic opportunity. A black man at the helm allows white America to raise a different set of questions in the ideological sphere. That is why Obama was elected in the first place. In not for his impulse the country would have elected McCain. One must remember that the swing vote cementing Obama?s victory, was not the blacks but a huge section of traditionally conservative Democrats and liberal Republican voters, personalities in the autoworkers of the Mid West. This section swung to Obama has in the past spontaneously swung to the most reactionary and chauvinistic in American politics on the basis of the North-South political axis. These are the workers historically supporting George Wallace "Independent" run for president. Michigan was a huge economic, social and political base of support for Wallace. These workers will swing again. One must determine whose orbit these workers are to enter. When and if these workers are swung to the fascist pole we are taking about another 50 years of reaction. On the scale of history 50 years is nothing. For me and my children and my grandchildren, 50 years is important. For the voting section of our working class the election of Obama meant, "we need someone to help us in our economic plight. Someone different from the historic rabid "race haters" and the Clinton NAFT plan program that have destroyed our economic life and communities. OK black guy, you speak pretty good words let see what happens. Can you get me a job because McCain and Clinton are full of crap." In layperson terms McCain said we have to tighten up our belts; expand the military without the waste, and keep the natives of the world in place. Then we expand democracy ("wink") and wait for the free market to drive the riff raft into poverty and welfare, but most of you good white people are going to make it. Every good white working class family in the Midwest had a dinner table discussion to determine whether or not they still fit into the "white bread category" and the conclusion was "I do not think we make it this time." Obama said there is a proper role of government in helping the economically distressed sections of the population. The white proletarians of the mid west said, "Look, I do not champion welfare but I think I am going to need welfare the way things going." This sentiment along was not enough to defeat McCain. McCain was defeated during a rally where an older women said "A?int Obama a Arab or terrorist or something." These were not her exact words but America was repulsed and said, "OK, I have to send by son and daughter to war, have no job, then get called to beat down niggers at home. Then I am called to fight the ni*ger in the Middle East - the ones with sheets on their head, and after military service hope to get a job in a jail or something." "Or I can work at 7-11 . . . On the midnight shift to get the shift premium. And still not be able to pay the house note and car note." Remembering the progression of events and the subtle ideological shifts underway is important. When the housing market began further collapse, there was a concerted move to make this a black issue in the ideological sphere. Predatory lending to blacks - (a bunch of little niggers that will not cut their grass), and browns - (a bunch of no speaking English Mexicans who cut their grass everyday but have no money), was said to be problem, rather than historic overproduction of capital, thirty years of falling wages and the absolute failure of free market economy. McCain in office would mean that blacks and browns would be portrayed as the national reason for the economic meltdown and consolidated the political forces pushing to exclude blacks from the electoral arena, especially in Southern states. In the Obama era, this old white ideology is forced to the fringe and not the top agenda of national media. America has changed. And then changed again when no one was looking. This also means one can speak of class, money and the role of government. Welfare is emerging as a national issue but could not get a hearing in this country because it has been presented as a black issue since Reagan. As long as poverty is presented as a black thing in the national ideological sphere, one can forget "the class struggle." The era of Obama inaugurates the era of the class struggle. Obama has to put forth a non-racial view from the national Presidential podium. That is what is different. Further, much of the national efforts to strip blacks of their voting rights were rebuffed by the Obama coalition/campaign. This issue of voting might no be equally important to all sections of communism but it is very important to some of us and this need not be discounted. It is better to be able to vote in capitalist America than not to be able to vote. It is good to vote in every election to reaffirm that one can still vote. Those who advocate boycott of all bourgeois candidates can find fertile soil amongst the majority that do not vote. WL. This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from _http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm_ (http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm) **************Looking for love this summer? Find it now on AOL Personals. (http://personals.aol.com/?ncid=emlcntuslove00000003) From cb31450 at gmail.com Tue Jul 14 09:44:58 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2009 11:44:58 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Michael Jackson - Marxism-Thaxis Digest, Vol 69, Issue 6 In-Reply-To: <05E7DED4-854F-4468-BD67-30AC21CA775E@panix.com> References: <05E7DED4-854F-4468-BD67-30AC21CA775E@panix.com> Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907140844o146ed726xb8e9686c903f33e4@mail.gmail.com> > > Of course this stuff is silly. Aside from the obvious, it might be > > interesting to delve into the ideological content of Jackson's songs > > and his views. Also, the social basis of his pathology. > > > > But to tell the truth, I'm more interested in the Jazz Icons DVDs, > > consisting of video footage of concerts by the greats such as Sonny > > Rollins, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, John Coltrane, etc. I want to spend my > > time with real music, not pop culture bullshit. > > But it's immensely popular with the working class, while the stuff you > list is not. So how does a Marxist deal with that? > > Doug > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ When an idea grips masses it becomes a material force. Charles From cb31450 at gmail.com Tue Jul 14 10:11:49 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:11:49 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Behind the Facade Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907140911r1f7b8644wcbc6b55ebfcd9e08@mail.gmail.com> Motown was the label that gave us the Jackson 5. But when Michael and his brothers released their first album in 1969, the label had already reached its creative peak and most of the best work ? the stunning originality of the Miracles, the Marvelettes, Mary Wells, Martha and the Vandellas, the Supremes, the Temptations, and others ? had been done. Hip-hop would soon appear, and then the violence and misogyny of gangsta rap. ^^^^^^^ CB: This is a poor historical summary. He leaves out the whole 70's which was extraordinarily rich musically. What about Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder ? Aretha Franklin. The Spinners, O-Jay's , Earth, Wind and Fire, Ohio Players and the Isley's ? 70's Soul music is the high point of music so far in history (smile). Jackson became paramount in the 80's. Hip-hop isn't until the 90's ! And gangsta doesn't take over rap until then. This demonstrates that Herbert really doesn't know his popular music much. From cb31450 at gmail.com Tue Jul 14 10:35:32 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:35:32 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Michael Jackson Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907140935m3951b40ew7998555fc5f7f814@mail.gmail.com> Well, Adorno started thinking out this over 65 years ago. And this is when popular taste was probably far more discerning than it is today, pace Adorno's notions about jazz. ^^^ CB: Didn't Adorno conclude that the working class is no longer the revolutionary "subject" class ? ^^^^^^^ The steady debasement of pop music since the late '70s is not much of a mystery, and with generational turnover and the revolution in media technology, it's easy to condition children practically from birth to consume the shit that gets churned out with ever having to hear any real music, popular or otherwise. The results are easily discernable. Oddly, one feels older even than what one really is in confronting the young and ignorant. What was once mega-popular becomes completely unknown to the clueless teenager of today. The memory hole has swallowed up all knowledge of the past, even the most common knowledge. I think of a gaggle of teenage black girls I encountered in the subway a year or two ago. They inquired what I was listening to on my headphones, and subsequent conversation revealed they never heard of P-Funk, George Clinton, or Bootsy. What's this world coming to? ^^^^^^^^^ From cb31450 at gmail.com Tue Jul 14 10:43:19 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:43:19 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Adorno Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907140943r472cd068t123008c5e5ef2525@mail.gmail.com> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodor_W._Adorno Theory Adorno was chiefly influenced by Max Weber's critique of disenchantment, Georg Lukacs's Hegelian interpretation of Marxism, as well as Walter Benjamin's philosophy of history, although Weber's influence has until recently been underestimated. Adorno, along with the other major Frankfurt School theorists Max Horkheimer and Herbert Marcuse, argued that advanced capitalism had managed to contain or liquidate the forces that would bring about its collapse and that the revolutionary moment, when it would have been possible to transform it into socialism, had passed. As he put it at the beginning of his Negative Dialectics (1966), philosophy is still necessary because the time to realise it was missed. Adorno argued that capitalism had become more entrenched through its attack on the objective basis of revolutionary consciousness and through liquidation of the individualism that had been the basis of critical consciousness. Whilst Adorno's work focuses on art, literature and music as key areas of sensual, indirect critique of the established culture and modes of thought, there is also a strand of distinctly political utopianism evident in his reflections especially on history. The argument, which is complex and dialectic, dominates his Aesthetic Theory, Philosophy of New Music and many other works. Adorno saw the culture industry as an arena in which critical tendencies or potentialities were eliminated. He argued that the culture industry, which produced and circulated cultural commodities through the mass media, manipulated the population. Popular culture was identified as a reason why people become passive; the easy pleasures available through consumption of popular culture made people docile and content, no matter how terrible their economic circumstances. * (See "Don't Worry; Be Happy") The differences among cultural goods make them appear different, but they are in fact just variations on the same theme. He wrote that "the same thing is offered to everybody by the standardised production of consumption goods" but this is concealed under "the manipulation of taste and the official culture's pretense of individualism". [10] Adorno conceptualised this phenomenon as pseudo-individualization and the always-the-same. He saw this mass-produced culture as a danger to the more difficult high arts. Culture industries cultivate false needs; that is, needs created and satisfied by capitalism. True needs, in contrast, are freedom, creativity, and genuine happiness. But the subtle dialectician was also able to say that the problem with capitalism was that it blurred the line between false and true needs altogether. The work of Adorno and Horkheimer heavily influenced intellectual discourse on popular culture and scholarly popular culture studies. At the time Adorno began writing, there was a tremendous unease among many intellectuals as to the results of mass culture and mass production on the character of individuals within a nation. By exploring the mechanisms for the creation of mass culture, Adorno presented a framework which gave specific terms to what had been a more general concern. At the time this was considered important because of the role which the state took in cultural production; Adorno's analysis allowed for a critique of mass culture from the left which balanced the critique of popular culture from the right. From both perspectives ? left and right ? the nature of cultural production was felt to be at the root of social and moral problems resulting from the consumption of culture. However, while the critique from the right emphasized moral degeneracy ascribed to sexual and racial influences within popular culture, Adorno located the problem not with the content, but with the objective realities of the production of mass culture and its effects, e.g. as a form of reverse psychology. Many aspects of Adorno's work are relevant today and have been developed in many strands of contemporary critical theory, media theory, and sociology. Thinkers influenced by Adorno believe that today's society has evolved in a direction foreseen by him, especially in regard to the past (Auschwitz), morals or the Culture Industry. The latter has become a particularly productive, yet highly contested term in cultural studies. Many of Adorno's reflections on aesthetics and music have only just begun to be debated, as a collection of essays on the subject, many of which had not previously been translated into English, has only recently been collected and published as Essays on Music. His work on the culture industry has been criticized by such writers as Christian Bethune, who point out both that Adorno's critique is not based on a thorough knowledge of popular cultural forms, but also that it has an "end of history" tone to it. Taking Adorno's critique of popular music to its logical conclusion, one would have to conclude that Blues or rocknroll, jazz, rap or punk, were also simply one hundred percent commercial inventions for profit, with no contradictions within them. Adorno, again along with the other principal thinkers of the Frankfurt school, attacked positivism in the social sciences and in philosophy. He was particularly harsh on approaches that claimed to be scientific and quantitative, although the collective work The Authoritarian Personality that appeared partly under Adorno's name was an influential empirical study in the social sciences in America after its publication in 1950. Adorno's work in the years before his death was shaped by the idea of "negative dialectics", set out especially in his book of that title. A key notion in the work of the Frankfurt School since Dialectic of Enlightenment had been the idea of thought becoming an instrument of domination that subsumes all objects under the control of the (dominant) subject, especially through the notion of identity, i.e. of identifying as real in nature and society only that which harmonized or fit with dominant concepts, and regarding as unreal or non-existent everything that did not. Adorno's "negative dialectics" was an attempt to articulate a non-dominating thought that would recognize its limitations and accept the non-identity and reality of that which could not be subsumed under the subject's concepts. Indeed, Adorno sought to ground the critical bite of his sociological work in his critique of identity, which he took to be a reification in thought of the commodity form or exchange relation which always presumes a false identity between different things. The potential to criticise arises from the gap between the concept and the object, which can never go into the former without remainder. This gap, this non-identity in identity, was the secret to a critique of both material life and conceptual reflection.[citation needed] * Bobby McFerrin Don't Worry, Be Happy Lyrics Don't Worry, Be Happy From bogus@does.not.exist.com Mon Jul 6 09:31:04 2009 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:31:04 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: Performed by Bobby McFerrin Here is a little song I wrote You might want to sing it note for note Don't worry be happy In every life we have some trouble When you worry you make it double Don't worry, be happy...... Ain't got no place to lay your head Somebody came and took your bed Don't worry, be happy The land lord say your rent is late He may have to litigate Don't worry, be happy Lood at me I am happy Don't worry, be happy Here I give you my phone number When you worry call me I make you happy Don't worry, be happy Ain't got no cash, ain't got no style Ain't got not girl to make you smile But don't worry be happy Cause when you worry Your face will frown And that will bring everybody down So don't worry, be happy (now)..... There is this little song I wrote I hope you learn it note for note Like good little children Don't worry, be happy Listen to what I say In your life expect some trouble But when you worry You make it double Don't worry, be happy...... Don't worry don't do it, be happy Put a smile on your face Don't bring everybody down like this Don't worry, it will soon past Whatever it is Don't worry, be happy From cb31450 at gmail.com Tue Jul 14 11:06:24 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2009 13:06:24 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Partial list of famous musical artists who died as young or younger than Michael Jackson In-Reply-To: References: <5c2e4d230907100708u4429c293w1ac312c13441a993@mail.gmail.com> <5c2e4d230907130531u7ea14099v41078ade01b37212@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907141006v5defc333pb6acbd86a0f869a0@mail.gmail.com> Another thing about the list below is so many of the people named were perhaps the "top" person in their area. Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, Marvin Gaye, Elvis Presley and Hank Williams, John Lennon, John Coltrane, Jimi Hendrix Mozart were all top "superstars" of their moments. ^^^^^^^^ > Another one is Duane Allman. He was in his twenties. Allman > Brothers were a Georgia guitar band from the sixties and > seventies. > > > All > > in list were under 50! > > Partial list of famous musical artists who died as > young or > > younger than Michael Jackson > > > > > > Michael Jackson 50 > > > > Bessie Smith 37 > > Billie Holiday 44 > > Charlie Parker 34 > > John Coltrane 40 > > Jimi Hendrix 28 > > Mozart 35 > > Tupac Shakur 25 > > Biggie Smalls 24 > > Elvis Presley 42 > > Fats Waller 39 > > Judy Garland 47 > > Marvin Gaye > > 44 > > David Ruffin 50 > > Paul Williams 34 > > John Lennon 40 > > Edith Piaf > 47 > > Janis Joplin 27 > > Jim Morrison 28 > > Paul Chambers 33 > > Charlie Christian 26 > > Hank Williams 29 > > Florence Ballard 32 > > Mary Wells 49 > > Tammi Terrell 24 > > Scott Joplin 48 > > Dinah Washington 39 > > Nat King Cole 45 > > Buddy Holly 22 > > Ritchie Valens 17 > > > > > > > > > On 7/13/09, Ralph Dumain wrote: > Reading your posts, I dread whatever senility awaits me. > > At 08:31 AM 7/13/2009, c b wrote: > >Clearly ,even, Michael Jackson reached out to White people in a > >graphic and bodily manner , even. He sort of turned himself into a > >White person. He married Elvis Presley's daughter, the princess of > >white anglo saxon working masses. What a political marriage of old. He > >had children with very wasp working class women. He's the original > >uniter , not divider. > > > >Black and white , unite and fight, workers of all races unite. > > > >And he was an extraordinary artist. > > > >On 7/10/09, Ralph Dumain wrote: > > > And all of them far worthier of attention than Michael Jackson, > > > except for Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls--good riddance! > > > > > > And what this has to do with this list, I can't imagine. From cb31450 at gmail.com Tue Jul 14 11:09:08 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2009 13:09:08 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Partial list of famous musical artists who died as young or younger than Michael Jackson Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907141009g6bccc054t6a3f4cfc3087018e@mail.gmail.com> Ralph Dumain Reading your posts, I dread whatever senility awaits me. ^^^^^ Reading your post, evidently ,your senility has already arrived From cb31450 at gmail.com Tue Jul 14 11:37:35 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2009 13:37:35 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Adorno Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907141037t69f2cc1bi6133d3b64822dc5a@mail.gmail.com> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodor_W._Adorno [edit] Adorno and Music Theory See also: Critical Theory, New musicology. Adorno's theoretical method is closely related to his understanding of music and Arnold Schoenberg and other contemporary composers' atonal (less so "twelve-tone") techniques (Adorno had studied composition for several years with Alban Berg), which challenged the hierarchical nature of traditional tonality in composition. For even if "the whole is untrue", for Adorno we retain the ability to form partial critical conceptions and submit them to a test as we progress towards a "higher" awareness. This role of a critical consciousness was a common concern in the Second Viennese School prior to the Second World War, and demanded that composers relate to the traditions more as a canon of taboos rather than as a canon of masterpieces that should be imitated. For the composer (poet, artist, philosopher) of this era, every work of art or thought was thus likely to be shocking or difficult to understand. Only through its "corrosive unacceptability" to the commercially-defined sensibilities of the middle class could new art hope to challenge dominant cultural assumptions. Adorno's followers argue that he seems to have managed the very idea that one can abandon tonality while still being able to rank artistic and ethical phenomena on a tentative scale, not because he was a sentimentalist about this ability but because he saw the drive towards totality (whether the Stalinist or Fascist totality of his time) as derivative of the ability to make ethical and artistic judgement, which, following Kant, Adorno thought part of being human. Thus his method (better: anti-method) was to use language and its "big" concepts tentatively and musically, partly to see if they "sound right" and fit the data. Adorno was concerned that a genuine sociology retain a commitment to truth including the willingness to self-apply. Today, his life can be read as a protest against what he would call the "reification" of political polls and spin as well as a culture that in being aggressively "anti" high culture, seems every year to make more and more cultural artifacts of less and less quality that are consumed with some disgust by their "fans", viewed as objects themselves[citation needed]. From cb31450 at gmail.com Tue Jul 14 12:37:42 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:37:42 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Adorno Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907141137n1435398fu573685c87150bbce@mail.gmail.com> Theodor W. Adorno First published Mon May 5, 2003; substantive revision Fri Aug 3, 2007 http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/adorno/#2 2. Dialectic of Enlightenment Long before "postmodernism" became fashionable, Adorno and Horkheimer wrote one of the most searching critiques of modernity to have emerged among progressive European intellectuals. Dialectic of Enlightenment is a product of their wartime exile. It first appeared as a mimeograph titled Philosophical Fragments in 1944. This title became the subtitle when the book was published in 1947. Their book opens with a grim assessment of the modern West: "Enlightenment, understood in the widest sense as the advance of thought, has always aimed at liberating human beings from fear and installing them as masters. Yet the wholly enlightened earth radiates under the sign of disaster triumphant" (DE 1, translation modified). How can this be, the authors ask. How can the progress of modern science and medicine and industry promise to liberate people from ignorance, disease, and brutal, mind-numbing work, yet help create a world where people willingly swallow fascist ideology, knowingly practice deliberate genocide, and energetically develop lethal weapons of mass destruction? Reason, they answer, has become irrational. ^^^^^ CB: Gee, interesting theory, but since they call themselves "Marxists" you'd think they might mention the concepts "capitalism", "class oppression" in looking for an explanation of "modernity's" discontents. Ya think ? Why not drop the "Marxist" tag to avoid this confusion. Put another way, what exactly is "Marxist" in Adorno's thinking ? ^^^^^ ^^^^^ Although they cite Francis Bacon as a leading spokesman for an instrumentalized reason that becomes irrational, Horkheimer and Adorno do not think that modern science and scientism are the sole culprits. The tendency of rational progress to become irrational regress arises much earlier. Indeed, they cite both the Hebrew scriptures and Greek philosophers as contributing to regressive tendencies. If Horkheimer and Adorno are right, then a critique of modernity must also be a critique of premodernity, and a turn toward the postmodern cannot simply be a return to the premodern. Otherwise the failures of modernity will continue in a new guise under postmodern conditions. Society as a whole needs to be transformed. ^^^^^ CB: Does it now ? Especially, since "the whole is false". ^^^^ Horkheimer and Adorno believe that society and culture form a historical totality, such that the pursuit of freedom in society is inseparable from the pursuit of enlightenment in culture (DE xvi). There is a flip side to this: a lack or loss of freedom in society?in the political, economic, and legal structures within which we live?signals a concomitant failure in cultural enlightenment?in philosophy, the arts, religion, and the like. The Nazi death camps are not an aberration, nor are mindless studio movies innocent entertainment. Both indicate that something fundamental has gone wrong in the modern West. ^^^^^ CB: How about white supremacy, the African slave trade , the genocidal usurpation of the Western Hemisphere and worldwide imperialism before these ? They should have read _The World and Africa_ by Dubois. Something had been done gone wrong in the modern West way before the Nazi death camps and studio movies. ^^^^^ According to Horkheimer and Adorno, the source of today's disaster is a pattern of blind domination, domination in a triple sense: the domination of nature by human beings, the domination of nature within human beings, and, in both of these forms of domination, the domination of some human beings by others. ^^^^ CB: Now there's a contradiction. Human beings are dominating nature and nature is dominating human beings at the same time. ^^^^^^^ What motivates such triple domination is an irrational fear of the unknown: "Humans believe themselves free of fear when there is no longer anything unknown. This has determined the path of demythologization ? . Enlightenment is mythical fear radicalized" (DE 11). In an unfree society whose culture pursues so-called progress no matter what the cost, that which is "other," whether human or nonhuman, gets shoved aside, exploited, or destroyed. The means of destruction may be more sophisticated in the modern West, and the exploitation may be less direct than outright slavery, but blind, fear-driven domination continues, with ever greater global consequences. The all-consuming engine driving this process is an ever-expanding capitalist economy, fed by scientific research and the latest technologies. ^^^^^ CB: Ok here's capitalism, but really it's scientific research. ^^^^^ Contrary to some interpretations, Horkheimer and Adorno do not reject the eighteenth-century Enlightenment. Nor do they provide a negative "metanarrative" of universal historical decline. Rather, through a highly unusual combination of philosophical argument, sociological reflection, and literary and cultural commentary, they construct a "double perspective" on the modern West as a historical formation (Jarvis 1998, 23). They summarize this double perspective in two interlinked theses: "Myth is already enlightenment, and enlightenment reverts to mythology" (DE xviii). The first thesis allows them to suggest that, despite being declared mythical and outmoded by the forces of secularization, older rituals, religions, and philosophies may have contributed to the process of enlightenment and may still have something worthwhile to contribute. The second thesis allows them to expose ideological and destructive tendencies within modern forces of secularization, but without denying either that these forces are progressive and enlightening or that the older conceptions they displace were themselves ideological and destructive. A fundamental mistake in many interpretations of Dialectic of Enlightenment occurs when readers take such theses to be theoretical definitions of unchanging categories rather than critical judgments about historical tendencies. The authors are not saying that myth is "by nature" a force of enlightenment. Nor are they claiming that enlightenment "inevitably" reverts to mythology. In fact, what they find really mythical in both myth and enlightenment is the thought that fundamental change is impossible. Such resistance to change characterizes both ancient myths of fate and modern devotion to the facts. Accordingly, in constructing a "dialectic of enlightenment" the authors simultaneously aim to carry out a dialectical enlightenment of enlightenment not unlike Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit. Two Hegelian concepts anchor this project, namely, determinate negation and conceptual self-reflection. "Determinate negation" (bestimmte Negation) indicates that immanent criticism is the way to wrest truth from ideology. A dialectical enlightenment of enlightenment, then, "discloses each image as script. It teaches us to read from [the image's] features the admission of falseness which cancels its power and hands it over to truth" (DE 18). Beyond and through such determinate negation, a dialectical enlightenment of enlightenment also recalls the origin and goal of thought itself. ^^^^^ CB: The origin and goal of thought itself. I wonder what their theory of this is. Not promising that they may look for it in Kant and metaphyisics. Like a million years ago ? Or in Greece (smile) ^^^^ Such recollection is the work of the concept as the self-reflection of thought (der Begriff als Selbstbesinnung des Denkens, DE 32). Conceptual self-reflection reveals that thought arises from the very corporeal needs and desires that get forgotten when thought becomes a mere instrument of human self-preservation. It also reveals that the goal of thought is not to continue the blind domination of nature and humans but to point toward reconciliation. Adorno works out the details of this conception in his subsequent lectures on Kant (KC), ethics (PMP), and metaphysics (MCP) and in his books on Husserl (AE), Hegel (H), and Heidegger (JA). His most comprehensive statement occurs in Negative Dialectics, which is discussed later. From Waistline2 at aol.com Tue Jul 14 12:37:49 2009 From: Waistline2 at aol.com (Waistline2 at aol.com) Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:37:49 EDT Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Michael Jackson - Marxism-Thaxis Digest, Vol 69, Issue 6 Message-ID: In a message dated 7/14/2009 11:45:12 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, cb31450 at gmail.com writes: > > But to tell the truth, I'm more interested in the Jazz Icons DVDs, > > consisting of video footage of concerts by the greats such as Sonny > > Rollins, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, John Coltrane, etc. I want to spend my > > time with real music, not pop culture bullshit. > > But it's immensely popular with the working class, while the stuff you > list is not. So how does a Marxist deal with that? > > Doug > Comment Pop means popular or popular music. Who is this music popular to and with if not the working class? I love jazz and still get this fuzzy feeling playing Lee Morgan's "sidewinder" and "Gigolo." Although jazz purist rate the mature Donald Byrd "fusion jazz" as unworthy, "Places and Spaces" has been played in my home and vehicle for 34 years non-stop. Ever young person I have played this "album" for falls in love with "Wind Parade," "Dominoes," "Spaces and Places" and "Just My Imagination." Freddie Hubbards "Red Clay" was discussed on M-T when he passed. Jazz has its highbrow (abstract) aspects, and profound individuality. I do not consider "Red Clay" highbrow. Jazz is different . . . a different texture and individuality. A John Coltrane would not strive to play "My Favorite Things or Giant Steps" the same way before every audience and I believe this has something to do with "the jazz form" and the role of the individual as a living organism articulating time and the collective will of the group. The group is subject to the flow of life and changing moods of the audience. On the other hand a Michael Jackson performance and sound, as popular music and dance demands almost perfect repetition before different audiences. I watched one of his Billy Jean performances a decade or so after the famous performance at the Motown 25 celebration. He walks on stage with an old suitcase. Places it on top of a stool and opens it, as if to say "OK, let me dig this old performance out of storage." Then he gave the audience what they wanted. A show and brilliant performance. The working class loves dance music and moving its body. The working class puts it money where its feet are. Michael Jackson understood this very well. All this stuff about MJ brings people - black and white, together is a tad bit much. I believe what is meant is how in the flesh he expressed a certain homogenizing of the culture. First in America with the destruction of segregation and the "race records as an industry," and then in world culture. There is a long tradition of black artists moving overseas where American music is more appreciated. I believe the best documentary I have seen on John Coltrane comes from Japan. One of James Brown best performances at the London Palladium comes out of Japan on the Sony label. Interestingly, I recall an old James Brown interview where he apologizes profusely for any disruption his performances may have caused within foreign cultures. I do believe this was said in connection with touring Africa. Michael Jackson body of work occurs in another period of time, when America's imperial impact on the world cultures is such that no apology was needed or perceived to be necessary by Jackson. In other words capital brings us together. For better or worse; in victory and defeat, in life and death. Here is the degeneracy of our ruling class and the utter bankruptcy of the Southern political elite. Much of American popular music is southern in its genesis. The aristocratic bourbon culture of the agrarian capitalist slave holding class; their utter hate and disdain for slave/working class of the South, and then the overthrow of Reconstruction, meant thy lost forever any moral right to inherit and champion any cultural forms of American social life. It is not like Elvis in the flesh or in death could/can thrive in Mississippi. From bogus@does.not.exist.com Mon Jul 6 09:31:04 2009 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:31:04 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: honoring the Mississippi blues man and this unique sounds, upwards of a million people a year would trek to Mississippi to pay homage. David Ruffin of the Temptations was born in Mississippi into a gospel singing family. Won't be no monuments to a "singing nig***"" in Mississippi anytime soon, although it is admitted David is one of the greatest male vocalist in American history. Two of the other Temptations comes out of Alabama and James Brown South Carolina. Interestingly there is a Bogangles statue. The statue has Bogangles appearing as he is doing everything in his power to escape the old South. Interesting statue. I do feel discussion about Mr. Jackson's personal life - who he married and his children, is inappropriate to a Marxist list, unless such discussion is framework within the context of the changing form and structure of the bourgeois family as a historically evolved social and economic unit. Further, the color factor should - as much as possible, be treated as it arose a historical question and persists. WL. **************Can love help you live longer? Find out now. (http://personals.aol.com/articles/2009/02/18/longer-lives-through-relationships/?ncid=emlweu slove00000001) From shmage at pipeline.com Tue Jul 14 14:09:41 2009 From: shmage at pipeline.com (Shane Mage) Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:09:41 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Adorno In-Reply-To: <5c2e4d230907141037t69f2cc1bi6133d3b64822dc5a@mail.gmail.com> References: <5c2e4d230907141037t69f2cc1bi6133d3b64822dc5a@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <22B51004-2663-4234-A930-DA0F61B546AA@pipeline.com> On Jul 14, 2009, at 1:37 PM, c b wrote: > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodor_W._Adorno > > Adorno's theoretical method is closely related to his understanding of > music and Arnold Schoenberg and other contemporary composers' atonal > (less so "twelve-tone") techniques (Adorno had studied composition for > several years with Alban Berg), which challenged the hierarchical > nature of traditional tonality in composition. Nonsense. That "hierarchical nature of traditional tonality in composition," if it ever existed, ended with the first notes of *Tristan*. > ...the Second Viennese School...demanded that composers relate to > the traditions more as a canon of taboos rather than as a canon of > masterpieces that should be imitated... Which, no doubt, is why Wozzek is entirely structured in traditional forms, why Webern orchestrated (and virtually recomposed) the *Ricercar ? six," why Schoenberg wrote both "tonal" and "twelve-tone" works at the same time. Sure. Shane Mage > This cosmos did none of gods or men make, but it > always was and is and shall be: an everlasting fire, > kindling in measures and going out in measures." > > Herakleitos of Ephesos From cb31450 at gmail.com Tue Jul 14 14:33:21 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:33:21 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Michael Jackson - Marxism-Thaxis Digest, Vol 69, Issue 6 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907141333k68a964f5hc1968f8aeb4b34a3@mail.gmail.com> On 7/14/09, Waistline2 at aol.com > > All this stuff about MJ brings people - black and white, together is a tad > bit much. I believe what is meant is how in the flesh he expressed a > certain homogenizing of the culture. First in America with the destruction of > segregation and the "race records as an industry," and then in world culture. > There is a long tradition of black artists moving overseas where American > music is more appreciated. I believe the best documentary I have seen on > John Coltrane comes from Japan. One of James Brown best performances at the > London Palladium comes out of Japan on the Sony label. ^^^^^ CB: A bit much ? (smile) from he of the "very much posts". Anyway, the few facts I presented on Jackson's race uniting symbolic actions demonstrates fairly well that Jackson was a race uniter, which is politically important and important to Marxists with respect to class unity. Jackson was the ultimate "crossover" artist. Marrying Presley was an obvious and wonderful gesture for racial unity. He used his celebrity to reach across racial barriers. His "We are the World " project was in the same vein. Jackson had a unique and creative way of expressing his Dubosian double-consciouisness. He also cultivated a very anti-macho, gentle persona. > > Interestingly, I recall an old James Brown interview where he apologizes > profusely for any disruption his performances may have caused within foreign > cultures. I do believe this was said in connection with touring Africa. > Michael Jackson body of work occurs in another period of time, when > America's imperial impact on the world cultures is such that no apology was needed > or perceived to be necessary by Jackson. > > In other words capital brings us together. > > For better or worse; in victory and defeat, in life and death. > > Here is the degeneracy of our ruling class and the utter bankruptcy of the > Southern political elite. Much of American popular music is southern in its > genesis. The aristocratic bourbon culture of the agrarian capitalist slave > holding class; their utter hate and disdain for slave/working class of the > South, and then the overthrow of Reconstruction, meant thy lost forever > any moral right to inherit and champion any cultural forms of American social > life. It is not like Elvis in the flesh or in death could/can thrive in > Mississippi. > > From the standpoint of capital and profit if Mississippi had developed > honoring the Mississippi blues man and this unique sounds, upwards of a million > people a year would trek to Mississippi to pay homage. David Ruffin of the > Temptations was born in Mississippi into a gospel singing family. Won't be > no monuments to a "singing nig***"" in Mississippi anytime soon, although > it is admitted David is one of the greatest male vocalist in American > history. Two of the other Temptations comes out of Alabama and James Brown South > Carolina. > > Interestingly there is a Bogangles statue. The statue has Bogangles > appearing as he is doing everything in his power to escape the old South. > Interesting statue. > > I do feel discussion about Mr. Jackson's personal life - who he married and > his children, is inappropriate to a Marxist list, unless such discussion > is framework within the context of the changing form and structure of the > bourgeois family as a historically evolved social and economic unit. Further, > the color factor should - as much as possible, be treated as it arose a > historical question and persists. > > > WL. > > > > > > > **************Can love help you live longer? Find out now. > (http://personals.aol.com/articles/2009/02/18/longer-lives-through-relationships/?ncid=emlweu > slove00000001) > > _______________________________________________ > Marxism-Thaxis mailing list > Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu > To change your options or unsubscribe go to: > http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis > From cb31450 at gmail.com Tue Jul 14 14:41:29 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:41:29 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Partial list of famous musical artists who died as young or younger than Michael Jackson In-Reply-To: <5c2e4d230907141009g6bccc054t6a3f4cfc3087018e@mail.gmail.com> References: <5c2e4d230907141009g6bccc054t6a3f4cfc3087018e@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907141341k2b48f440xd84a41d5aaac5e2d@mail.gmail.com> Crossover (music) From bogus@does.not.exist.com Mon Jul 6 09:31:04 2009 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:31:04 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: Crossover is a term applied to musical works or performers appearing on two or more of the record charts which track differing musical tastes, or genres.[1] If the second chart is a pop chart, such as a "Hot 100" list, the work is not a crossover since the pop charts only track popularity and do not constitute a separate genre. In some contexts the term "crossover" can have negative connotations, implying the watering-down of a music's distinctive qualities to accommodate to mass tastes. For example, in the early years of rock and roll, many songs originally recorded by African-American musicians were re-recorded by white artists (such as Pat Boone) in a more toned-down style (often with changed lyrics) that lacked the hard edge of the original versions. These covers were popular with a much broader audience. In practice crossover frequently results from the appearance of the music in question in a film soundtrack. For instance, Sacred Harp music experienced a spurt of crossover popularity as a result of its appearance in the 2003 film Cold Mountain, and bluegrass music experienced a revival due to the reception of 2000's O Brother, Where Art Thou?. Even atonal music, which tends to be less popular among classical enthusiasts, has a kind of crossover niche, since it is widely used in film and television scores "to depict an approaching menace," as noted by Charles Rosen[citation needed] The largest figure to date for a crossover hit in the US has come from Grammy Award-winning country singer LeAnn Rimes, whose song "How Do I Live" sold over 3 million copies and spent a world record breaking 69 weeks on the Hot 100 chart, more than any other song in history, despite peaking only at number 2. It was also a massive hit in Europe. Contents [hide] 1 Classical crossover 2 Crossover rock 3 Crossover country 4 Christian crossover artists 5 Crossover as a mix of genres 6 References 7 Bibliography 8 Further reading 9 See also [edit] Classical crossover Particular works of classical music sometimes become popular among individuals who mostly listen to popular music. Some classical works that achieved crossover status in the twentieth century include the Canon in D by Johann Pachelbel, the Symphony No. 3 by Henryk G=F3recki, and the second movement of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21, K. 467 (from its appearance in the 1967 film Elvira Madigan). Within the classical recording industry the term "crossover" is applied particularly to classical artists' recordings of popular repertoire such as Broadway show tunes, or collaborations between classical and popular performers such as Sting and Edin Karamazov's album Songs from the Labyrinth. Early examples of this are Deep Purple's Concerto for Group and Orchestra (1969) and Gemini Suite Live (1970) as well as Rick Wakeman's Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1974) and The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (1975). Metallica's S&M (1999) is a recent example of classical music crossover. Vocally, the most popular crossover artist was American tenor and film star Mario Lanza, although there was no such recognized genre as "crossover" at the time of Lanza's greatest popularity in the 1950s. Signed to RCA Victor as an artist on its premium Red Seal label, Lanza's magnificent voice reached beyond classical music-buying audiences. His recording of Be My Love, from his second film, The Toast of New Orleans, hit Number One on the Billboard pop singles chart in February 1951 and sold more than 2-million copies, a feat no classical artist before or since has achieved. Lanza recorded two other million-selling singles that made Billboard's top ten, The Loveliest Night of the Year and Because You're Mine. Five of Lanza's albums hit Number One on Billboard's pop album chart between 1951 and 1955. The Great Caruso was the first and to date is the only recording comprised exclusively of operatic arias to reach Number One on the pop album charts. The Student Prince, released in 1954, was Number One for 42 weeks. No classical label artist, including The Three Tenors has achieved the success on the popular charts that Mario Lanza did in the 1950s. [edit] Crossover rock Dream Theater had a very strange and unexpected crossover with their song "Pull Me Under" in the early 1990s. Their style of progressive metal was never intended for mainstream audiences, and yet the song received extensive MTV rotation and radio play. [edit] Crossover country During the late 1960s, Glen Campbell began aiming his music at the mainstream pop charts, adding strings, horns and other pop music flurishes to such songs as "Witchita Lineman", "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", and "Galveston", which allowed his music to chart both in country and pop. While such artists as Lynn Anderson and Charlie Rich followed Campbell's example into the early 1970s, it was Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers who, during the mid- to late-'70s came to personify the concept of country pop crossover, with both artists maintaining a consistent presence on both the pop and country charts well into the mid-1980s. [edit] Christian crossover artists The term "crossover artist" may refer to musical performers and groups that are Christian music artists, who many times originally are marketed through Christian record labels, radio stations, churches and other Christian media but who start selling in mainstream secular markets as well. Other times, crossover artists may start out in the mainstream market but have Christian undertones or themes if not overtly Christian. The term "crossing over" is used to describe when an artist who had started predominantly in Christian markets starts receiving mainstream success. Some people may feel that the artist is betraying the church for fame or glory, while others may see this as a great opportunity for the artist spread the message of their Christian beliefs. The first major artist crossover was by Amy Grant, with her 1985 album Unguarded and 1991 hit song "Baby Baby" from the highest selling Christian album Heart in Motion. The albums and single were distributed by a Christian label but received heavy play on pop radio stations and was a chart-topper on the Billboard charts. Since then, many artists have been labeled as "crossover artist" regardless of whether they originally intended to market to the Christian market, secular market, or both. The most notable recent Christian crossover artists are Kirk Franklin, Switchfoot, The Afters, Relient K, and many of the artists on Tooth & Nail Records such as MxPx, Underoath, Emery, Lifehouse, and Dead Poetic. [edit] Crossover as a mix of genres Besides describing music of a distinct genre that becomes broadly popular, the term "crossover" has sometimes been used to describe music that deliberately mixes genres, whether or not this music proves to be popular with a mass audience. "Fusion" is a more common term for this phenomenon. Examples include jazz fusion, Celtic fusion and worldbeat. An example of crossover of jazz and classical music is the Danish 7-piece chamber orchestra "Mad Cows Sing", which fuses composed and improvised music. Other examples of crossover in music are bands that play a mix of genres such as funk, rap, rock, metal and/or punk, for instance bands like Faith No More, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Primus and Rage Against the Machine, or crossover thrash bands such as D.R.I. or Municipal Waste. [edit] References ^ Lonergan, Hit Records, 1950-1975, p. vi: "These [Country & Western and Rhythm & Blues], and the somewhat newer Adult Contemporary charts, occasionally exhibited what are called 'crossover' hits, when a Pop, C&W, or R&B star would have a hit that also charted on one or more of the other lists. [edit] Bibliography Lonergan, David F. Hit Records, 1950-1975. Scarecrow Press, 2004. ISBN 0-8108-5129-6 [edit] Further reading Szwed, John F. (2005). Crossovers: Essays On Race, Music, And American Culture. ISBN 0-8122-3882-6. Brackett, David (Winter 1994). "The Politics and Practice of 'Crossover' in American Popular Music, 1963-65" The Musical Quarterly 78:4. George, Nelson. (1988). The Death of Rhythm & Blues. New York: Pantheon Boo= ks. [edit] See also List of popular songs based on classical music World music Eclecticism in art Polystylism Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossover_(music)" From cb31450 at gmail.com Tue Jul 14 15:01:10 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:01:10 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Adorno Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907141401y97c1b83xfafb2d59463d46d7@mail.gmail.com> Here's some "Marxism" in it (smile) 3. Critical Social Theory Dialectic of Enlightenment presupposes a critical social theory indebted to Karl Marx. Adorno reads Marx as a Hegelian materialist whose critique of capitalism unavoidably includes a critique of the ideologies that capitalism sustains and requires. The most important of these is what Marx called "the fetishism of commodities." Marx aimed his critique of commodity fetishism against bourgeois social scientists who simply describe the capitalist economy but, in so doing, simultaneously misdescribe it and prescribe a false social vision. According to Marx, bourgeois economists necessarily ignore the exploitation intrinsic to capitalist production. They fail to understand that capitalist production, for all its surface "freedom" and "fairness," must extract surplus value from the labor of the working class. Like ordinary producers and consumers under capitalist conditions, bourgeois economists treat the commodity as a fetish. They treat it as if it were a neutral object, with a life of its own, that directly relates to other commodities, in independence from the human interactions that actually sustain all commodities. Marx, by contrast, argues that whatever makes a product a commodity goes back to human needs, desires, and practices. The commodity would not have "use value" if it did not satisfy human wants. It would not have "exchange value" if no one wished to exchange it for something else. And its exchange value could not be calculated if the commodity did not share with other commodities a "value" created by the expenditure of human labor power and measured by the average labor time socially necessary to produce commodities of various sorts. Adorno's social theory attempts to make Marx's central insights applicable to "late capitalism." Although in agreement with Marx's analysis of the commodity, Adorno thinks his critique of commodity fetishism does not go far enough. Significant changes have occurred in the structure of capitalism since Marx's day. This requires revisions on a number of topics: the dialectic between forces of production and relations of production; the relationship between state and economy; the sociology of classes and class consciousness; the nature and function of ideology; and the role of expert cultures, such as modern art and social theory, in criticizing capitalism and calling for the transformation of society as a whole. The primary clues to these revisions come from a theory of reification proposed by the Hungarian socialist Georg Luk?cs in the 1920s and from interdisciplinary projects and debates conducted by members of the Institute of Social Research in the 1930s and 1940s. Building on Max Weber's theory of rationalization, Luk?cs argues that the capitalist economy is no longer one sector of society alongside others. Rather, commodity exchange has become the central organizing principle for all sectors of society. ^^^^ CB: This is already in Marx before Luckacs. The qualitative shift is indicated in labor power becoming a commodity, wage-labor. It defines capitalist economy, distinguishing it from pre-capitalist economies where commodity exchange is on the "periphery" of society. (See _Capital_ Vol. I) ^^^^^ ^^^^^^ This allows commodity fetishism to permeate all social institutions (e.g., law, administration, journalism) as well as all academic disciplines, including philosophy. "Reification" refers to "the structural process whereby the commodity form permeates life in capitalist society." Luk?cs was especially concerned with how reification makes human beings "seem like mere things obeying the inexorable laws of the marketplace" (Zuidervaart 1991, 76). Initially Adorno shared this concern, even though he never had Luk?cs's confidence that the revolutionary working class could overcome reification. Later Adorno called the reification of consciousness an "epiphenomenon." What a critical social theory really needs to address is why hunger, poverty, and other forms of human suffering persist despite the technological and scientific potential to mitigate them or to eliminate them altogether. The root cause, Adorno says, lies in how capitalist relations of production have come to dominate society as a whole, leading to extreme, albeit often invisible, concentrations of wealth and power (ND 189-92). Society has come to be organized around the production of exchange values for the sake of producing exchange values, which, of course, always already requires a silent appropriation of surplus value. Adorno refers to this nexus of production and power as the "principle of exchange" (Tauschprinzip). A society where this nexus prevails is an "exchange society" (Tauschgesellschaft). Adorno's diagnosis of the exchange society has three levels: politico-economic, social-psychological, and cultural. Politically and economically he responds to a theory of state capitalism proposed by Friedrich Pollock during the war years. An economist by training who was supposed to contribute a chapter to Dialectic of Enlightenment but never did (Wiggershaus 1994, 313-19), Pollock argued that the state had acquired dominant economic power in Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and New Deal America. He called this new constellation of politics and economics "state capitalism." While acknowledging with Pollock that political and economic power have become more tightly meshed, Adorno does not think this fact changes the fundamentally economic character of capitalist exploitation. Rather, such exploitation has become even more abstract than it was in Marx's day, and therefore all the more effective and pervasive. The social-psychological level in Adorno's diagnosis serves to demonstrate the effectiveness and pervasiveness of late capitalist exploitation. His American studies of anti-Semitism and the "authoritarian personality" argue that these pathologically extend "the logic of late capitalism itself, with its associated dialectic of enlightenment." People who embrace anti-Semitism and fascism tend to project their fear of abstract domination onto the supposed mediators of capitalism, while rejecting as elitist "all claims to a qualitative difference transcending exchange" (Jarvis 1998, 63). Adorno's cultural studies show that a similar logic prevails in television, film, and the recording industries. In fact, Adorno first discovered late capitalism's structural change through his work with sociologist Paul Lazarsfeld on the Princeton University Radio Research Project. He articulated this discovery in a widely anthologized essay "On the Fetish-Character in Music and the Regression of Listening" (1938) and in "The Culture Industry," a chapter in Dialectic of Enlightenment. There Adorno argues that the culture industry involves a change in the commodity character of art, such that art's commodity character is deliberately acknowledged and art "abjures its autonomy" (DE 127). With its emphasis on marketability, the culture industry dispenses entirely with the "purposelessness" that was central to art's autonomy. Once marketability becomes a total demand, the internal economic structure of cultural commodities shifts. Instead of promising freedom from societally dictated uses, and thereby having a genuine use value that people can enjoy, products mediated by the culture industry have their use value replaced by exchange value: "Everything has value only in so far as it can be exchanged, not in so far as it is something in itself. For consumers the use value of art, its essence, is a fetish, and the fetish?the social valuation [gesellschaftliche Sch?tzung] which they mistake for the merit [Rang] of works of art? becomes its only use value, the only quality they enjoy" (DE 128). Hence the culture industry dissolves the "genuine commodity character" that artworks once possessed when exchange value still presupposed use value (DE 129-30). Lacking a background in Marxist theory, and desiring to secure legitimacy for "mass art" or "popular culture," too many of Adorno's anglophone critics simply ignore the main point to his critique of the culture industry. His main point is that culture-industrial hypercommercialization evidences a fateful shift in the structure of all commodities and therefore in the structure of capitalism itself. From rasherrs at eircom.net Tue Jul 14 16:51:53 2009 From: rasherrs at eircom.net (Paddy Hackett) Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2009 23:51:53 +0100 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Is "Ireland's Economic Crash" Message-ID: <052C4F61C10D4BF7B91F2BAFADB91A26@paddyhacket> A brief review of a new book Kieran Allen's recently published book is called Ireland's Economic Crash. It is a book cobbled together from a variety of sources. The book has a sprinkling of tables and graphs to lend it an authority it does not have. Indeed the question of the reliability and accuracy of bourgeois statistics is not even raised in the book notwithstanding the fact that there is much use made of them. For instance he claims that "today manufacturing represents just 13 per cent of the Irish workforce.". (Ireland's Economic Crash; page 37) Kieran's statistics are drawn from a bourgeois source. What these bourgeois statistics cannot tell us is that although the manufacturing sector constitutes 13 per cent of the work force it has a very high technical and organic composition of capital. This means that its labour power is very highly exploited which means its contribution to the Republican economy cannot be simply based on the size of its labour force. INTEL located in the Irish Republic is probably a classic example of such a highly productive corporation, The services sector uncritically referred to by Kieran in the book a frequent number of times is a rather ambiguous bourgeois category. This is because many of the services are commodity producing sectors while other are not. This means that many of these services are engaged directly in the valorization process and thereby are direct sources of value. This means that their status is no different to that of the manufacturing sector. There are other more obvious problems with Kieran's use of statistics which I shan't go into now. But, en passant, I understand that John Fitzgerald is Garret Fitzgerald's nephew and not his son as Kieran suggests. (ibid. page 126) The principal underlying assumption in Kieran Allen's book is that there has been a corporate takeover of Ireland. This thesis is elaborated in a previous book of Kieran's called The Corporate takeover of Ireland (Irish Academic Press; 2007). Kieran's understanding of the nature of the corporation dominated state stems from a false instrumentalist and voluntarism theory of the state. According to this theory of the state because the various lobbies and committees are dominated by personnel from the corporate sector because it has more economic power than other interest groups such as farming and trade union interest groups. In that way the minority interests of the corporate capitalists are promoted more by the state. This means that to be effective against the minority interests of the corporate capitalists it is necessary for a radical left wing government to be supported by a mass extra-parliamentary movement. This movement, Kieran would claim, would counter the economic power of the corporate dominated lobbyists, committees and whatever else. However it is not correct to suggest, as Kieran does, that there has been a corporate takeover of the Irish state because parts of that state are dominated, even if increasingly, by significant members of corporations and their satraps. Even though not correct concerning other matters, Nicos Poulantzas was correct when he argued that the state can be capitalist without the capitalist class having to act as the ruling political class. The real situation is that the state is capitalist by virtue of the fact that the state can only act within certain limits determined by the capitalist mode of production. The state can only function if it has power to raise taxes and command material resources. So long as the material reproduction of society is the capitalist mode of production, this power ultimately depends on the success of capitalist accumulation. If the state persistently acts against the interests of capital then sooner or later the conditions of capital accumulation will be undermined and the economy thrown into crisis. The state, then, would find it increasingly difficult to secure the material resources it needs to function. Insofar as society is structured by the capitalist mode of production, the state is always determined, in the last instance, by the need to sustain capitalist accumulation. Yet within such structural limits there is always a large degree of relative autonomy for state policy and political action Now if capital in the form of corporate capital is the leading and dominant form of capital it will come as no surprise that the state is determined, in the last instance, by the need to sustain corporate capital. Yet within these corporate structural limits there is always a large degree of relative autonomy for state policy and political action. This provides a space whereby the state may or may not bear corporate dominated committees within itself. The upshot is that whether a state contains or does not contain corporate or non-corporate dominated bodies is not necessarily conclusive evidence as to whether there has been a corporate takeover of the state. The personnel engaged in aspects of the state will depend more on the specific conditions prevailing at any particular time. This means that even in the absence of any corporate personnel occupying any state agencies the state itself may have undergone a corporate takeover. Kieran, then, cannot use corporate personnel as the criterion as to whether political states are corporate or not. In short his position shares a lot in common with the theory of State Monopoly Capitalism according to which there is said to be close personal relations between the monopolies and the members of the apparatus of the state. The state and the monopolies, it is thereby claimed, are fused into a single system. But the larger and more powerful section of corporate capital in Ireland is foreign. This means, for Kieran, that corporate Ireland has been taken over by foreign corporate capital. It is a claim suggesting that corporate capitalism is generally more oppressive on the working class than non-corporate capitalism. There is then progressive and non-progressive capitalism and the politics that goes with it. Clearly Kieran and the SWP want to be on the side of the little man, "the little progressive capitalist". This had been Sinn Fein's position too until they decided to make British imperialism its paramour. The SWP are catching up on Sinn Fein. This can only mean that the Fianna Fail led government no longer represent the class interests of the non-corporate Irish bourgeoisie. This is because it is not possible for a corporate state to exclusively represent the interests of corporate capitalism while serving the interests of non-corporate capital. Since this corporate state cannot by definition represent the class interests of the Irish working class the conditions for an alliance between the non-corporate capitalist class and working class now exists. Such an alliance can only but be nationalist in character. But nationalism and communism share nothing in common. This being so Ireland's Economic Crash is a nationalist work sharing nothing in common with communism. When it comes to Kieran's use of Marx's work on political economy we are subjected to conceptual and analytical distortion of Marx's thought. Kieran claims that ".this is a systemic crisis which arose from a search for higher rates of profit. Those pressures led to over-production and a speculative wave of madness in the financial sector, so even if the system revives again, the same pressures will re-emerge in the future." (ibid. page 157) But the above is just not true. It is only when the total amount of surplus value produced fails to compensate for the falling general rate of profit that an economic crisis breaks out. This is of significance in relation to outlining the character of the crisis. The falling rate of profit then does not necessarily spell economic stagnation or crisis. Instead it means the relentless drive of capitalism towards more and more accumulation of capital. This is the hidden dynamic that leads to enormous economic development. It is only when the amount of surplus value produced fails to make up for the fall in the general rate of profit that the expanding accumulation starts to breakdown. Incidentally Kieran in his book concludes that the possible current crisis is unique because it hit's the core of the global system. But all economic crisis hit the core of the global system. It is just that that make them economic crises. Then there is Kieran's under-consumptionist ideology. Underconsumptionism is the ideology of reformist politics. It falsely suggests that capitalism is potentially capable of serving the interests of the people. "The more people loose their jobs, the less money there is to buy goods produced by other workers. A government that actively intervened could alleviate this suffering by stepping in where private businesses are unwilling.The whole economy has entered a downward spiral because of the cuts, levies and sackings." (ibid. pages 7 and 8) "But the more they succeed, the more they reduce the buying power of workers and feed into the problem of over-production. And when profit rates are only partially restored, this can also lead to reluctance by capitalists to invest in new plant and equipment. The slowing of investment then lead to "excess savings" and this, too, feeds into the wider problem of reduced markets for others" (ibid.page 97) For him taking demand out of the economy by cutting wages further reinforces economic decline. Now the logic of this false position is that if, on the other hand, wages are increased sufficiently demand can be raised to such a degree that they precludes the outbreak of recession. Underconsumptionism and reformism are inseparably related to each other. Much of the leadership of the current trade union movement in Ireland is underconsumptionist in its conception of solutions to unemployment, economic crises or . So Kieran will not be lost for company. Underconsumptionism suggests that capital can be gradually reformed by incrementally increasing demand through wage increases and expansion of social spending beneficial to the working class and "the underclass". But capitalism cannot be reformed into a system that serves the class interests of the working class. It is an historically limited obsolescent social system that must be replaced by communist society if the needs of humanity are to be minimally met. in the It is asserted in his book that because of this falling rate of profit capitalism must generate a bubble sequence as compensation: "As economic performance has declined, the system has needed periodic bubbles to add vitality and growth. From the 1990s onwards, these bubbles played an increasingly important and disruptive role. There was a stock market bubble and then a dot com bubble when absurd prices were paid for internet firms." (ibid page 89) But Kieran never shows how these bubbles are a product of falling profit rates. To at least render his unfounded assertion plausible an outline as to how they occur is required. "As economic performance has declined, the system has needed periodic bubbles to add vitality and growth." Then if this is the case capitalism has found a solution to its problems. There is nothing for capitalism to do but produce continuous bubbles since these buttress up the system. If these bubbles have been adding vitality and growth then how can they inevitably burst. If, as Kieran is, an underconsumptionist then increasing demand through state action should indefinitely sustain non-collapsible bubbles. But then they are not bubbles. Kieran informs us that neo-liberalism has failed. Indeed the title of one of his chapter is called The failure of Neo-Liberalism. "Today this whole edifice is in tatters, as neo-liberals recant and proclaim themselves converts to regulation." (ibid. page 71) But one could as much say that Keynesianism has failed or classicalism has failed. One could say too that capitalism has failed because of the outbreak of depressions and even large scale wars. But again this is to misunderstand the nature of the capitalist system of reproduction. It is through the medium of periodic economic depressions, and even wars, that capitalism perpetuates itself. Without recessions or depressions there can be no economic development under capitalism. Neo-liberalism is merely another form in the history of capitalism irrespective of its existence as an imperialist ideology. Capitalist production organised in the form of corporations is just another aspect of capitalism's economic history. Neo-liberalism or globalisation never meant the end of depressions. Indeed the present economic depression, if there is no social revolution, will lead to the consolidation of neo-liberalism. Those reformist ideologues repeatedly declaring that neo-liberalism is at an end completely misrepresent the character of contemporary events. According to Kieran "it is no longer possible to draw a neat dividing line between financial speculators and the wider capitalist class. The division between finance capital and industrial capital broke down a long time ago and now all corporations engage in 'financial engineering'." (p. 87) Kieran is falsely suggesting in the above quoted comments that financial and industrial capital are inseparably integrated with each other. If his claim was correct then General Motors which has its own financial arm would not be experiencing acute financial and sales problems. Indeed if finance and industry were integrated into a unity there would have been no financial nor general economic crisis. Again his ignorance of Marx's Capital is demonstrated here. Within the system as a whole there is a necessary distinction between industrial and financial capital. Each form pays a distinctly different function within the economic system. The former is located within the production process while the latter is located in the circulation process. It is the very distinction between these two forms within the general unity of the system that renders economic crises possible. Towards the end of the book we are presented with the 9-Step programme for change. The wording may be apt to remind readers of AA's 12 -Step Programme to alcoholic recovery. In this chapter Kieran wants to have his cake and eat it. He wants to support revolution and yet support nine major demands that, he indicates, are realisable under capitalism. If such an 9-Step Programme is realisable under capitalism then the entire justification for communism collapses. Either the class interests of the working class can be realised under capitalism or not. They cannot as Kieran seems to believe sort of be realisable under contemporary conditions. Kieran's nine steps to reform is a nationalist opportunist plan. Given the growing global nature of capitalism today a national plan cannot solve the economic depression that has engulfed Ireland. The solution to the economic crisis that has ripped through the Irish economy must be global in character either from the perspective of capitalism or communism. It is not possible to introduce a national plan, such as Kieran's, as a solution to Irish economic problems. Given that the Irish economy is merely a minuscule component of the world capitalist system radical solutions within a national framework cannot be realised. There must be a global challenge to capital from the world's working class. This means that workers in Ireland must struggle for a united communist federation of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland as a platform for the global communist revolution. Despite the fundamental weakness of the politics of Trotsky he was spot on when he made the following remarks: "The forces of production which capitalism has evolved have outgrown the limits of nation and state. The national state, the present political form, is too narrow for the exploitation of these productive forces. The natural tendency of our economic system, therefore, is to seek to break through the state boundaries. The whole globe, the land and the sea, the surface as well as the anterior has become one economic workshop, the different parts of which are inseparably connected with each other. This work was accomplished by capitalism. But in accomplishing it the capitalist states were led to struggle for the subjection of the world-embracing economic system to the profit interests of the bourgeoisie of each country. What the politics of imperialism has demonstrated more than anything else is that the old national state was created in the revolutions and the wars of 1789-1815, 1848-1859, 1864-1866, and 1870 has outlived itself, and is now an intolerable hindrance to economic development." (Leon Trotsky. The War and the International ; Author's Preface vii) Nation states promoted the development of capitalism in the past and constituted the framework, in a sense, for the solution to economic and even social problems. Today the nation state is an obsolescent political form that reinforces economic problems while obstructing their solution. The solution to the present general crisis of capitalism can only be solved globally whether on the basis of capitalism or communism. To finish: Kieran Allen's book exposes the opportunism of his politics and that of the SWM of which he is a leading member. It is an obscurantist book in which he likes to have things both ways. This allows him to be a winner irrespective of what side wins. He advances a plan of action which he suggests is realisable under capitalism while at the same time he seems to mildly suggest that it may not be quite realisable under capitalism. He claims that neoliberalism has failed while hinting that it has worked. His aims are thereby rendered ambiguous which confuses workers rather than help provide them with clarity. He follows the same approach in his economic analysis. He claims at one moment that the falling rate of profit is the cause of the crisis and then at another time hints that some other factor. At another point he bellows out that a tiny minority of bankers, developers builders and the Irish government are responsible for the latest crash while he contradictorily hints that other factors may have played a role. Although his book is a source of great confusion it is clear too that Kieran may himself be the unfortunate victim of great confusion. In his book Kieran is all over the place making it difficult to pin down what it is he is really saying. Paddy Hackett From cb31450 at gmail.com Wed Jul 15 09:31:28 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 11:31:28 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Partial list of famous musical artists who died as young or younger than Michael Jackson In-Reply-To: <5c2e4d230907100708u4429c293w1ac312c13441a993@mail.gmail.com> References: <5c2e4d230907100708u4429c293w1ac312c13441a993@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907150831q1f7f85f8o5f49c299a0229986@mail.gmail.com> It would seem that Michael Jackson aesthetic was a species of the bourgeois Romanticists "Peter Pan" philosophy. ( I think his pad was called "Neverland"; he even has an "evil" father , like Captain Hook in the fifties television version of Peter Pan) He sought to remain a child and in communication with children, presumably in some sense pursuing the idea that childhood is a special locus of creative consciousness and , of course, youthful vitality. In this regard, Jackson is part of a main Western aesthetic tradition. This shades into the notion of the "child as the father of the man", which more abstractly is probably part of the process of the origin of the human species. "Pan" is part of the species name of the chimpanzee. This is also a version of adoration or deification of the child, which is a theme in the Christian myth of Jesus myth and other world philosophies. Peter Pan This article is about the character Peter Pan. For the original play and novel about the character, see Peter and Wendy. For other uses, see Peter Pan (disambiguation). Illustration of Peter Pan playing the pipes, from the novel Peter and Wendy published in 1911Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie (1860?1937). A mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys, interacting with mermaids, Indians, fairies and pirates, and from time to time meeting ordinary children from the world outside. In addition to two distinct works by Barrie, the character has been featured in a variety of media and merchandise, both adapting and expanding on Barrie's works. Contents [hide] 1 History 2 Major stories 3 Appearance 4 Age 5 Personality 6 Abilities 7 Relationships 8 In popular culture 9 References [edit] History Cover of 1915 edition of J.M. Barrie's novel, first published in 1911.Peter Pan first appeared in a section of The Little White Bird, a 1902 novel written for adults. Following the highly successful debut of the play about Peter Pan in 1904, Barrie's publishers, Hodder and Stoughton, extracted chapters 13-18 of The Little White Bird and republished them in 1906 under the title Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, with the addition of illustrations by Arthur Rackham.[1] The character's best-known adventure debuted on 27 December 1904, in the stage play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up. This story was adapted and expanded somewhat as a novel, published in 1911 as Peter and Wendy, later as Peter Pan and Wendy, and still later as simply Peter Pan. Peter Pan has appeared in numerous adaptations, sequels, and prequels since then, including the widely known 1953 animated feature film Walt Disney's Peter Pan, various stage musicals (including one by Jerome Robbins, starring Cyril Ritchard and Mary Martin, filmed for television), live-action feature films Hook (1991) and Peter Pan (2003), and the authorized sequel novel Peter Pan in Scarlet (2006). He has also appeared in various works not authorized by the holders of the character's copyright, which has lapsed in most parts of the world. A major new stage production that will tour internationally is being mounted in 2009 in Kensington Gardens in a specially built theatre pavilion within view of the Peter Pan statue. [edit] Major stories Of the stories written about Peter Pan, several have gained widespread notability. See Works based on Peter Pan for a list of books, films, etc. featuring these and other Peter Pan stories. Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens - Infant Peter flies from his home, makes friends with fairies, and takes up residence in Kensington Gardens. A 'book-within-a-book' first published in Barrie's The Little White Bird. Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up/Peter and Wendy - Peter brings Wendy and her brothers to Never Land, where he has a climactic showdown with his nemesis Captain Hook. Originally told in Barrie's stage play and novel, and repeatedly adapted in various media. Hook - Peter has grown up, forgotten about his life in Never Land, and has a wife and children of his own. While the family is in London visiting elderly Wendy, Captain Hook abducts Peter's children to lure him back for a final duel to the death. A film by Steven Spielberg. Return to Never Land - During World War II, Wendy's slightly war-hardened daughter Jane is taken to Neverland by Captain Hook, but Peter saves her and asks her to be the Lost Boys' new 'mother'. A film by Disney. Peter and the Starcatchers, Peter and the Shadow Thieves, Peter and the Secret of Rundoon - Peter leaves a London orphanage for a series of adventures which offer an origin story for Captain Hook, fairies, his abilities, and the Lost Boys. Novels by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. Peter Pan in Scarlet - Wendy, John, and most of the Lost Boys return to Neverland, where Peter has begun to take Captain Hook's place. A novel by Geraldine McCaughrean, an official sequel to Peter and Wendy. [edit] Appearance Barrie never described Peter's appearance in detail, even in the novel Peter and Wendy, leaving much of it to the imagination of the reader and the interpretation of anyone adapting the character. Barrie mentions in "Peter and Wendy" that Peter Pan still had all of his first teeth. He describes him as a beautiful boy with a beautiful smile, 'clad in skeleton leaves and the juices that flow from trees'. In the play, Peter's outfit is made of autumn leaves and cobwebs. Traditionally the character has been played on stage by an adult woman, a decision driven primarily by the difficulty of casting actors even younger than the one playing Peter as the other children, so the presentation of the character on stage has never been viewed as implying how Peter 'really' looks. In Peter Pan in Scarlet, Geraldine McCaughrean adds to the description of his appearance, mentioning his blue eyes, and saying that his hair is light (or at least any colour lighter than black). In this novel, Never Land has moved on to autumn, so Peter wears a tunic of jay feathers and maple leaves, rather than his summertime garb. In the 'Starcatcher' stories written by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, Peter has carrot-orange hair and bright blue eyes. In the Disney films, Peter wears an outfit that's easier to animate, consisting of a short-sleeved green tunic and tights apparently made of cloth, and a cap with a feather in it. He has pointed elf-like ears, and his hair is orangish brown. In the live-action 2003 film, he is portrayed by Jeremy Sumpter, who has blond hair and blue eyes, and his outfit is made of leaves and vines. In Hook, he appears as an adult as Robin Williams with dark brown hair, but in flashbacks to his youth his hair is more orangish. In this film his ears appear pointed only when he is 'Peter Pan', not 'Peter Banning'; his Pan clothing resembles the Disney outfit. [edit] Age Statue of Peter Pan in LondonIronically, the 'boy who wouldn't grow up' has appeared at a variety of ages. In his original appearance in The Little White Bird he was only seven days old. Although his age is not stated in Barrie's later play and novel, his characterization is clearly years older. The book states that he has all of his baby teeth, and Barrie's intended model for the statue of Peter that was erected in Kensington Gardens was a set of photos of Michael Llewelyn Davies taken at the age of six. Early illustrations of the character generally appeared to be that age or perhaps a few years older. In the 1953 Disney adaptation and its 2002 sequel, Peter appears to be in late childhood, between 10 and 13 years old. (The actor who provided the voice in 1953 was 15-year-old Bobby Driscoll.) In the 2003 film, Jeremy Sumpter was 13 at the time filming started, but by the end of filming he was 14 and had grown several inches taller. In the movie Hook, Peter is said to have left Neverland many years earlier, forsaking his eternal youth and aging normally. When remembering his buried past, Peter is shown as a baby, and little boy, and also a near-teenager, showing that he stayed outside of Never Land to grow up a little bit. When Peter says "I remember you being a lot bigger," in the final duel, Hook answers, "to a 10-year-old I'm huge." He is portrayed by the then 40-year-old Robin Williams, and has two children, played by actors which were 7 and 13 years old at the time. [edit] Personality Statue of Peter Pan in KirriemuirPeter is mainly an exaggerated stereotype of a boastful and careless boy. He is quick to point out how great he is, even when such claims are questionable (such as when he congratulates himself for Wendy's successful reattachment of his shadow). Peter has a nonchalant, devil-may-care attitude, and is fearlessly cocky when it comes to putting himself in danger. Barrie writes that when Peter thought he was going to die on Marooner's Rock, he felt scared, yet he felt only one shudder run through him when any other person would've felt scared up until death. With his blissful unawareness of the tragedy of death, he says, 'To die will be an awfully big adventure'. In some variations of the story and some spin-offs, Peter can also be quite nasty and selfish. In the Disney adaptation of the tale, Peter appears very judgmental and pompous (for example, he called the Lost Boys 'blockheads' and when the Darling children say that they should leave for home at once, he gets the wrong message and angrily assumes that they want to grow up). In the 2003 live-action film, Peter Pan is sensitive about the subject of 'growing up'. When confronted by Hook about Wendy growing up, marrying and eventually 'shutting the window' on Peter, he becomes very depressed and finally loses the will to fight. [edit] Abilities Peter's archetypal ability is his un ending youth. In "Peter and Wendy" it is explained that Peter must forget his own adventures and what he learns about the world in order to stay child-like. Author Kevin Orlin Johnson argues that the Pan stories are in the German-English tradition of the Totenkindergeschichte (roughly, "tales of dead children"), and the idea that Peter and all of the lost boys are dead in a Never Land afterlife is consistent with that genre, and rooted in Barrie's own life story.[citation needed] The fact that the other Lost Boys are growing up and able to be killed in Peter and Wendy contradicts this idea. The unauthorized prequels by Barry and Pearson attribute Peter's everlasting youth to his exposure to starstuff, a magical substance which has fallen to earth. Peter's ability to fly is explained somewhat, but inconsistently. In The Little White Bird he is able to fly because he ? like all babies ? is part bird. In the play and novel, he teaches the Darling children to fly using a combination of happy thoughts and fairy dust; it is unclear whether he is serious about 'happy thoughts' being required (it was stated in the novel that this was merely a silly diversion from the fairy dust being the true source), or whether he requires the fairy dust himself. In Hook, the adult Peter is unable to fly until he remembers his 'happy thought'. The ability to fly is also attributed to starstuff ? apparently the same thing as fairy dust ? in the Starcatcher prequels. Peter has an effect on the whole of Never Land and its inhabitants when he is there. Barrie states that the although Never Land appears different to every child, the island 'wakes up' when he returns from his trip to London. In the chapter 'The Mermaid Lagoon' in Peter and Wendy, Barrie writes that there is almost nothing that Peter cannot do. He is a skilled swordsman, rivaling even Captain Hook, whose hand he cut off in a duel. He has remarkably keen vision and hearing. He is skilled in mimicry, copying the voice of Hook, and the tick-tock of the Crocodile. In both Peter Pan and Wendy and Peter Pan in Scarlet, there are various mentions of Peter's ability to imagine things into existence, such as food, though this ability plays a more central role in Peter Pan in Scarlet. He also creates imaginary windows and doors as a kind of physical metaphor for ignoring or shunning his companions. He is said to be able to feel danger when it's near. In Peter Pan in Scarlet, it says that when Curly's puppy licks Peter, it licks off a lot of fairy dust, which may be interpreted to mean that he has become fairy-like to the point of producing his own dust, but could also simply mean that he spends so much time with fairies that he is coated in their dust. In Peter and Wendy, Barrie states that the Peter Pan legend Mrs Darling heard as a child was that when children died, he accompanied them part of the way to their destination so that they wouldn't be scared. [edit] Relationships Peter does not know his parents. In Kensington Gardens Barrie wrote that he left them as an infant, and seeing the window closed and a new baby in the house when he returned, he assumed they no longer wanted him. In Starcatchers he is said to be an orphan, though his friends Molly and George discover who his parents are in Rundoon. In Hook, Peter remembers his parents, specifically his mother, who wanted him to grow up and go to the best schools in London to become a judge and have a family life. After Peter "ran away" to Neverland, he returns to find his parents forgot about him and had another child (the gender of Peter's sibling is revealed to be another boy in "Peter and Wendy"). Peter is the leader of the Lost Boys, a band of boys who were lost by their parents, and came to live in Neverland; it is reported that he "thins them out" when they start to grow up. He is best friends with Tinker Bell, a common fairy who is often jealously protective of him. His nemesis is Captain Hook, whose hand he cut off in a duel. Hook's crew, including Smee and Starkey, also consider him a foe. The Starcatchers books introduce additional foes: Slank, Lord Ombra, and Captain Nerezza. From bogus@does.not.exist.com Mon Jul 6 09:31:04 2009 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:31:04 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: Kensington Gardens, and befriends children there. Wendy Darling, whom he recruited to be his 'mother', is the most significant of them; he also brings her brothers John and Michael to Never Land at her request. He later befriends Wendy's daughter Jane (and her subsequent daughter Margaret), and Peter and Wendy says that he will continue this pattern indefinitely. In Starcatchers he previously befriends Molly Aster and young George Darling. Peter appears to be known to all the residents of Neverland, including the Indian princess Tiger Lily and her tribe, the mermaids, and the fairies. In Hook, Peter states the reason he wanted to grow up was to be a father. He married Wendy's granddaughter, Moira, and they have two children, Maggie and Jack. [edit] In popular culture The character of Peter Pan (or thinly disguised versions of him) has appeared in countless tributes and parodies, and has been the subject of several later works of fiction. (See Works based on Peter Pan for notable examples.) J. R. R. Tolkien's biographer Humphrey Carpenter has speculated that Tolkien's impressions of a production of Barrie's Peter Pan in Birmingham in 1910 "may have had a little to do with" his original conception of the Elves of Middle Earth.[2] Since featuring the character in their 1953 animated film, Walt Disney has continued to use him as one of their traditional characters, featuring him in the sequel film Return to Neverland and in their parks as a meetable character, and the focus of the dark ride, Peter Pan's Flight; he appears in House of Mouse, The Lion King 1=C2=BD, Mickey's Magical Christmas, and the Kingdom Hearts video games. The name "Peter Pan" has been adopted for various purposes over the years. Three thoroughbred racehorses have been given the name, the first born in 1904. It has been adopted by several businesses, including Peter Pan peanut butter, Peter Pan Bus Lines, and Peter Pan Records. An early 1960s program in which Cuban children were sent unattended to Miami to escape feared mistreatment under the then-new Castro regime was called Operation Peter Pan (or 'Operaci=C3=B3n Pedro Pan'). The term Peter Pan syndrome was popularized in 1983 by a book with that name, about individuals (usually male) with underdeveloped maturity. Peter Pan is depicted in public sculpture. There are seven statues cast from a mould by sculptor George Frampton, following an original commission by Barrie in 1912. The statues are in Kensington Gardens in London, England; Liverpool, England; Brussels, Belgium; Camden, New Jersey, United States; Perth, Western Australia; Toronto, Ontario,[3] Canada; and St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada. Two more statues (though not of Frampton's mould) are in Kirriemuir, Scotland, the birthplace of JM Barrie. A new bronze statue by Diarmuid Byron O'Connor was commissioned by Great Ormond Street Hospital in London and unveiled in 2000, showing Peter blowing fairy dust, with Tinker Bell added in 2005.[4] [edit] References ^ Birkin, Andrew (2003). J.M. Barrie & the Lost Boys. Yale University Press. p. 47. ISBN 0300098227. ^ Carpenter, Humphrey (1977), Tolkien: A Biography, New York: Ballantine Books, ISBN 0-04-928037-6 ^ in small park on NW corner of Avenue Rd and St. Clair Ave West ^ Tinker Bell statue dedication press release Wikisource has original text related to this article: Peter and Wendy[hide]v =E2=80=A2 d =E2=80=A2 ePeter Pan Characters Peter Pan =C2=B7 Wendy Darling =C2=B7 Captain Hook =C2=B7 Tinker= Bell =C2=B7 The Lost Boys =C2=B7 other characters Official books and plays The Little White Bird =C2=B7 Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens =C2= =B7 Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up =C2=B7 Peter and Wendy =C2=B7 Pe= ter Pan in Scarlet Films/TV series Peter Pan (1924) =C2=B7 Peter Pan (1953) =C2=B7 The Lost Bo= ys (1978) =C2=B7 Peter Pan no B=C5=8Dken (1989) =C2=B7 Peter Pan and the Pirat= es (1990-1991) =C2=B7 Hook (1991) =C2=B7 Return to Never Land (2002) =C2=B7 Pe= ter Pan (2003) =C2=B7 Finding Neverland (2004) =C2=B7 Tinker Bell (2008) Video games Peter Pan and the Pirates =C2=B7 Hook Related people J. M. Barrie =C2=B7 Llewelyn Davies boys =C2=B7 Sylvia Llewe= lyn Davies =C2=B7 Arthur Llewelyn Davies =C2=B7 Charles Frohman Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Pan" Categories: Disney's Peter Pan characters | Fictional characters in children's literature | Fictional immortals | Fictional sword fighters | Child characters in written fiction | Kingdom Hearts characters | Peter Pan On 7/10/09, c b wrote: > Michael Jackson 50 > > Bessie Smith 37 > Billie Holiday 44 > Charlie Parker 34 > John Coltrane 40 > Jimi Hendrix 28 > Mozart 35 > Tupac Shakur 25 > Biggie Smalls 24 > Elvis Presley 42 > Fats Waller 39 > Judy Garland 47 > Marvin Gaye 44 > David Ruffin 50 > Paul Williams 34 > John Lennon 40 > Edith Piaf 47 > Janis Joplin 27 > Jim Morrison 28 > Paul Chambers 33 > Duane Allman 24 > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duane_Allman > > Howard Duane Allman (November 20, 1946 =E2=80=93 October 29, 1971) was an > American lead guitarist, co-founder of the Southern rock group the > Allman Brothers Band, and respected session musician. He is best > remembered for his brief but influential tenure in that band, > expressive slide guitar playing, and formidable improvisational > skills.[citation needed] > > A sought-after session musician both before and during his tenure with > the band, Allman performed with such established stars as King Curtis, > Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, and Herbie Mann. His contributions to > the 1970 album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs by Derek and the > Dominos went on to become a part of Rock history. > > Phillipe Wynn 43 > > > > Philipp=C3=A9 Wynne (April 3, 1941 =E2=80=93 July 13, 1984), born Phillip= Walker, > was an American R&B vocalist. Best known for his role as the lead > singer in the popular R&B group The Spinners (a role he shared with > fellow group member Bobby Smith), Wynne scored notable hits such as > "How Could I Let You Get Away", "The Rubberband Man", "One of a Kind > (Love Affair)", "I'll Be Around", "Mighty Love", "Sadie", "Could It Be > I'm Falling in Love", and "Then Came You" (with Dionne Warwick). After > leaving The Spinners, Wynne never regained the same success, although > his voice was featured in hits such as "(Not Just) Knee Deep". Wynne > died of a heart attack while performing at a night club on July 13, > 1984. > > > > Charlie Christian 26 > Hank Williams 29 > Florence Ballard 32 > Mary Wells 49 > Tammi Terrell 24 > Scott Joplin 48 > Dinah Washington 39 > Nat King Cole 45 > Buddy Holly 22 > Ritchie Valens 17 > From shmage at pipeline.com Wed Jul 15 09:52:41 2009 From: shmage at pipeline.com (Shane Mage) Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 11:52:41 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Partial list of famous musical artists who died as young or younger than Michael Jackson In-Reply-To: <5c2e4d230907150831q1f7f85f8o5f49c299a0229986@mail.gmail.com> References: <5c2e4d230907100708u4429c293w1ac312c13441a993@mail.gmail.com> <5c2e4d230907150831q1f7f85f8o5f49c299a0229986@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <7372F6CF-3B53-47EB-A7B1-0076041BEAF8@pipeline.com> On Jul 15, 2009, at 11:31 AM, c b wrote: > It would seem that Michael Jackson aesthetic was a species of the > bourgeois Romanticists "Peter Pan" philosophy..."child as the father > of the man",which more abstractly is probably part of the process of > the origin of > the human species. "Pan" is part of the species name of the > chimpanzee. But "pan" as genus (not species) name for chimpanzees is taken from the resemblance of chimps and bonobos to the iconography of the Great God Pan. And there is absolutely nothing childlike about Pan. Shane Mage > This cosmos did none of gods or men make, but it > always was and is and shall be: an everlasting fire, > kindling in measures and going out in measures." > > Herakleitos of Ephesos From cb31450 at gmail.com Wed Jul 15 10:49:27 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:49:27 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Partial list of famous musical artists who died as young or younger than Michael Jackson In-Reply-To: <7372F6CF-3B53-47EB-A7B1-0076041BEAF8@pipeline.com> References: <5c2e4d230907100708u4429c293w1ac312c13441a993@mail.gmail.com> <5c2e4d230907150831q1f7f85f8o5f49c299a0229986@mail.gmail.com> <7372F6CF-3B53-47EB-A7B1-0076041BEAF8@pipeline.com> Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907150949u9f1cfb6x7a93ee2db6af2df3@mail.gmail.com> On 7/15/09, Shane Mage wrote: > > On Jul 15, 2009, at 11:31 AM, c b wrote: > > > It would seem that Michael Jackson aesthetic was a species of the > > bourgeois Romanticists "Peter Pan" philosophy..."child as the father > > of the man",which more abstractly is probably part of the process of > > the origin of > > the human species. "Pan" is part of the species name of the > > chimpanzee. > > > But "pan" as genus (not species) name for chimpanzees is taken from > the resemblance of chimps and bonobos to the iconography of the Great > God Pan. And there is absolutely nothing childlike about Pan. > ^^^^^ CB: And as you know, a species has two names - genus name and species name- for example, _homo sapiens_, in which "homo" is a genus name, no ? Chimps are _pan troglodyte_. There may be nothing childlike about Pan, but Peter Pan never wants to grow up, and kids act like chimps and monkeys sometimes. Chimpanzee From bogus@does.not.exist.com Mon Jul 6 09:31:04 2009 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:31:04 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: Chimpanzees[1] Common Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Primates Family: Hominidae Subfamily: Homininae Tribe: Hominini Subtribe: Panina Genus: Pan Oken, 1816 Type species Simia troglodytes Blumenbach, 1775 distribution of Pan spp. Species Pan troglodytes Pan paniscus Chimpanzee, sometimes colloquially known as a chimp, is the common name for the two extant species of ape in the genus Pan where the Congo River forms the boundary between the native habitat of the two species:[2] Common Chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes: the better known chimpanzee lives primarily in West and Central Africa. Bonobo, Pan paniscus: also known as the "Pygmy Chimpanzee", this species is found in the forests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Chimpanzees are members of the Hominidae family, along with gorillas, humans, and orangutans. Chimpanzee are thought to have split from human evolution about 6 million years ago and thus the two chimpanzee species are the closest living relatives to humans; all being members of the Hominini tribe (along with extinct species of Hominina subtribe). Chimpanzees are the only known members of the Panina subtribe. The two Pan species split only about one million years ago > > Shane Mage > > > This cosmos did none of gods or men make, but it > > always was and is and shall be: an everlasting fire, > > kindling in measures and going out in measures." > > > > Herakleitos of Ephesos > > _______________________________________________ > Marxism-Thaxis mailing list > Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu > To change your options or unsubscribe go to: > http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis > From cb31450 at gmail.com Wed Jul 15 10:54:43 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:54:43 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Partial list of famous musical artists who died as young or younger than Michael Jackson In-Reply-To: <7372F6CF-3B53-47EB-A7B1-0076041BEAF8@pipeline.com> References: <5c2e4d230907100708u4429c293w1ac312c13441a993@mail.gmail.com> <5c2e4d230907150831q1f7f85f8o5f49c299a0229986@mail.gmail.com> <7372F6CF-3B53-47EB-A7B1-0076041BEAF8@pipeline.com> Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907150954j3aeeb5c3y1f885ba4337b73e2@mail.gmail.com> The Great God Pan From bogus@does.not.exist.com Mon Jul 6 09:31:04 2009 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:31:04 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: The Great God Pan Author Arthur Machen Country United Kingdom Language English Genre(s) Horror novella Publisher Creation Books Publication date 1926 Media type print (hardback) Pages 128 The Great God Pan is a novella written by Arthur Machen. The original story was published in 1890, and Machen revised and extended it in 1894. On publication it was widely denounced by the press as degenerate and horrific because of its decadent style and sexual content, although it has since garnered a reputation as a classic of horror. Machen=92s story was only one of many at the time to focus on Pan as a useful symbol for the power of nature and paganism. Contents [hide] 1 Plot summary 2 Critical opinion 3 Film, TV or theatrical adaptations 4 Influence 5 References 6 External links [edit] Plot summary A woman in Wales has her mind destroyed by a scientist's attempt to enable her to see the god of nature Pan. Years later, a young woman named Helen Vaughan arrives on the London social scene, disturbing many young men and causing some to commit suicide; it transpires that she is the monstrous offspring of the god Pan and the woman in the experiment. [edit] Critical opinion In "Supernatural Horror in Literature" (1926; revised 1933), H. P. Lovecraft praised the novel, saying: "No one could begin to describe the cumulative suspense and ultimate horror with which every paragraph abounds"; he added that "the sensitive reader" reaches the end with "an appreciative shudder." Lovecraft also noted, however, that "melodrama is undeniably present, and coincidence is stretched to a length which appears absurd upon analysis." The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1993) notes "The story begins with an sf rationale (brain surgery) which remains one of the most dramatically horrible and misogynistic in fiction." [edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations "The Great God" was brought to the stage in 2008 by WildClaw Theatre Company in Chicago. It was adapted and directed by WildClaw Artistic Director Charley Sherman. [edit] Influence The story's depiction of a monstrous half-human hybrid inspired the main plotline of Lovecraft=92s "The Dunwich Horror", which refers by name to Machen=92s story. According to Lovecraft scholar Robert M. Price, "'The Dunwich Horror' is in every sense an homage to Machen and even a pastiche. There is little in Lovecraft's wonderful story that does not come directly out of Machen's fiction."[1] It also inspired Peter Straub's Ghost Story. The book was translated into French by Paul-Jean Toulet (Le grand dieu Pan, Paris, 1901). It was a major influence on his first novel, Monsieur du Paur, homme public. Stephen King wrote in the endnotes for his story collection Just After Sunset (2008) that his newly published novella N. was "strongly influenced" by Machen's piece, which he noted, "surmounts its rather clumsy prose and works its way relentlessly into the reader's terror-zone. How many sleepless nights has it caused? God knows, but a few of them were mine. I think "Pan" is as close as the horror genre comes to a great white whale." In another interview he stated: "Not Lovecraft; it=92s a riff on Arthur Machen=92s =93The Great God Pan,=94 whic= h is one of the best horror stories ever written. Maybe the best in the English language. Mine isn=92t anywhere near that good, but I loved the chance to put neurotic behavior=97obsessive/compulsive disorder=97together with the idea of a monster-filled macroverse." [2] [edit] References ^ Price, pp. ix-x. ^ "SELF-INTERVIEW By Stephen King 10:50am September 4th, 2008 [edit] External links On 7/15/09, Shane Mage wrote: > > On Jul 15, 2009, at 11:31 AM, c b wrote: > > > It would seem that Michael Jackson aesthetic was a species of the > > bourgeois Romanticists "Peter Pan" philosophy..."child as the father > > of the man",which more abstractly is probably part of the process of > > the origin of > > the human species. "Pan" is part of the species name of the > > chimpanzee. > > > But "pan" as genus (not species) name for chimpanzees is taken from > the resemblance of chimps and bonobos to the iconography of the Great > God Pan. And there is absolutely nothing childlike about Pan. > > > Shane Mage > > > This cosmos did none of gods or men make, but it > > always was and is and shall be: an everlasting fire, > > kindling in measures and going out in measures." > > > > Herakleitos of Ephesos > > _______________________________________________ > Marxism-Thaxis mailing list > Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu > To change your options or unsubscribe go to: > http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis > From cb31450 at gmail.com Wed Jul 15 10:59:37 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:59:37 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Partial list of famous musical artists who died as young or younger than Michael Jackson In-Reply-To: <5c2e4d230907150954j3aeeb5c3y1f885ba4337b73e2@mail.gmail.com> References: <5c2e4d230907100708u4429c293w1ac312c13441a993@mail.gmail.com> <5c2e4d230907150831q1f7f85f8o5f49c299a0229986@mail.gmail.com> <7372F6CF-3B53-47EB-A7B1-0076041BEAF8@pipeline.com> <5c2e4d230907150954j3aeeb5c3y1f885ba4337b73e2@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907150959k6c13159akc685b93eb0927020@mail.gmail.com> Pan (mythology) From bogus@does.not.exist.com Mon Jul 6 09:31:04 2009 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:31:04 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: Pan Pan teaching his eromenos, the shepherd Daphnis, to play the panpipes 2nd century AD Roman copy of Greek original ca. 100 BC attributed to Heliodorus (found in Pompeii) God of shepherds and flocks, of mountain wilds and rustic music Abode Arcadia Parents Hermes and Penelope Roman equivalent Faunus This box: view =E2=80=A2 talk Pan (Greek =CE=A0=CE=AC=CE=BD, genitive =CE=A0=CE=B1=CE=BD=CF=8C=CF=82), in= Greek religion and mythology, is the companion of the nymphs,[1] god of shepherds and flocks, of mountain wilds, hunting and rustic music. His name originates within the Greek language, from the word paein, meaning "to pasture".[2] He has the hindquarters, legs, and horns of a goat, in the same manner as a faun or satyr. With his homeland in rustic Arcadia, he is recognized as the god of fields, groves, and wooded glens; because of this, Pan is connected to fertility and the season of spring. The ancient Greeks also considered Pan to be the god of theatrical criticism.[3] In Roman mythology, Pan's counterpart was Faunus, a nature spirit who was the father of Bona Dea (Fauna). In the 18th and 19th centuries, Pan became a significant figure in the romanticist movement of western Europe, and also in the 20th century Neopagan movement.[4] Contents [hide] 1 Origins 2 Worship 3 Mythology 3.1 Erotic aspects 3.2 Pan and music 3.3 Capricornus 3.4 Epithets 4 The Death of Pan 5 Influence 5.1 Satan 5.2 Revivalist imagery 5.3 Neopaganism 6 Notes 7 References 8 See also 9 External links [edit] Origins In his earliest appearance in literature, Pindar's Pythian Ode iii. 78, [5] Pan appears as the "agent", "guardian" or "attendant" of the Great Goddess (Cybele). The parentage of Pan is unclear;[6] in some myths he is the son of Zeus, though generally he is the son of Hermes or Dionysus, with whom his mother is said to be a nymph, sometimes Dryope or, in Nonnus, Dionysiaca (14.92), a Penelope of Mantineia in Arcadia.[7] Following Plato's inventive etymology,[8] his name is sometimes mistakenly thought to be identical to the Greek word pan, meaning "all", when it is more likely to be cognate with paein, "to pasture", and to share an origin with the modern English word "pasture". In 1924, Hermann Collitz suggested that Greek Pan and Indic Pushan might have a common Indo-European origin.[9] In the Mystery cults of the highly syncretic Hellenistic era[10] Pan is made cognate with Phanes/Protogonos, Zeus, Dionysus and Eros.[11] Probably the beginning of the linguistic misunderstanding is the Homeric Hymn to Pan, which describes him as delighting all the gods, and thus getting his name.[12] The Roman Faunus, a god of Indo-European origin, was equated with Pan. However, accounts of Pan's genealogy are so varied that it must lie buried deep in mythic time. Like other nature spirits, Pan appears to be older than the Olympians, if it is true that he gave Artemis her hunting dogs and taught the secret of prophecy to Apollo. Pan might be multiplied as the Panes (Burkert 1985, III.3.2; Ruck and Staples 1994 p 132[13]) or the Paniskoi. Kerenyi (1951 p 174) notes from scholia that Aeschylus in Rhesus distinguished between two Pans, one the son of Zeus and twin of Arcas, and one a son of Kronos. "In the retinue of Dionysos, or in depictions of wild landscapes, there appeared not only a great Pan, but also little Pans, Paniskoi, who played the same part as the Satyrs". [edit] Worship The worship of Pan began in Arcadia which was always the principal seat of his worship. Arcadia was a district of mountain people whom other Greeks disdained. Arcadian hunters used to scourge the statue of the god if they had been disappointed in the chase (Theocritus. vii. 107). Pan inspired sudden fear in lonely places, Panic (panikon deima). Following the Titans' assault on Olympus, Pan claimed credit for the victory of the gods because he had inspired disorder and fear in the attackers resulting in the word 'panic' to describe these emotions. Of course, Pan was later known for his music, capable of arousing inspiration, sexuality, or panic, depending on his intentions. In the Battle of Marathon (490 BC), it is said that Pan favored the Athenians and so inspired panic in the hearts of their enemies, the Persians. [edit] Mythology Greek deities series Primordial deities Titans and Olympians Aquatic deities Chthonic deities Personified concepts Other deities Asclepius, god of medicine Leto, mother of Apollo and Artemis Pan, shepherd god Nymphs Anatolian deities The goat-god Aegipan was nurtured by Amalthea with the infant Zeus in Crete. In Zeus' battle with Typhon, Aegipan and Hermes stole back Zeus' "sinews" that Typhon had hidden away in the Corycian Cave.[14] Pan aided his foster-brother in the battle with the Titans by blowing his conch-horn and scattering them in terror. According to some traditions, Aegipan was the son of Pan, rather than his father. One of the famous myths of Pan involves the origin of his pan flute, fashioned from lengths of hollow reed. Syrinx was a lovely water-nymph of Arcadia, daughter of Landon, the river-god. As she was returning from the hunt one day, Pan met her. To escape from his importunities, the fair nymph ran away and didn't stop to hear his compliments. He pursued from Mount Lycaeum until she came to her sisters who immediately changed her into a reed. When the air blew through the reeds, it produced a plaintive melody. The god, still infatuated, took some of the reeds, because he could not identify which reed she became, and cut seven pieces (or according to some versions, nine), joined them side by side in gradually decreasing lengths, and formed the musical instrument bearing the name of his beloved Syrinx. Henceforth Pan was seldom seen without it. Echo was a nymph who was a great singer and dancer and scorned the love of any man. This angered Pan, a lecherous god, and he instructed his followers to kill her. Echo was torn to pieces and spread all over earth. The goddess of the earth, Gaia, received the pieces of Echo, whose voice remains repeating the last words of others. In some versions, Echo and Pan first had one child: Iambe. Pan also loved a nymph named Pitys, who was turned into a pine tree to escape him. [edit] Erotic aspects Pan is famous for his sexual powers, and is often depicted with an erect phallus. Diogenes of Sinope, speaking in jest, related a myth of Pan learning masturbation from his father, Hermes, and teaching the habit to shepherds.[15] He was believed by the Greeks to have plied his charms primarily on maidens and shepherds. Though he failed with Syrinx and Pitys, Pan didn't fail with the Maenads=E2=80=94he had every one of them, in one orgiastic riot or another. To effect this, Pan was sometimes multiplied into a whole tribe of Panes. Pan's greatest conquest was that of the moon goddess Selene. He accomplished this by wrapping himself in a sheepskin[16] to hide his hairy black goat form, and drew her down from the sky into the forest where he seduced her. [edit] Pan and music Once Pan had the audacity to compare his music with that of Apollo, and to challenge Apollo, the god of the lyre, to a trial of skill. Tmolus, the mountain-god, was chosen to umpire. Pan blew on his pipes, and with his rustic melody gave great satisfaction to himself and his faithful follower, Midas, who happened to be present. Then Apollo struck the strings of his lyre. Tmolus at once awarded the victory to Apollo, and all but Midas agreed with the judgement. He dissented, and questioned the justice of the award. Apollo would not suffer such a depraved pair of ears any longer, and turned Midas' ears into those of a donkey. In another version of the myth the first round of the contest was a tie so they were forced to go to a second round. In this round, Apollo demanded that they play standing on their heads. Apollo, playing on the lyre, was unaffected, however Pan's pipe couldn't be played while upsidedown, so Apollo won the contest. [edit] Capricornus The constellation Capricornus is often depicted as a sea-goat, a goat with a fish's tail: see Aigaion or Briareos, one of the Hecatonchires. One myth[citation needed] that would seem to be invented to justify a connection of Pan with Capricorn says that when Aegipan, that is Pan in his goat-god aspect,[16] was attacked by the monster Typhon, he dove into the Nile; the parts above the water remained a goat, but those under the water transformed into a fish. [edit] Epithets Aegocerus "goat-horned" was an epithet of Pan descriptive of his figure with the horns of a goat.[17] [edit] The Death of Pan Pan, Mikhail Vrubel 1900.According to the Greek historian Plutarch (in "The Obsolescence of Oracles" (Moralia, Book 5:17)), Pan is the only Greek god who is dead. During the reign of Tiberius (A.D. 14-37), the news of Pan's death came to one Thamus, a sailor on his way to Italy by way of the island of Paxi. A divine voice hailed him across the salt water, "Thamus, are you there? When you reach Palodes,[18] take care to proclaim that the great god Pan is dead." Which Thamus did, and the news was greeted from shore with groans and laments. Robert Graves (The Greek Myths) suggested that the Egyptian Thamus apparently misheard Thamus Pan-megas Tethnece 'the all-great Tammuz is dead' for 'Thamus, Great Pan is dead!' Certainly, when Pausanias toured Greece about a century after Plutarch, he found Pan's shrines, sacred caves and sacred mountains still very much frequented. [edit] Influence [edit] Satan Pan's image lived on in medieval depictions of Satan. The Devil was often shown to have the horns and lower body of a goat, as well as lust being his prime power. A common superstition in the Middle Ages was that goats whispered lewd sentences in the ears of the saints. The origin of this belief was probably the behavior of the buck in rut, the very epitome of lust. The Black Mass, a probably-mythological "Satanic mass," was said to involve a black goat, the form in which Satan supposedly manifested himself for worship. Pan has had a lingering connection with Satanism and Pagan religions, even into modern times. The upside down pentagram, a symbol used in Satanism, is said to be shaped like a goat's head. The "Baphomet of Mendes" refers to a Satanic goat-like figure from 19th century occultism. [edit] Revivalist imagery Pan depicted on the cover of The Wind in the WillowsIn the late 18th century, interest in Pan revived among liberal scholars. Richard Payne Knight discussed Pan in his book on the Worship of Priapus as a symbol of creation expressed through sexuality. "Pan is represented pouring water upon the organ of generation; that is, invigorating the active creative power by the prolific element."[19] In the English town of Painswick in Gloucestershire, a group of 18th century gentry, led by Benjamin Hyett, organised an annual procession dedicated to Pan, during which a statue of the deity was held aloft, and people shouted 'Highgates! Highgates!". Hyett also erected temples and follies to Pan in the gardens of his house and a "Pan's lodge", located over Painswick Valley. The tradition died out in the 1830s, but was revived in 1885 by the new vicar, W.H. Seddon, who mistakenly believed that the festival had been ancient in origin. One of Seddon's successors, however, was less appreciative of the pagan festival and put an end to it in 1950, when he had Pan's statue buried.[20] In the late nineteenth century Pan became an increasingly common figure in literature and art. Patricia Merivale states that between 1890 and 1926 there was an "astonishing resurgence of interest in the Pan motif".[21] He appears in poetry, in novels and childrens' books such as The Wind in the Willows during this period. [edit] Neopaganism In 1933, the Egyptologist Margaret Murray published the book, The God of the Witches, in which she theorised that Pan was merely one form of a horned god who was worshipped across Europe by a witch-cult.[22] This theory influenced the Neopagan notion of the Horned God, as an archetype of male virility and sexuality. In Wicca, the archetype of the Horned God is highly important, as represented by such deities as the Celtic Cernunnos, Indian Pashupati and Pan. A modern account of several purported meetings with Pan is given by Robert Ogilvie Crombie (born Edinburgh, lived 1899-1975), in the books "The Findhorn Garden" (Harper & Row, 1975) and "The Magic Of Findhorn" (Harper & Row, 1975). Crombie claimed to have met Pan many times at various locations including Edinburgh, on the island of Iona and at the Findhorn Foundation, all in Scotland. [edit] Notes ^ Edwin L. Brown, "The Lycidas of Theocritus Idyll 7", Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, 1981:59-100. ^ Edwin L. Brown, "The Divine Name 'Pan'" Transactions of the American Philological Association 107 (1977:57-61), notes (p. 59) that the first insciption mentioning Pan is a 6th-century dedication to =CE=A0=CE=91= =CE=9F=CE=9D=CE=99, a "still uncontracted" form. ^ Alfred Wagner, Das historische Drama der Griechen, M=C3=BCnster 1878, p. = 78. ^ The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft, Ronald Hutton, chapter 3 ^ Pindar refers to maidens worshipping Cybele and Pan near the poet's house= . ^ W.H. Roscher, Ausf=C3=BChrlichesLexikon der Gr. u. R=C3=B6m. Mythologie (1909:1379f) finds eighteen variants for Pan's genealogy. ^ This is not the Penelope who was the wife of Odysseus. ^ Plato, Cratylus 400d & 408b; Plato's etymologies are a rhetorical device that serve his immediate philosophical purpose. ^ H. Collitz, "Wodan, Hermes und Pushan," Festskrift till=C3=A4gnad Hugo Pipping p=C8=A7 hans sextio=C8=A7rsdag den 5 november 1924 1924, pp 574-587= . ^ Eliade, Mircea (1982) A History of Religious Ideas Vol. 2. University of Chicago Press. =C2=A7 205. ^ In the second-century "Hieronyman Theogony', which harmonized Orphic themes from the theogony of Protogonos with Stoicism, he is Protogonos, Phanes, Zeus and Pan; in the Orphic Rhapsodies he is additionally called Metis, Eros, Erikepaios and Bromios. The inclusion of Pan seems to be a Hellenic syncretization (West, M. L. (1983) The Orphic Poems. Oxford:Oxford University Press. p. 205). ^ "they called the boy Pan because he delighted all their hearts". The Loeb Classical Library editor, Hugh G. Evelyn-White, notes "The name Pan is here derived from pantes 'all'.=E2=80=9D ^ Pan "even boasted that he had slept with every maenad that ever was=E2=80=94to facilitate that extraordinary feat, he could be multiplied i= nto a whole brotherhood of Panes.") ^ "In this Hermes is clearly out of place. He was one of the youngest sons of Zeus and was brought into the story only because... he was a master-thief. The real participant in the story was Aigipan: the god Pan, that is to say. in his quality of a goat (aix). (Kerenyi 1951:28). Kerenyi points out that Python of Delphi had a son Aix (Plutarch, Moralia 293c) and detects a note of kinship betrayal. ^ Dio Chrysostom, Discourses, vi. 20. ^ a b Kerenyi 1951:95. ^ Lucan, ix. 536; Lucretius, v. 614. ^ "Where or what was Palodes?". ^ Payne-Knight, R. Discourse on the Worship of Priapus, 1786, p.73 ^ The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft, Ronald Hutton, page 161-162 ^ Patricia Merivale, Pan the Goat-God: his Myth in Modern Times, Harvard University Press, 1969, p.vii. ^ The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft, Ronald Hutton, page 199 [edit] References Burkert, Walter (1985). Greek Religion. Harvard University Press. Kerenyi, Karl (1951). The Gods of the Greeks. Thames & Hudson. Ruck, Carl A.P.; Danny Staples (1994). The World of Classical Myth. Carolina Academic Press. ISBN 0-89089-575-9. Borgeaud, Philippe (1979). Recherches sur le Dieu Pan. Geneva University. Vinci, Leo (1993), Pan: Great God Of Nature, Neptune Press, London Malini, Roberto (1998), Pan dio della selva, Edizioni dell'Ambrosino, Milan= o Diotima, (2007), ' 'The Goat Foot God, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, [edit] See also Pan in popular culture Pangu Puck Erotic art in Pompeii Faun Satyr Kokopelli Daveli's Cave Syrinx [edit] External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Pan (mythology) The story of Pan and Daphnis Original resources on Faunus/Phaunos Original resources on Pan Pan Mythology [http://www.et-in-arcadia-ego.com / Pan and the Arcadian theme in the paintings of Poussin, Geurcino,Et in Arcadia Ego Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_(mythology)" Categories: Nature gods | Love and lust gods | Arts gods | Oracular gods | Animal gods | Horned deities | Greek gods | Greek mythology | Sexuality in ancient Rome | Offspring of Zeus | Offspring of Hermes On 7/15/09, c b wrote: > The Great God Pan > From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia > Jump to: navigation, search > The Great God Pan > Author Arthur Machen > Country United Kingdom > Language English > Genre(s) Horror novella > Publisher Creation Books > Publication date 1926 > Media type print (hardback) > Pages 128 > The Great God Pan is a novella written by Arthur Machen. The original > story was published in 1890, and Machen revised and extended it in > 1894. On publication it was widely denounced by the press as > degenerate and horrific because of its decadent style and sexual > content, although it has since garnered a reputation as a classic of > horror. Machen=E2=80=99s story was only one of many at the time to focus = on > Pan as a useful symbol for the power of nature and paganism. > > Contents [hide] > 1 Plot summary > 2 Critical opinion > 3 Film, TV or theatrical adaptations > 4 Influence > 5 References > 6 External links > > > > [edit] Plot summary > A woman in Wales has her mind destroyed by a scientist's attempt to > enable her to see the god of nature Pan. Years later, a young woman > named Helen Vaughan arrives on the London social scene, disturbing > many young men and causing some to commit suicide; it transpires that > she is the monstrous offspring of the god Pan and the woman in the > experiment. > > > [edit] Critical opinion > In "Supernatural Horror in Literature" (1926; revised 1933), H. P. > Lovecraft praised the novel, saying: "No one could begin to describe > the cumulative suspense and ultimate horror with which every paragraph > abounds"; he added that "the sensitive reader" reaches the end with > "an appreciative shudder." Lovecraft also noted, however, that > "melodrama is undeniably present, and coincidence is stretched to a > length which appears absurd upon analysis." The Encyclopedia of > Science Fiction (1993) notes "The story begins with an sf rationale > (brain surgery) which remains one of the most dramatically horrible > and misogynistic in fiction." > > > [edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations > "The Great God" was brought to the stage in 2008 by WildClaw Theatre > Company in Chicago. It was adapted and directed by WildClaw Artistic > Director Charley Sherman. > > > [edit] Influence > The story's depiction of a monstrous half-human hybrid inspired the > main plotline of Lovecraft=E2=80=99s "The Dunwich Horror", which refers b= y > name to Machen=E2=80=99s story. According to Lovecraft scholar Robert M. > Price, "'The Dunwich Horror' is in every sense an homage to Machen and > even a pastiche. There is little in Lovecraft's wonderful story that > does not come directly out of Machen's fiction."[1] It also inspired > Peter Straub's Ghost Story. > > The book was translated into French by Paul-Jean Toulet (Le grand dieu > Pan, Paris, 1901). It was a major influence on his first novel, > Monsieur du Paur, homme public. > > Stephen King wrote in the endnotes for his story collection Just After > Sunset (2008) that his newly published novella N. was "strongly > influenced" by Machen's piece, which he noted, "surmounts its rather > clumsy prose and works its way relentlessly into the reader's > terror-zone. How many sleepless nights has it caused? God knows, but a > few of them were mine. I think "Pan" is as close as the horror genre > comes to a great white whale." In another interview he stated: "Not > Lovecraft; it=E2=80=99s a riff on Arthur Machen=E2=80=99s =E2=80=9CThe Gr= eat God Pan,=E2=80=9D which > is one of the best horror stories ever written. Maybe the best in the > English language. Mine isn=E2=80=99t anywhere near that good, but I loved= the > chance to put neurotic behavior=E2=80=94obsessive/compulsive disorder=E2= =80=94together > with the idea of a monster-filled macroverse." [2] > > > [edit] References > ^ Price, pp. ix-x. > ^ "SELF-INTERVIEW By Stephen King 10:50am September 4th, 2008 > > [edit] External links > > > On 7/15/09, Shane Mage wrote: > > > > On Jul 15, 2009, at 11:31 AM, c b wrote: > > > > > It would seem that Michael Jackson aesthetic was a species of the > > > bourgeois Romanticists "Peter Pan" philosophy..."child as the father > > > of the man",which more abstractly is probably part of the process of > > > the origin of > > > the human species. "Pan" is part of the species name of the > > > chimpanzee. > > > > > > But "pan" as genus (not species) name for chimpanzees is taken from > > the resemblance of chimps and bonobos to the iconography of the Great > > God Pan. And there is absolutely nothing childlike about Pan. > > > > > > Shane Mage > > > > > This cosmos did none of gods or men make, but it > > > always was and is and shall be: an everlasting fire, > > > kindling in measures and going out in measures." > > > > > > Herakleitos of Ephesos > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Marxism-Thaxis mailing list > > Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu > > To change your options or unsubscribe go to: > > http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis > > > From cb31450 at gmail.com Wed Jul 15 11:10:41 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:10:41 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Partial list of famous musical artists who died as young or younger than Michael Jackson In-Reply-To: <5c2e4d230907151008n44d51d74uc63d14290a8f6f4e@mail.gmail.com> References: <5c2e4d230907100708u4429c293w1ac312c13441a993@mail.gmail.com> <5c2e4d230907150831q1f7f85f8o5f49c299a0229986@mail.gmail.com> <7372F6CF-3B53-47EB-A7B1-0076041BEAF8@pipeline.com> <5c2e4d230907150954j3aeeb5c3y1f885ba4337b73e2@mail.gmail.com> <5c2e4d230907151008n44d51d74uc63d14290a8f6f4e@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907151010y5c2a8e01kef0c29bdda5179ac@mail.gmail.com> Michael Jackson's Thriller ( video) "Michael Jackson's Thriller" title card. Directed by John Landis Produced by George Folsey Jr. Written by John Landis Michael Jackson Starring Michael Jackson Ola Ray Distributed by Columbia Pictures Epic Records Productions Release date(s) December 2, 1983 Running time 13:43 Language English Budget $500,000[1] Sales: 9 million units "Michael Jackson's Thriller" is a 14-minute music video for the song of the same name released on December 2, 1983 and directed by John Landis, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Jackson. The mini-film music video was broadcast on MTV three weeks before Christmas 1983. It was the most expensive video of its time, costing US$500,000[1], and Guinness World Records listed it in 2006 as the "most successful music video", selling over 9 million units.[2] "Thriller" was less a conventional music video and more a full-fledged short subject or mini-film: a horror film homage featuring choreographed zombies performing with Jackson. The music was re-edited to match the video, with the verses being sung one after the other followed by the ending rap from Vincent Price, then the main dance sequence (filmed at 3701 Union Pacific Avenue in East Los Angeles[3]) to an instrumental loop, and finally the final: the choruses in a "big dance number" climactic scene. During the video, Jackson transforms into both a zombie and a werecat (although makeup artist Rick Baker referred to it as a "cat monster" in the "Making of Thriller" documentary); familiar territory for Landis, who had directed An American Werewolf in London two years earlier. Co-starring with Jackson was former Playboy centerfold Ola Ray. The video was choreographed by Michael Peters (who had worked with the singer on his prior hit "Beat It"), with Michael Jackson. The video also contains incidental music by film music composer Elmer Bernstein, who had previously also worked with Landis on An American Werewolf in London. The video (like the song) contains a spoken word performance by horror film veteran Vincent Price. Rick Baker assisted in prosthetics and makeup for the production. The red jacket that Jackson wore was designed by John Landis' wife Deborah Landis to make him appear more "virile".[4] Jackson, who at the time was one of Jehovah's Witnesses, added a disclaimer to the start of the video, saying: ? Due to my strong personal convictions, I wish to stress that this film in no way endorses a belief in the occult. ? To qualify for an Academy Award, "Thriller" debuted at a special theatrical screening, along with the 1940 animated motion picture Fantasia. Contents [hide] 1 Plot 2 Awards 2.1 Grammy Award 2.2 MTV Award 3 Making Michael Jackson's Thriller 3.1 Behind the Scenes 4 Broadway and litigation 5 In popular culture 6 See also 7 References 8 External links [edit] Plot Jackson dancing with the undead.It is the early 1960s. A teenaged Michael and his unnamed date (Ola Ray) run out of gas in a dark, wooded area. They walk off into the forest, and Michael asks her if she would like to go steady. She accepts and he gives her a ring. He warns her, however, that he is "different". A full moon appears, and Michael begins convulsing in agony ? transforming into a horrifying werecat. His date shrieks and runs away, but the werecat catches up, knocking her down and begins lunging at her with its claws. The scene cuts away to a modern-day movie theater (exteriors filmed at the Palace Theatre in downtown Los Angeles[5]), where Michael and his date ? along with a repulsed audience ? are actually watching this scene unfold in a movie called "Thriller" starring Vincent Price. Michael's date is scared, but he is clearly enjoying the horror flick. Frightened, his date leaves the theatre. Michael puts his popcorn down, and catches up to her, smiling and saying "It's only a movie!" Some debate follows over whether or not she was scared by the scene; she denies it, but Michael disagrees. Michael and his date then walk down a foggy street, and he teases her with the opening verses of "Thriller". They pass a graveyard, where corpses suddenly begin to rise from their graves as Vincent Price performs his rap. Michael and his date then find themselves surrounded by the zombies, and suddenly, Michael becomes a zombie himself. Michael and the undead perform an elaborate song and dance number together, followed by the chorus of "Thriller" (in which Michael is changed back into human form), frightening his girlfriend to the point where she runs for cover. The girl is chased into an abandoned house (filmed in the Angeleno Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles at 1345 Carroll Avenue[6]), where Michael (who reverts back to zombie form) and his fellow zombies back her into a corner. As Michael slowly reaches for her throat, she lets out with a blood-curdling scream, only to awake and realize it was all a dream. As a human Michael calmly asks "What's the problem?", he offers to take her home. As the two depart, Michael glances back at the camera, grins and reveals his yellow cat-like eyes (accompanied by Vincent Price offering one last haunting laugh). After the credits, when they concurrently show the zombies dancing again, the disclaimer humorously states, "Any similarity to actual events or persons living, dead (or undead) is purely coincidental." Landis' An American Werewolf in London likewise offered this disclaimer. [edit] Awards [edit] Grammy Award Year Category Result Notes 1985 Best Video, Long Form Winner "Thriller" 1984 Best Video Album Winner Making Michael Jackson's Thriller [edit] MTV Award Year Category Result 1999 100 Greatest Music Videos Ever Made[7] #1 1984 Best Overall Performance in a Video Winner 1984 Best Choreography (Michael Peters) Winner 1984 Viewer's Choice Winner [edit] Making Michael Jackson's Thriller Released in tandem with the video was an hour-long documentary providing candid glimpses behind the scenes of the production. Called Making Michael Jackson's Thriller, it, too, was shown heavily on MTV for a time and was the top-selling home-video release of all time at one point, with over 900,000 copies sold. [edit] Behind the Scenes Well, it was a delicate thing to work on because I remember my original approach was, 'How do you make zombies and monsters dance without it being comical?' So I said, 'We have to do just the right kind of movement so it doesn't become something that you laugh at.' But it just has to take it to another level. So I got in a room with [choreographer] Michael Peters, and he and I together kind of imagined how these zombies move by making faces in the mirror. I used to come to rehearsal sometimes with monster makeup on, and I loved doing that. So he and I collaborated and we both choreographed the piece and I thought it should start like that kind of thing and go into this jazzy kind of step, you know. Kind of gruesome things like that, not too much ballet or whatever. ?Michael Jackson[8] [edit] Broadway and litigation In 2009, Jackson sold the rights of "Thriller" to the Nederlander Organization, to stage a Broadway musical based on the video. Jackson was sued by director John Landis in a dispute over royalties for the video; Landis claims he is owed four years worth of royalties.[9][10] Ola Ray has also complained in the past about difficulties collecting royalties. At first, Ray blamed Jackson, but then apologized to him in 1997.[11] However, Ray eventually sued Jackson on May 6, 2009 in a dispute to obtain uncollected royalties.[12] Jackson died suddenly less than two months later on June 25.[13] [edit] In popular culture The video, particularly its choreography, has been the subject of numerous parodies and homages in television and film. In 2007, a "Thriller"-inspired video featuring the dancing inmates of a high security penitentiary in the Philippines imitating the zombie dance became a popular viral video. Since 2007, Canadian dancer Ines Markeljevic has organized "Thrill the World," an annual worldwide simultaneous dance to Michael Jackson's "Thriller" with specially arranged choreography from the music video. The event takes place in October each year (just before Halloween), and features dancers in cities all over the world performing the dance at the exact same moment. Thrill Toronto 2006, the predecessor to Thrill The World, set the first Guinness World Record for "Largest Thriller Dance" (in one location). Thrill The World set the world record for "Largest Simultaneous Thriller Dance" in 2007 with 1,722 people in 55 cities on 5 continents. In 2008, Thrill the World broke that record when 4,177 people from 10 nations around the world simultaneously danced the Thriller at 11:00 PST on October 25/26[14]. The dance number was also seen in 13 going on 30 , where Jenna (played by Jennifer Garner) tries to save a party from becoming a disaster. Sequences of choreography from the Thriller video also feature in the dance group's stairs routine during the Twist and Shout scene in Ferris Bueller's Day Off [edit] See also List of most expensive music videos [edit] References ^ a b Director: Funds for "Thriller" almost didn't appear ^ Guinness World Records (2006) ^ Lindsay (2008-10-08). "Cause This Is Thriller". iamnotastalker.com. http://www.iamnotastalker.com/2008/10/30/cause-this-is-thriller/. Retrieved on 2009-07-03. ^ Lauren Goode (June 30, 2009). "Deborah Landis, Designer of the Red Jacket Michael Jackson Wore in ?Thriller?". Wall Street Journal. Speakeasy. http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2009/06/30/deborah-landis-designer-of-the-red-jacket-michael-jackson-wore-in-thriller/. Retrieved on July 4, 2009. "At the time, she says, the 25-year-old Jackson weighed only 99 lbs, with a 26-inch waist (?exactly the same height and weight as Fred Astaire?), and one of the challenges she faced was making the performer appear more ?virile.?" ^ Lindsay (2008-10-22). "Darkness Fall Across the Land, the Midnight Hour is Close At Hand...". iamnotastalker.com. http://www.iamnotastalker.com/2008/10/22/darkness-fall-across-the-land-the-midnight-hour-is-close-at-hand/. Retrieved on 2009-07-03. ^ Lindsay (2007-12-07). "Charmed I'm Sure". iamnotastalker.com. http://www.iamnotastalker.com/2007/12/04/charmed-im-sure/. Retrieved on 2009-07-03. ^ MTV: 100 Greatest Music Videos Ever Made ^ "Michael Jackson's Life & Legacy: Global Superstar (1982-86)". VH1. Archived from the original on 2009-07-06. http://www.vh1.com/artists/news/1615220/20090702/jackson_michael.jhtml?rsspartner=rssMozilla. Retrieved on 2009-07-07. ^ Legal Thriller: Michael Jackson Sued by John Landis Yahoo News, January 27, 2009 ^ Michael Jackson sued by 'Thriller' director ^ http://www.mjfanclub.net/home/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=633:ola-ray-apologizes-to-michael&catid=85:latest-news&Itemid=82 ^ [1] ^ latimes.com ^ http://www.recordholdersrepublic.co.uk/recordholdersdetails.asp?id=683 [edit] External links Michael Jackson Book Of Condolence - Michael Jackson Online Book Of Condolence Thriller (1983) (V) at the Internet Movie Database Michael Jackson's Thriller at Allmovie Thriller Filming Locations - Filming at the Palace Theatre Thriller Filming Locations - The Zombie Dance Sequence Thriller Filming Locations - The Thriller House [hide]v ? d ? eMichael Jackson Main articles Health and appearance ? Neverland ? 1993 accusations of child sexual abuse ? Living with Michael Jackson ? People v. Jackson ? Death ? Memorial service Studio albums Got to Be There ? Ben ? Music & Me ? Forever, Michael ? Off the Wall ? Thriller ? Bad ? Dangerous ? HIStory ? Invincible Compilations The Best of Michael Jackson ? Anthology ? Number Ones ? The Ultimate Collection ? The Essential Michael Jackson ? Visionary: The Video Singles ? King of Pop Other releases One Day in Your Life ? E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ? Farewell My Summer Love ? Looking Back to Yesterday ? Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix ? Thriller 25 ? Michael Jackson: The Stripped Mixes ? Hello World: The Motown Solo Collection Concert tours Victory Tour ? Bad World Tour ? Dangerous World Tour ? HIStory World Tour ? This Is It Videography The Wiz ? Thriller ? Captain EO ? Moonwalker ? "Stark Raving Dad" ? Ghosts ? Miss Cast Away ? Dome Project Video releases Dangerous - The Short Films ? Video Greatest Hits - HIStory ? HIStory on Film, Volume II ? Number Ones ? The One ? Live in Bucharest: The Dangerous Tour Assets Northern Songs ? Sony/ATV Music Publishing Influence on society Moonwalk ? Heal the World Foundation ? Thrill the World ? Thriller (viral video) ? Michael Jackson tribute concert Related articles Jackson family ? The Jackson 5 ? Singles discography ? Awards ? Records and achievements ? Moon Walk ? Bubbles ? Michael Jackson's Moonwalker ? Lisa Marie Presley ? Debbie Rowe Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Jackson%27s_Thriller" Categories: Music videos | Zombie films | Films directed by John Landis | 1983 films | Short films From cb31450 at gmail.com Wed Jul 15 11:23:44 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:23:44 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Partial list of famous musical artists who died as young or younger than Michael Jackson In-Reply-To: <5c2e4d230907151010y5c2a8e01kef0c29bdda5179ac@mail.gmail.com> References: <5c2e4d230907100708u4429c293w1ac312c13441a993@mail.gmail.com> <5c2e4d230907150831q1f7f85f8o5f49c299a0229986@mail.gmail.com> <7372F6CF-3B53-47EB-A7B1-0076041BEAF8@pipeline.com> <5c2e4d230907150954j3aeeb5c3y1f885ba4337b73e2@mail.gmail.com> <5c2e4d230907151008n44d51d74uc63d14290a8f6f4e@mail.gmail.com> <5c2e4d230907151010y5c2a8e01kef0c29bdda5179ac@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907151023lf602d83jf5553aa9d8ab7891@mail.gmail.com> In the late nineteenth century Pan became an increasingly common figure in literature and art. Patricia Merivale states that between 1890 and 1926 there was an "astonishing resurgence of interest in the Pan motif".[21] He appears in poetry, in novels and childrens' books such as The Wind in the Willows during this period. Pan (mythology) Pan Pan teaching his eromenos, the shepherd Daphnis, to play the panpipes 2nd century AD Roman copy of Greek original ca. 100 BC attributed to Heliodorus (found in Pompeii) God of shepherds and flocks, of mountain wilds and rustic music Abode Arcadia Parents Hermes and Penelope Roman equivalent Faunus This box: view ? talk Pan (Greek ???, genitive ?????), in Greek religion and mythology, is the companion of the nymphs,[1] god of shepherds and flocks, of mountain wilds, hunting and rustic music. His name originates within the Greek language, from the word paein, meaning "to pasture".[2] He has the hindquarters, legs, and horns of a goat, in the same manner as a faun or satyr. With his homeland in rustic Arcadia, he is recognized as the god of fields, groves, and wooded glens; because of this, Pan is connected to fertility and the season of spring. The ancient Greeks also considered Pan to be the god of theatrical criticism.[3] In Roman mythology, Pan's counterpart was Faunus, a nature spirit who was the father of Bona Dea (Fauna). In the 18th and 19th centuries, Pan became a significant figure in the romanticist movement of western Europe, and also in the 20th century Neopagan movement.[4] Contents [hide] 1 Origins 2 Worship 3 Mythology 3.1 Erotic aspects 3.2 Pan and music 3.3 Capricornus 3.4 Epithets 4 The Death of Pan 5 Influence 5.1 Satan 5.2 Revivalist imagery 5.3 Neopaganism 6 Notes 7 References 8 See also 9 External links [edit] Origins In his earliest appearance in literature, Pindar's Pythian Ode iii. 78, [5] Pan appears as the "agent", "guardian" or "attendant" of the Great Goddess (Cybele). The parentage of Pan is unclear;[6] in some myths he is the son of Zeus, though generally he is the son of Hermes or Dionysus, with whom his mother is said to be a nymph, sometimes Dryope or, in Nonnus, Dionysiaca (14.92), a Penelope of Mantineia in Arcadia.[7] Following Plato's inventive etymology,[8] his name is sometimes mistakenly thought to be identical to the Greek word pan, meaning "all", when it is more likely to be cognate with paein, "to pasture", and to share an origin with the modern English word "pasture". In 1924, Hermann Collitz suggested that Greek Pan and Indic Pushan might have a common Indo-European origin.[9] In the Mystery cults of the highly syncretic Hellenistic era[10] Pan is made cognate with Phanes/Protogonos, Zeus, Dionysus and Eros.[11] Probably the beginning of the linguistic misunderstanding is the Homeric Hymn to Pan, which describes him as delighting all the gods, and thus getting his name.[12] The Roman Faunus, a god of Indo-European origin, was equated with Pan. However, accounts of Pan's genealogy are so varied that it must lie buried deep in mythic time. Like other nature spirits, Pan appears to be older than the Olympians, if it is true that he gave Artemis her hunting dogs and taught the secret of prophecy to Apollo. Pan might be multiplied as the Panes (Burkert 1985, III.3.2; Ruck and Staples 1994 p 132[13]) or the Paniskoi. Kerenyi (1951 p 174) notes from scholia that Aeschylus in Rhesus distinguished between two Pans, one the son of Zeus and twin of Arcas, and one a son of Kronos. "In the retinue of Dionysos, or in depictions of wild landscapes, there appeared not only a great Pan, but also little Pans, Paniskoi, who played the same part as the Satyrs". [edit] Worship The worship of Pan began in Arcadia which was always the principal seat of his worship. Arcadia was a district of mountain people whom other Greeks disdained. Arcadian hunters used to scourge the statue of the god if they had been disappointed in the chase (Theocritus. vii. 107). Pan inspired sudden fear in lonely places, Panic (panikon deima). Following the Titans' assault on Olympus, Pan claimed credit for the victory of the gods because he had inspired disorder and fear in the attackers resulting in the word 'panic' to describe these emotions. Of course, Pan was later known for his music, capable of arousing inspiration, sexuality, or panic, depending on his intentions. In the Battle of Marathon (490 BC), it is said that Pan favored the Athenians and so inspired panic in the hearts of their enemies, the Persians. [edit] Mythology Greek deities series Primordial deities Titans and Olympians Aquatic deities Chthonic deities Personified concepts Other deities Asclepius, god of medicine Leto, mother of Apollo and Artemis Pan, shepherd god Nymphs Anatolian deities The goat-god Aegipan was nurtured by Amalthea with the infant Zeus in Crete. In Zeus' battle with Typhon, Aegipan and Hermes stole back Zeus' "sinews" that Typhon had hidden away in the Corycian Cave.[14] Pan aided his foster-brother in the battle with the Titans by blowing his conch-horn and scattering them in terror. According to some traditions, Aegipan was the son of Pan, rather than his father. One of the famous myths of Pan involves the origin of his pan flute, fashioned from lengths of hollow reed. Syrinx was a lovely water-nymph of Arcadia, daughter of Landon, the river-god. As she was returning from the hunt one day, Pan met her. To escape from his importunities, the fair nymph ran away and didn't stop to hear his compliments. He pursued from Mount Lycaeum until she came to her sisters who immediately changed her into a reed. When the air blew through the reeds, it produced a plaintive melody. The god, still infatuated, took some of the reeds, because he could not identify which reed she became, and cut seven pieces (or according to some versions, nine), joined them side by side in gradually decreasing lengths, and formed the musical instrument bearing the name of his beloved Syrinx. Henceforth Pan was seldom seen without it. Echo was a nymph who was a great singer and dancer and scorned the love of any man. This angered Pan, a lecherous god, and he instructed his followers to kill her. Echo was torn to pieces and spread all over earth. The goddess of the earth, Gaia, received the pieces of Echo, whose voice remains repeating the last words of others. In some versions, Echo and Pan first had one child: Iambe. Pan also loved a nymph named Pitys, who was turned into a pine tree to escape him. [edit] Erotic aspects Pan is famous for his sexual powers, and is often depicted with an erect phallus. Diogenes of Sinope, speaking in jest, related a myth of Pan learning masturbation from his father, Hermes, and teaching the habit to shepherds.[15] He was believed by the Greeks to have plied his charms primarily on maidens and shepherds. Though he failed with Syrinx and Pitys, Pan didn't fail with the Maenads?he had every one of them, in one orgiastic riot or another. To effect this, Pan was sometimes multiplied into a whole tribe of Panes. Pan's greatest conquest was that of the moon goddess Selene. He accomplished this by wrapping himself in a sheepskin[16] to hide his hairy black goat form, and drew her down from the sky into the forest where he seduced her. [edit] Pan and music Once Pan had the audacity to compare his music with that of Apollo, and to challenge Apollo, the god of the lyre, to a trial of skill. Tmolus, the mountain-god, was chosen to umpire. Pan blew on his pipes, and with his rustic melody gave great satisfaction to himself and his faithful follower, Midas, who happened to be present. Then Apollo struck the strings of his lyre. Tmolus at once awarded the victory to Apollo, and all but Midas agreed with the judgement. He dissented, and questioned the justice of the award. Apollo would not suffer such a depraved pair of ears any longer, and turned Midas' ears into those of a donkey. In another version of the myth the first round of the contest was a tie so they were forced to go to a second round. In this round, Apollo demanded that they play standing on their heads. Apollo, playing on the lyre, was unaffected, however Pan's pipe couldn't be played while upsidedown, so Apollo won the contest. [edit] Capricornus The constellation Capricornus is often depicted as a sea-goat, a goat with a fish's tail: see Aigaion or Briareos, one of the Hecatonchires. One myth[citation needed] that would seem to be invented to justify a connection of Pan with Capricorn says that when Aegipan, that is Pan in his goat-god aspect,[16] was attacked by the monster Typhon, he dove into the Nile; the parts above the water remained a goat, but those under the water transformed into a fish. [edit] Epithets Aegocerus "goat-horned" was an epithet of Pan descriptive of his figure with the horns of a goat.[17] [edit] The Death of Pan Pan, Mikhail Vrubel 1900.According to the Greek historian Plutarch (in "The Obsolescence of Oracles" (Moralia, Book 5:17)), Pan is the only Greek god who is dead. During the reign of Tiberius (A.D. 14-37), the news of Pan's death came to one Thamus, a sailor on his way to Italy by way of the island of Paxi. A divine voice hailed him across the salt water, "Thamus, are you there? When you reach Palodes,[18] take care to proclaim that the great god Pan is dead." Which Thamus did, and the news was greeted from shore with groans and laments. Robert Graves (The Greek Myths) suggested that the Egyptian Thamus apparently misheard Thamus Pan-megas Tethnece 'the all-great Tammuz is dead' for 'Thamus, Great Pan is dead!' Certainly, when Pausanias toured Greece about a century after Plutarch, he found Pan's shrines, sacred caves and sacred mountains still very much frequented. [edit] Influence [edit] Satan Pan's image lived on in medieval depictions of Satan. The Devil was often shown to have the horns and lower body of a goat, as well as lust being his prime power. A common superstition in the Middle Ages was that goats whispered lewd sentences in the ears of the saints. The origin of this belief was probably the behavior of the buck in rut, the very epitome of lust. The Black Mass, a probably-mythological "Satanic mass," was said to involve a black goat, the form in which Satan supposedly manifested himself for worship. Pan has had a lingering connection with Satanism and Pagan religions, even into modern times. The upside down pentagram, a symbol used in Satanism, is said to be shaped like a goat's head. The "Baphomet of Mendes" refers to a Satanic goat-like figure from 19th century occultism. [edit] Revivalist imagery Pan depicted on the cover of The Wind in the WillowsIn the late 18th century, interest in Pan revived among liberal scholars. Richard Payne Knight discussed Pan in his book on the Worship of Priapus as a symbol of creation expressed through sexuality. "Pan is represented pouring water upon the organ of generation; that is, invigorating the active creative power by the prolific element."[19] In the English town of Painswick in Gloucestershire, a group of 18th century gentry, led by Benjamin Hyett, organised an annual procession dedicated to Pan, during which a statue of the deity was held aloft, and people shouted 'Highgates! Highgates!". Hyett also erected temples and follies to Pan in the gardens of his house and a "Pan's lodge", located over Painswick Valley. The tradition died out in the 1830s, but was revived in 1885 by the new vicar, W.H. Seddon, who mistakenly believed that the festival had been ancient in origin. One of Seddon's successors, however, was less appreciative of the pagan festival and put an end to it in 1950, when he had Pan's statue buried.[20] In the late nineteenth century Pan became an increasingly common figure in literature and art. Patricia Merivale states that between 1890 and 1926 there was an "astonishing resurgence of interest in the Pan motif".[21] He appears in poetry, in novels and childrens' books such as The Wind in the Willows during this period. [edit] Neopaganism In 1933, the Egyptologist Margaret Murray published the book, The God of the Witches, in which she theorised that Pan was merely one form of a horned god who was worshipped across Europe by a witch-cult.[22] This theory influenced the Neopagan notion of the Horned God, as an archetype of male virility and sexuality. In Wicca, the archetype of the Horned God is highly important, as represented by such deities as the Celtic Cernunnos, Indian Pashupati and Pan. A modern account of several purported meetings with Pan is given by Robert Ogilvie Crombie (born Edinburgh, lived 1899-1975), in the books "The Findhorn Garden" (Harper & Row, 1975) and "The Magic Of Findhorn" (Harper & Row, 1975). Crombie claimed to have met Pan many times at various locations including Edinburgh, on the island of Iona and at the Findhorn Foundation, all in Scotland. [edit] Notes ^ Edwin L. Brown, "The Lycidas of Theocritus Idyll 7", Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, 1981:59-100. ^ Edwin L. Brown, "The Divine Name 'Pan'" Transactions of the American Philological Association 107 (1977:57-61), notes (p. 59) that the first insciption mentioning Pan is a 6th-century dedication to ?????, a "still uncontracted" form. ^ Alfred Wagner, Das historische Drama der Griechen, M?nster 1878, p. 78. ^ The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft, Ronald Hutton, chapter 3 ^ Pindar refers to maidens worshipping Cybele and Pan near the poet's house. ^ W.H. Roscher, Ausf?hrlichesLexikon der Gr. u. R?m. Mythologie (1909:1379f) finds eighteen variants for Pan's genealogy. ^ This is not the Penelope who was the wife of Odysseus. ^ Plato, Cratylus 400d & 408b; Plato's etymologies are a rhetorical device that serve his immediate philosophical purpose. ^ H. Collitz, "Wodan, Hermes und Pushan," Festskrift till?gnad Hugo Pipping p? hans sextio?rsdag den 5 november 1924 1924, pp 574-587. ^ Eliade, Mircea (1982) A History of Religious Ideas Vol. 2. University of Chicago Press. ? 205. ^ In the second-century "Hieronyman Theogony', which harmonized Orphic themes from the theogony of Protogonos with Stoicism, he is Protogonos, Phanes, Zeus and Pan; in the Orphic Rhapsodies he is additionally called Metis, Eros, Erikepaios and Bromios. The inclusion of Pan seems to be a Hellenic syncretization (West, M. L. (1983) The Orphic Poems. Oxford:Oxford University Press. p. 205). ^ "they called the boy Pan because he delighted all their hearts". The Loeb Classical Library editor, Hugh G. Evelyn-White, notes "The name Pan is here derived from pantes 'all'.? ^ Pan "even boasted that he had slept with every maenad that ever was?to facilitate that extraordinary feat, he could be multiplied into a whole brotherhood of Panes.") ^ "In this Hermes is clearly out of place. He was one of the youngest sons of Zeus and was brought into the story only because... he was a master-thief. The real participant in the story was Aigipan: the god Pan, that is to say. in his quality of a goat (aix). (Kerenyi 1951:28). Kerenyi points out that Python of Delphi had a son Aix (Plutarch, Moralia 293c) and detects a note of kinship betrayal. ^ Dio Chrysostom, Discourses, vi. 20. ^ a b Kerenyi 1951:95. ^ Lucan, ix. 536; Lucretius, v. 614. ^ "Where or what was Palodes?". ^ Payne-Knight, R. Discourse on the Worship of Priapus, 1786, p.73 ^ The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft, Ronald Hutton, page 161-162 ^ Patricia Merivale, Pan the Goat-God: his Myth in Modern Times, Harvard University Press, 1969, p.vii. ^ The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft, Ronald Hutton, page 199 [edit] References Burkert, Walter (1985). Greek Religion. Harvard University Press. Kerenyi, Karl (1951). The Gods of the Greeks. Thames & Hudson. Ruck, Carl A.P.; Danny Staples (1994). The World of Classical Myth. Carolina Academic Press. ISBN 0-89089-575-9. Borgeaud, Philippe (1979). Recherches sur le Dieu Pan. Geneva University. Vinci, Leo (1993), Pan: Great God Of Nature, Neptune Press, London Malini, Roberto (1998), Pan dio della selva, Edizioni dell'Ambrosino, Milano Diotima, (2007), ' 'The Goat Foot God, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, [edit] See also Pan in popular culture Pangu Puck Erotic art in Pompeii Faun Satyr Kokopelli Daveli's Cave Syrinx [edit] External links From cb31450 at gmail.com Wed Jul 15 11:08:48 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:08:48 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Partial list of famous musical artists who died as young or younger than Michael Jackson In-Reply-To: <5c2e4d230907150954j3aeeb5c3y1f885ba4337b73e2@mail.gmail.com> References: <5c2e4d230907100708u4429c293w1ac312c13441a993@mail.gmail.com> <5c2e4d230907150831q1f7f85f8o5f49c299a0229986@mail.gmail.com> <7372F6CF-3B53-47EB-A7B1-0076041BEAF8@pipeline.com> <5c2e4d230907150954j3aeeb5c3y1f885ba4337b73e2@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907151008n44d51d74uc63d14290a8f6f4e@mail.gmail.com> As far as the horror story/movie genre, Michael Pan Jackson's greatest album was _Thriller_, in the video of which he transforms from a teenage boy dating a girl into a Wherewolf stalking her, thereby weaving in the classic myth of "The Beauty and the Beast". He features the voice of the classic horror film actor Vincent Price. Thriller (album) From bogus@does.not.exist.com Mon Jul 6 09:31:04 2009 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:31:04 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: Thriller Studio album by Michael Jackson Released November 30, 1982 Recorded April 14 =E2=80=93 November 8, 1982 Westlake Recording Studios (Los Angeles, California) Genre R&B, dance, dance-pop, pop/rock, funk[1] Length 42:19 Label Epic EK-38112 Producer Michael Jackson Quincy Jones Professional reviews Allmusic [1] Robert Christgau (A=E2=88=92)[2] Melody Maker (unfavorable) 1982[3] Q [4] Rolling Stone [5] Slant [6] Stylus (favorable)[7] The New York Times (favorable)[8] Michael Jackson chronology Off the Wall (1979) Thriller (1982) Bad (1987) Singles from Thriller "The Girl Is Mine" Released: October 18, 1982 "Billie Jean" Released: January 3, 1983 "Beat It" Released: February 14, 1983 "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" Released: May 8, 1983 "Human Nature" Released: July 3, 1983 "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" Released: September 19, 1983 "Thriller" Released: January 23, 1984 2001 Special Edition Thriller is the sixth studio album by American recording artist Michael Jackson. The album was released on November 30, 1982 by Epic Records as the follow-up to Jackson's critically and commercially successful 1979 album Off the Wall. Thriller explores similar genres to those of Off the Wall, including funk, disco, soul, soft rock, R&B, and pop. Thriller's lyrics deal with themes including paranoia and the supernatural. With a production budget of $750,000, recording sessions took place between April and November 1982 at Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California.[9] Assisted by producer Quincy Jones, Jackson wrote four of Thriller's nine tracks. Following the release of the album's first single "The Girl Is Mine", some observers assumed Thriller would only be a minor hit record. With the release of the second single "Billie Jean", the album topped the charts in many countries. At its peak, the album was selling a million copies a week worldwide. In just over a year, Thriller became=E2=80=94and currently remains=E2=80=94the best-selling album of all time. Sales are estimated to = be over 50 million copies sold worldwide. Seven of the album's nine songs were released as singles, and all reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album won a record-breaking eight Grammy Awards at the 1984 Grammys. Thriller cemented Jackson's status as one of the predominant pop stars of the late 20th century, and enabled him to break down racial barriers via his appearances on MTV and meetings with President Ronald Reagan at the White House. The album was one of the first to use music videos as successful promotional tools=E2=80=94the videos for "Thriller", "Billie Jean" and "Beat It" all received regular rotation on MTV. In 2001, a special edition issue of the album was released, which contains additional audio interviews, a demo recording and the song "Someone In the Dark", which was a Grammy-winning track from the E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial storybook.[10] In 2008, the album was reissued again as Thriller 25, containing re-mixes that feature contemporary artists, a previously unreleased song and a DVD. Thriller ranked number 20 on Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list in 2003, and was listed by the National Association of Recording Merchandisers at number three in its Definitive 200 Albums of All Time. Thriller was preserved by the Library of Congress to the National Recording Registry, as it was deemed "culturally significant". Contents [hide] 1 Background 2 Recording 3 Music 4 Release and reception 5 Influence and legacy 5.1 Music industry 5.2 Music videos and racial equality 5.3 Contemporary appeal 6 Reissues and catalog sales 7 Track listing 8 Personnel 9 See also 10 References 11 Notes [edit] Background Jackson's previous album Off the Wall (1979) was a critical success and received generally favorable reviews.[11][12] It was also a commercial success, eventually selling over 20 million copies worldwide.[13] The years between Off the Wall and Thriller were a transitional period for the singer, a time of increasing independence and struggles with his family. In 1973, Jackson's father Joseph began a secret affair with a woman 20 years younger than he; the couple had a child in secret. In 1980, Joseph told his family of the affair and child. Michael, already angry with his father over his childhood abuse, felt so betrayed that he fell out with Joseph for many years.[14] The period saw the singer become deeply unhappy; Jackson explained, "Even at home, I'm lonely. I sit in my room sometimes and cry. It's so hard to make friends ... I sometimes walk around the neighborhood at night, just hoping to find someone to talk to. But I just end up coming home."[15] When Jackson turned 21 in August 1979, he fired Joseph as his manager and replaced him with John Branca.[16] Jackson confided in Branca that he wanted to be "the biggest star in show business" and "the wealthiest". The singer was upset about what he perceived to be the under-performance of Off the Wall, stating, "It was totally unfair that it didn't get Record of the Year and it can never happen again."[17] He also felt undervalued by the music industry; in 1980 when Jackson asked the publicist of Rolling Stone if they would be interested in doing a cover story on him, the publicist declined, to which Jackson responded, "I've been told over and over that black people on the cover of magazines doesn't sell copies ... Just wait. Someday those magazines are going to be begging me for an interview. Maybe I'll give them one. And maybe I won't."[17] [edit] Recording Jackson reunited with Off the Wall producer Quincy Jones to record his sixth studio album. The pair worked together on 300 songs, nine of which were eventually included.[18] Thriller was recorded between April and November 1982, with a production budget of $750,000. Several members of the band Toto were also involved in the album's recording and production.[18] Jackson wrote four songs for the record: "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", "The Girl Is Mine" (with Paul McCartney), "Beat It" and "Billie Jean".[19] Unlike many artists, Jackson did not write these songs on paper. Instead, he would dictate into a sound recorder; when recording he would sing from memory.[20][21] The relationship between Jackson and Jones became strained during the album's recording. Jackson spent much of his time rehearsing dance steps alone.[21] When the album's nine songs were completed, both Jones and Jackson were unhappy with the result and remixed every song, spending a week on each.[21] Jones believed that "Billie Jean" was not strong enough to be included on the record, but Jackson disagreed and kept it. Jones told Jackson that Thriller would be unlikely to sell successfully like Off the Wall had, because the market had since weakened. In response, Jackson threatened to cancel the album's release.[18] Jackson was inspired to create an album where "every song was a killer," as with Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker, and developed Thriller on that concept.[22][23] Jones and songwriter Rod Temperton gave detailed accounts of what occurred for the 2001 reissue of the album. Jones discussed "Billie Jean" and why it was so personal to Jackson, who struggled to deal with a number of obsessed fans. Jones wanted the long introduction on the song to be shortened; however, Jackson insisted that it remain because it made him want to dance.[19] The ongoing backlash against disco made it necessary to move in a different musical direction from the disco-heavy Off the Wall.[23] Jones and Jackson were determined to make a rock song that would appeal to all tastes and spent weeks looking for a suitable guitarist for the song "Beat It", a song Jackson wrote and played drums on. Eventually, they found Eddie Van Halen of the rock band Van Halen.[19][21] When Rod Temperton wrote the song "Thriller", he originally wanted to call it "Starlight" or "Midnight Man" but settled on "Thriller" because he felt the name had merchandising potential.[21] Always wanting a notable person to recite the closing lyrics, Temperton brought in actor Vincent Price, who completed his part in just two takes. Temperton wrote the spoken portion in a taxi on the way to the recording studio. Jones and Temperton said that some recordings were left off the final cut because they did not have the "edginess" of other album tracks.[19] [edit] Music "Thriller" Excerpt of the album's title track, and one of Jackson's signature pieces, "Thriller", released as a single in 1984. Jackson utilizes cinematic sound effects, horror film motifs and vocal trickery to convey a sense of danger in his work.[24] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------= ----- "Human Nature" "Human Nature", a top ten hit single in the US. It is the most notable ballad on the album, praised for its moody, introspective lyrics and sound. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------= ----- "Billie Jean" "Billie Jean", a number one hit single in many countries. The song was written and co-produced by Jackson. The track mixed uptempo funk and disco with the somber themes of paranoia and obsession. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------= ----- Problems listening to these files? See media help. According to Steve Huey of Allmusic, Thriller refined the strengths of Jackson's previous album Off the Wall; the dance and rock tracks were more aggressive, while the pop tunes and ballads were softer and more soulful.[25] Notable tracks include the ballads "The Lady in My Life", "Human Nature", and "The Girl Is Mine"; the funk pieces "Billie Jean" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"; and the disco set "Baby Be Mine" and "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)".[1][5][6][25] "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" was written a few years prior to 1982 and has a similar sound to the material on Off The Wall. The song is accompanied by a bass and percussion background and the song's centerpiece, a climaxing Swahili chant, gave the song an international flavor.[26] "The Girl Is Mine" tells of two friends' fight over a woman, arguing over who loves her more and concludes with a spoken rap.[21][26] Despite the light pop flavor of these two records, Thriller, more so than Off the Wall, displayed foreshadowings of the contradictory thematic elements that would come to characterize Jackson's later work.[27] With Thriller, Jackson would begin his association with the subliminal theme of paranoia and darker imagery.[5] This is evident on the songs "Billie Jean", "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" and "Thriller".[1] In "Billie Jean", Jackson sings about an obsessive fan who alleges he has fathered a child of hers; in "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" he argues against gossips and the media.[5][25] In the former song, Jones had Jackson sing vocal overdubs through a six-foot-long cardboard tube, and brought in jazz saxophonist Tom Scott to play a rare instrument, the lyricon, a wind-controlled analog synthesizer. Bassist Louis Johnson ran through his part on a Yamaha bass guitar. The song opens with a long bass-and-drums introduction.[28] In the song "Thriller", sound effects such as creaking door, thunder, feet walking on wooden planks, winds and howling dogs can be heard.[21] The anti-gang-violence "Beat It" became a homage to West Side Story, and was Jackson's first successful rock cross-over piece.[25][29] Jackson later said of "Beat It", "the point is no one has to be the tough guy, you can walk away from a fight and still be a man. You don't have to die to prove you're a man".[26] "Human Nature" is moody and introspective, as conveyed in lyrics such as, "Looking out, across the morning, the City's heart begins to beat, reaching out, I touch her shoulder, I'm dreaming of the street".[26] By the late 1970s, Jackson's abilities as a vocalist were well regarded; Allmusic described him as a "blindingly gifted vocalist".[11] Rolling Stone compared his vocals to the "breathless, dreamy stutter" of Stevie Wonder. Their analysis was also that "Jackson's feathery-timbred tenor is extraordinary beautiful. It slides smoothly into a startling falsetto that's used very daringly".[12] With the release of Thriller, Jackson could sing low=E2=80=94down to a basso low C=E2=80=94but he preferred to sing higher b= ecause pop tenors have more range to create style.[30] Rolling Stone were of the opinion that Jackson was now singing in a "fully adult voice" that was "tinged by sadness".[5] "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)", credited to James Ingram and Quincy Jones, and "Lady in My Life" by Rod Temperton, both gave the album a stronger R&B direction; the latter song was described as "the closest Jackson has come to crooning a sexy, soulful ballad after his Motown years" by Taraborrelli.[26] The singer had already adopted a "vocal hiccup" which he continued to implement in Thriller. The purpose of the hiccup=E2=80=94somewhat like a gulping for air= or gasping=E2=80=94is to help promote a certain emotion; be it excitement, sadness or fear.[31] [edit] Release and reception Thriller was released on November 30, 1982, and sold one million copies worldwide per week at its peak.[30] Seven singles were released from the album, including "The Girl Is Mine"=E2=80=94which was seen as a po= or choice for the lead release and led some to believe that the album would be a disappointment, and to suggestions that Jackson was bowing to a white audience.[26] "The Girl Is Mine" was followed by the hit single "Billie Jean", which made Thriller a chart-topper.[32][33] Success continued with the single "Beat It", which featured guitarists Eddie Van Halen and Steve Lukather.[34] The title track "Thriller" was released as a single and also became a hit internationally.[26] Thriller was mostly well received by critics. A four-star Rolling Stone review by Christopher Connelly described it as "a zesty LP" with a "harrowing, dark message". Despite the positive response, the title track came under strong criticism. Rolling Stone expressed a negative sentiment, criticizing its "degenerat[ion] into silly camp". The magazine expressed confusion at the use of Vincent Price over Count Floyd for the track's concluding rap.[5] The New York Times gave a positive review of the album, and dedicated a large amount of its coverage to the song "Human Nature". They described it as the most "striking" song on the record, and wrote, "this is a haunting, brooding ballad by Steve Porcaro and John Bettis with an irresistible chorus and it should be an enormous hit". Concluding their review The New York Times added; "there are other hits here, too, lots of them. Best of all, with a pervasive confidence infusing the album as a whole, Thriller suggests that Mr. Jackson's evolution as an artist is far from finished".[8] Robert Christgau published a positive (A=E2=88=92) graded overview of the album a few days before its release. He acknowledged that there were "fillers" on the record but still labeled it "almost classic". He expressed the opinion that "Beat It" was the album's best track, calling it "the triumph and the thriller", but criticized "The Girl Is Mine" as "Michael's worst idea since 'Ben'". He was of the opinion that the collaboration did not work well, but still praised it for "getting interracial love on the radio".[2] A year after the album's release, Time summed up the three main singles from the album, saying, "The pulse of America and much of the rest of the world moves irregularly, beating in time to the tough strut of "Billie Jean", the asphalt aria of "Beat It", the supremely cool chills of "Thriller".[30] Conversely, in a Melody Maker review, Paolo Hewitt stated "[t]his is not a good LP"; in his opinion there were only "two songs worthy of mention". "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" was praised as an "exciting", "uptempo electro-funk song", as was "Billie Jean". Hewitt's stance was that as a whole, the album could only be described as "bland", particularly the closing tracks. He summed up: "Jackson seems to have lost his talent for turning gross into gold".[3] The album won Jackson a record-breaking seven Grammy Awards in 1984, including Album of the Year. The eighth Grammy went to Bruce Swedien.[35][36] That same year, Jackson won eight American Music Awards, the Special Award of Merit and three MTV Video Music Awards.[37] Thriller was recognized as the world's best-selling album on February 7, 1984, when it was inducted into the Guinness Book of World Records.[38] It is one of only three albums to remain in the top ten of the Billboard 200 for a full year, and spent 37 weeks at number one out of the 80 consecutive weeks it was in the top ten. The album was also the first of three to have seven Billboard Hot 100 top ten singles, and was the only album to be the best-seller of two years (1983=E2=80=931984) in the US.[39][40] On March 6, 2009 Thriller was certified 28x Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, for shipments of at least 28 million copies in the US giving it Double Diamond Award status there.[41][42] The album topped the charts in many countries, sold 3.7 million copies in the UK,[42][43] 2.5 million in Japan[44] and went 14x Platinum in Australia.[45] Still popular today, Thriller sells an estimated 130,000 copies in the US per year; it reached number two in the US Catalog charts in February 2003 and number 39 in the UK in March 2007.[37] The album is cited as having sold between 47 and 109 million copies worldwide; the Guinness Book of World Records lists Thriller as having sold 65 million copies as of 2007.[46][47][48][49][50] [edit] Influence and legacy [edit] Music industry Blender described Jackson as the "late twentieth century pre-eminent pop icon", while The New York Times gave the opinion that he was a "musical phenomenon", and that "in the world of pop music, there is Michael Jackson and there is everybody else".[28][51] Jackson changed the way the industry functioned: both as an artistic persona, and as a financial, profitable entity. His attorney John Branca observed that Jackson achieved the highest royalty rate in the music industry to that point: approximately $2 for each album sold. As a result, Jackson earned record-breaking profits from compact disc sales, and from the sale of copies of the documentary, The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller, produced by Jackson and John Landis. Funded by MTV, the film sold over 350,000 copies in its first few months. In a market then driven by singles, Thriller raised the significance of albums, yet its multiple hit singles changed perceived notions as to the number of successful singles that could be taken from an individual album.[52] The era saw the arrival of novelties like the Michael Jackson doll, that appeared in stores in May 1984 at a price of $12.[30] Thriller retains a position in American culture; biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli explains, "At some point, Thriller stopped selling like a leisure item=E2=80=94like a magazine, a toy, tickets to a hit movie=E2=80= =94and started selling like a household staple".[53] At the time of the album's release, a press statement from Gil Friesen, the then President of A&M Records, read that, "The whole industry has a stake in this success".[30] Time magazine speculated that "the fallout from Thriller has given the [music] business its best years since the heady days of 1978, when it had an estimated total domestic revenue of $4.1 billion".[30] Time summed up Thriller's impact as a "restoration of confidence" for an industry bordering on "the ruins of punk and the chic regions of synthesizer pop". The publication described Jackson's influence at that point as, "Star of records, radio, rock video. A one-man rescue team for the music business. A songwriter who sets the beat for a decade. A dancer with the fanciest feet on the street. A singer who cuts across all boundaries of taste and style and color too".[30] [edit] Music videos and racial equality Before the success of Thriller, many felt Jackson had struggled to get MTV airing because he was black.[28] In an effort to attain air time for Jackson, CBS Records President Walter Yetnikoff pressured MTV and declared, "I'm not going to give you any more videos and I'm going to go public and fucking tell them about the fact you don't want to play music by a black guy".[28] His position persuaded MTV to begin airing "Billie Jean" and later "Beat It", which led to a long partnership and later helped other black music artists to gain mainstream recognition.[54] MTV deny claims of racism in their broadcasting.[55] The popularity of his videos, such as "Beat It" and "Billie Jean", helped to place the young channel "on the map", and MTV's focus shifted in favor of pop and R&B.[54][56] Jackson in the revolutionary Thriller videoJackson transformed the medium of music video into an art form and promotional tool through the use of complex story lines, dance routines, special effects and cameo appearances by well known personalities.[25] When the 14-minute-long Thriller video aired, MTV ran it twice an hour to meet demand.[57] The short film marked an increase in scale for music videos and has been routinely named the best music video ever.[52] The popularity of the video sent the album back to number one in the album chart, but Jackson's label did not support the release of the third music video from the album. They were already pleased with its success, so Jackson convinced MTV to fund the project.[21][57] Author, music critic and journalist Nelson George wrote in 2004, "It's difficult to hear the songs from Thriller and disengage them from the videos. For most of us the images define the songs. In fact it could be argued that Michael is the first artist of the MTV age to have an entire album so intimately connected in the public imagination with its imagery".[24] Short films like Thriller largely remained unique to Jackson, while the group dance sequence in "Beat It" has been frequently imitated.[19] The choreography in Thriller has become a part of global pop culture, replicated everywhere from Bollywood to prisons in the Philippines.[58][59] For a black artist in the 1980s to that point, Jackson's success was unprecedented. According to The Washington Post, Thriller paved the way for other African-American artists such as Prince.[60] "The Girl Is Mine" was credited for getting interracial love on the radio.[61] Time noted, "Jackson is the biggest thing since The Beatles. He is the hottest single phenomenon since Elvis Presley. He just may be the most popular black singer ever".[30] [edit] Contemporary appeal A Michael Jackson celebrity impersonator for the 25th anniversary of the album Thriller at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival with performers from Step It Up and Dance.Today, the album is still viewed in a positive light by critics some two decades later. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic gave the album the maximum five stars, and wrote that the record had something to interest everyone. He believed it showcased harder funk and hard rock while remaining "undeniably fun". He went on to compliment "Billie Jean" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" and said, "The record's two best songs: 'Billie Jean, ...and the delirious 'Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'', the freshest funk on the album [but] the most claustrophobic, scariest track Jackson ever recorded." Erlewine gave the opinion that it was an improvement on the artist's previous album, although Allmusic was critical of the title track, describing it as "ridiculous" and as having the effect of "arriving in the middle of the record and sucking out its momentum".[1] Slant Magazine gave the album five stars and, like the Allmusic review and the original Rolling Stone review, paid compliment to the lyrics of "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'".[6] The author Nelson George wrote that Jackson "has educated R. Kelly, Usher, Justin Timberlake and countless others with Thriller as a textbook".[62] As a sign of the album's longevity, in 2003 Thriller was ranked at number 20 on the Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, and was listed by the National Association of Recording Merchandisers at number three of the Definitive 200 Albums of All Time.[63][64] In 2008, 25 years after its release, the record was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and, a few weeks later, was among 25 recordings preserved by the Library of Congress to the National Recording Registry as "culturally significant".[65][66] In 2009, music critics for MTV Base and VH1 both listed Thriller as the best album released since 1981.[67] Thriller, along with other critic favorites were then polled by the public. 40,000 people found Thriller to be the Best Album of all time by MTV Generation, gaining a third of all votes.[67][68] [edit] Reissues and catalog sales Thriller was reissued in 2001 in an expanded set titled Thriller: Special Edition. The original tracks were remastered, and the album included a new booklet and bonus material, including the songs "Someone In the Dark", "Carousel", and Jackson's original "Billie Jean" demo, as well as audio interviews with Jones and Temperton discussing the recording of the album.[19][69] Sony also hired sound engineer and mixer Mick Guzauski [70][71] to work with Jackson on creating 5.1-channel surround sound mixes of Thriller, as well as all his other albums, for release on the then-new Super Audio CD format. Despite numerous retries, the artist never approved any of the mixes.[72] Consequently, Thriller was issued on SACD with the stereo mix only. In February 2008, Epic Records released Thriller 25; Jackson served as executive producer.[42] Thriller 25 appeared on CD, USB and vinyl with seven bonus tracks, a new song called "For All Time", Vincent Price's voice-over, and five re-mixes featuring American artists Fergie, will.i.am, Kanye West, and Akon.[42][73][74] It also included a DVD featuring three music videos, the Motown 25 "Billie Jean" performance, and a booklet with a message from Jackson.[42] The ballad "For All Time" supposedly dates from 1982, but is often credited as being from Dangerous sessions.[75] Two singles were released from the reissue: "The Girl Is Mine 2008" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' 2008". Thriller 25 was a commercial success and did particularly well as a reissue. It peaked at number one in eight countries and Europe. It peaked at number two in the US, number three in the UK and reached the top 10 in over 30 national charts. It was certified Gold in 11 countries including the UK, received a 2x Gold certification in France and received platinum certification in Poland.[76][77][78] In the United States, Thriller 25 was the second best-selling album of its release week, selling one hundred and sixty six thousand copies, just fourteen thousand short of reaching the number one position. It was ineligible for the Billboard 200 chart as a re-release but entered the Pop Catalog Charts at number one (where it stayed for ten non-consecutive weeks),[79] with the best sales on that chart since December, 1996.[80][81][82] With the arrival of Halloween that November, Thriller 25 spent an eleventh non-consecutive week atop the US catalog chart. This brought US sales of the album to 688,000 copies, making it the best selling catalog album of 2008.[83] This was Jackson's best launch since Invincible in 2001, selling three million copies worldwide in 12 weeks.[84] After Jackson's death in June 2009, Thriller set additional records. It sold more than 100,000 copies, placing it at number two on the Top Pop Catalog Albums chart. Songs from Thriller also helped Jackson become the first artist to sell more than one million song downloads in a week.[85] [edit] Track listing All songs written and composed by Michael Jackson, except where noted. # Title Length 1. "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" 6:02 2. "Baby Be Mine" (Rod Temperton) 4:20 3. "The Girl Is Mine" (with Paul McCartney) 3:42 4. "Thriller" (Temperton) 5:57 5. "Beat It" 4:17 6. "Billie Jean" 4:54 7. "Human Nature" (John Bettis, Steve Porcaro) 4:05 8. "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" (James Ingram, Quincy Jones) 3:58 9. "The Lady in My Life" (Temperton) 4:59 2001 Special Edition # Title Length 10. "Interview with Quincy Jones #1" 2:18 11. "Someone in the Dark (previously unreleased)" (Bergman/Bergman/Temperton) 4:48 12. "Interview with Quincy Jones #2" 2:04 13. "Billie Jean (Demo) (previously unavailable)" (Jackson) 2:20 14. "Interview with Quincy Jones #3" 3:10 15. "Interview with Rod Temperton #1" 4:02 16. "Interview with Quincy Jones #4" 1:32 17. "Voice-Over Session from "Thriller" (previously unreleased)" (Temperton) 2:52 18. "Interview with Rod Temperton #2" 1:56 19. "Interview with Quincy Jones #5" 2:01 20. "Carousel (previously unreleased)" (Sembello/D. Freeman) 1:49 21. "Interview with Quincy Jones #6" 1:17 [edit] Personnel Brian Barns =E2=80=93 keyboards, synthesizers, programming Michael Boddicker =E2=80=93 keyboards, synthesizers N'dugu Chancler =E2=80=93 drums Paulinho da Costa =E2=80=93 percussion David Foster =E2=80=93 keyboards, synthesizers Gary Grant =E2=80=93 trumpet and fl=C3=BCgelhorn Eddie Van Halen =E2=80=93 guitar ("Beat It") Jerry Hey =E2=80=93 trumpet and fl=C3=BCgelhorn Michael Jackson =E2=80=93 co-producer, lead and backup vocals, drums Paul Jackson =E2=80=93 guitar Louis Johnson =E2=80=93 bass guitar Quincy Jones =E2=80=93 producer Steve Lukather =E2=80=93 guitar, bass guitar Anthony Marinelli =E2=80=93 synthesizer programming Paul McCartney =E2=80=93 vocals ("The Girl Is Mine") David Paich =E2=80=93 keyboards, synthesizers, programming Dean Parks =E2=80=93 guitar Greg Phillinganes =E2=80=93 keyboards, synthesizers, programming Jeff Porcaro =E2=80=93 drums, horn and string arrangements Steve Porcaro =E2=80=93 keyboards, synthesizers, programming Vincent Price - voice-over ("Thriller") Bill Reichenbach =E2=80=93 trombone Bruce Swedien =E2=80=93 recording engineer, mixer Rod Temperton =E2=80=93 keyboards, synthesizers David Williams =E2=80=93 guitar Larry Williams =E2=80=93 saxophone and flute Bill Wolfer =E2=80=93 keyboards, synthesizers [edit] See also List of best-selling albums worldwide List of best-selling albums in the United States [edit] References George, Nelson (2004). Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection booklet. Sony BMG. Taraborrelli, J. Randy (2004). The Magic and the Madness. Terra Alta, WV: Headline. ISBN 0-330-42005-4. [edit] Notes ^ a b c d e Erlewine, Stephen (February 19, 2007). "Thriller Overview". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=3Damg&sql=3DA9kqog44ttvjz. Retrieved on June 15, 2008. ^ a b Christgau, Robert (December 28, 1982). "Christgau's Consumer Guide, Dec 28th, 1982". Robert Christgau.com. http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv12-82.php. Retrieved on July 3, 2008. ^ a b Maker, Melody (1982). "Thriller Review". Uncut Presents NME Originals 80's (2005): 68. ^ "Review: Thriller". Q (January 2000): 138. ^ a b c d e f Connelly, Christopher (January 28, 1983). "Michael Jackson: Thriller". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/michaeljackson/albums/album/303823/revi= ew/6067536/thriller. Retrieved on June 15, 2008. ^ a b c Henderson, Eric (2003). "Michael Jackson: Thriller". Slant Magazine. http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/music_review.asp?ID=3D358. Retrieved on June 15, 2008. ^ Rosenberg, Tal (19 June 2007). "Review: Thriller". Stylus Magazine. http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/diamond/michael-jackson-thriller.htm= . Retrieved on 13 June 2009. ^ a b Rockwell, John (December 19, 1982). "Michael Jackson's Thriller': Superb Job". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=3D9E00E4D71F39F93AA25751C1A9= 64948260. Retrieved on July 3, 2008. ^ artist development ^ "Grammy Award Winners". The Recording Academy. http://www.grammy.com/GRAMMY_Awards/Winners/Results.aspx?title=3D&winner=3D= Michael+Jackson&year=3D0&genreID=3D0&hp=3D1. Retrieved on February 14, 2008. ^ a b Erlewine, Stephen. "Off the Wall Overview". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=3Damg&sql=3DA7cu1z85ajyv6. Retrieved on June 15, 2008. ^ a b Holden, Stephen (November 1, 1979). "Off the Wall: Michael Jackson". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/259585/review/6067502/off_the_wal= l. Retrieved on July 23, 2008. ^ "Michael Jackson: Off the Wall - Classic albums - Music - Virgin media". Virgin Media. http://www.virginmedia.com/music/classicalbums/michaeljackson-offthewall.ph= p. Retrieved on December 12, 2008. ^ Taraborrelli, p. 196 ^ Taraborrelli, p. 206 ^ Taraborrelli, p. 190 ^ a b Taraborrelli, p. 191 ^ a b c Taraborrelli, pp. 220=E2=80=93221 ^ a b c d e f Jackson, Michael. Thriller Special Edition Audio. ^ Taraborrelli, pp. 209=E2=80=93210 ^ a b c d e f g h "Michael Jackson's Monster Smash". The Daily Telegraph. November 25, 2007. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=3D/arts/2007/11/25/sv_thrill= er.xml. Retrieved on April 20, 2008. ^ Ebony Magazine: Michael: 25 Years After Thriller, December 2007, pg. 97= =E2=80=9398 ^ a b Jackson, Michael. Interview with Jesse Jackson. March 2005. ^ a b George, p. 23 ^ a b c d e Huey, Steve. "Michael Jackson - Biography". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=3Damg&sql=3D11:kifuxqe5ldae~T1. Retrieved on November 11, 2006. ^ a b c d e f g Taraborrelli, pp. 223=E2=80=93225 ^ Pareles, Jon (September 1987). "Critic's Notebook; How Good Is Jackson's 'Bad'?". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=3D9B0DE1DC1F38F930A3575AC0A9= 61948260&n=3DTop%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fJ%2fJackson%2c%20M= ichael. Retrieved on April 19, 2007. ^ a b c d "Michael Jackson, "Billy Jean"". Blender. October 2005. http://www.blender.com/guide/articles.aspx?ID=3D1777. Retrieved on April 11, 2007. ^ "Michael Jackson: Biography". The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. 2004. http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/michaeljackson/biography. Retrieved on February 14, 2008. ^ a b c d e f g h Cocks, Jay (March 1984). "Why He's a Thriller". Time. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,950053-1,00.html. Retrieved on March 17, 2007. ^ George, p. 22 ^ "Sold On Song Top 100". British Broadcasting Corporation. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/soldonsong/songlibrary/billiejean.shtml. Retrieved on April 5, 2008. ^ "Sold On Song". British Broadcasting Corporation. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/soldonsong/songlibrary/thriller.shtml. Retrieved on April 5, 2008. ^ "Sessions". Steve Lukather. 2006. http://www.stevelukather.net/Biography.aspx. Retrieved on April 5, 2008. ^ "Grammy for Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones and Bruce Swedien". Grammy. http://www.grammy.com/GRAMMY_Awards/Winners/Results.aspx. Retrieved on February 25, 2009. ^ Guinness World Records (2006). Guinness World Records 2007. New York: Guinness World Records Ltd. ISBN 1-904994-12-1. ^ a b Jackson, Michael. Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection booklet. ^ Taraborrelli, p. 482 (pictures) ^ "The Billboard 200 Albums - 1983". http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/charts/yearend_chart_display.jsp?f=3DThe+Bil= lboard+200&g=3DYear-end+Albums&year=3D1983. 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Retrieved on July 3, 2009. ^ "ARIA Charts-Accreditations-2009 Albums". ARIA. http://aria.com.au/pages/httpwww.aria.com.aupagesARIACharts-Accreditations-= 2009Albums.htm. Retrieved on June 6, 2009. ^ George, p. 53 ^ White, Jim (March 12, 2007). "Michael Jackson's Thriller is old hat". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=3D/opinion/2007/12/03/do0= 302.xml. Retrieved on May 10, 2008. ^ "Michael Jackson Opens Up". CBS Broadcasting Inc. (CBS). November 6, 2007. http://www.showbuzz.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/06/music/main3461884.= shtml??source=3DRSS&attr=3D_3461884. Retrieved on April 5, 2008. ^ Winterman, Denise (November 30, 2007). "Thrills and spills and record breaks". British Broadcasting Corporation. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7117000.stm. Retrieved on April 6, 2008. ^ "Music Icon Quincy Jones Kicks-Off New Series in Tribune Newspapers". PR Newswire. January 16, 2009. http://news.prnewswire.com/ViewContent.aspx?ACCT=3D109&STORY=3D/www/story/0= 1-16-2009/0004956264&EDATE=3D. Retrieved on January 24, 2009. ^ "Michael Jackson At 25: A Musical Phenomenon". The New York Times. January 1984. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=3DF40F10FB3A5= C0C778DDDA80894DC484D81. Retrieved on May 15, 2007. ^ a b "Michael Jackson". VH1. 2007. http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/jackson_michael/bio.jhtml. Retrieved on February 22, 2007. ^ Taraborrelli, p. 226 ^ a b Gundersen, Edna (August 25, 2005). "music videos changing places". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2005-08-25-mtv_x.htm. Retrieved on April 6, 2008. ^ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_14_110/ai_n16807343/ ^ "Why Are Michael Jackson's Fans So Devoted?". ABC News. February 23, 2005. http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/LegalCenter/story?id=3D464753&pag= e=3D1. Retrieved on April 6, 2007. ^ a b Taraborrelli, pp. 270=E2=80=93271 ^ "1500 Prisoners Perform Thriller Dance". The Wrong Advices. July 21, 2007. http://thewrongadvices.com/lazy-monkey/1500-prisoners-perform-thrille= r-dance/. Retrieved on April 5, 2008. ^ "Jacko goes bollywood". TMZ.com. October 3, 2006. http://www.tmz.com/2006/10/03/jacko-goes-bollywood/. Retrieved on April 8, 2008. ^ Harrington, Richard (October 1988). "Prince & Michael Jackson: Two Paths to the Top of Pop". The Washington Post. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/73636369.html?dids=3D7363= 6369:73636369&FMT=3DABS&FMTS=3DABS:FT&date=3DOct+9%2C+1988&author=3DRichard= +Harrington&pub=3DThe+Washington+Post+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&edition=3D&startp= age=3Dg.01&desc=3DPrince+%26+Michael+Jackson%3A+Two+Paths+to+the+Top+of+Pop= . Retrieved on May 21, 2007. ^ Christgau, Robert. "Robert Christgau: Artist 932". Robert Christgau.com. http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=3D932. Retrieved on June 27, 2008. ^ George, p. 24 ^ "20) Thriller". Rolling Stone. November 3, 2003. http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/6598091/20_thriller. Retrieved on April 21, 2008. ^ "Definitive 200". The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. 2007. http://www.rockhall.com/pressroom/definitive-200. Retrieved on April 8, 2008. ^ "2008 Grammy Hall of Fame" (PDF). The Recording Academy. 2008. http://www.grammy.com/PressReleases/443_466_Hall%20of%20Fame%20release%20FI= NAL.pdf. Retrieved on April 5, 2008. ^ "Thriller, Joni Mitchell album make the cut for US recording registry". CBC News. May 14, 2008. http://www.cbc.ca/arts/media/story/2008/05/14/08us-recregistry.html. Retrieved on May 14, 2008. ^ a b "MTV's Greatest Album Ever - The Results". MTV. (April 9, 2009). http://www.mtv.co.uk/entertainment/greatest-album-ever/competition/mtvs-gre= atest-album-ever. Retrieved on April 9, 2008. ^ "Michael Jackson's album Thriller voted best album since 1981". Daily Mirror. (April 9, 2009). http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/news/2009/04/09/michael-jackson-s-album-thri= ller-voted-best-album-since-1981-115875-21265620/. Retrieved on April 9, 2008. ^ Jackson, Michael. Thriller Special Edition booklet. ^ Paul Verna (May 1, 2001). "Interview with Mick Guzauski". Mix Online. http://mixonline.com/mag/audio_mick_guzauski/. Retrieved on July 7, 2009. ^ Kevin Becka (June 1, 2006). ""Mix Interview: Mick Guzauski"". Mix Online. http://mixonline.com/recording/interviews/audio_mick_guzauski_2/. Retrieved on July 7, 2009. ^ Roger Friedman (July 23, 2001). "First Jackson Effort Rejected, New One Not Ready". Fox News. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,30233,00.html. Retrieved on July 7, 2009. ^ "Kanye West, Will.I.Am On New Edition Of Michael Jackson's Thriller". MTV (Music Television). http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1575462/20071130/west_kanye.jhtml. Retrieved on December 7, 2007. ^ "Kanye, Akon Help Jackson Revisit 'Thriller'". Billboard. December 30, 2007. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_conte= nt_id=3D1003679603. Retrieved on June 23, 2008. ^ Paphides, Pete (February 8, 2008). "Michael Jackson: Thriller 25". The Times. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainmen= t/music/cd_reviews/article3327950.ece. Retrieved on April 6, 2008. ^ "Zona Musical" (in Spanish). zm.nu. http://zm.nu/detalle.php?base=3Dzmnews&lay=3Dcgi&form=3Ddetalle&tok4=3Dnoti= ci&tok5=3DNoticias&id=3D17840. Retrieved on April 5, 2008. ^ "Thriller the best selling album of all time". digitalproducer. February 20, 2008. http://digitalproducer.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=3D31= 2105&afterinter=3Dtrue. Retrieved on April 6, 2008. ^ "Michael Jackson Thriller 25". ultratop.be. http://www.ultratop.be/nl/showitem.asp?interpret=3DMichael+Jackson&titel=3D= Thriller+25&cat=3Da. Retrieved on April 6, 2008. ^ Grein, Paul (May 18, 2008). "Diva Smackdown". Yahoo. http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/chart_watch/7658/week-ending-may-18-2008-d= iva-smackdown-ends-with-ingenues-on-rise. Retrieved on May 22, 2008. ^ Caulfield, Keith (February 20, 2008). "Big Grammy Gains For Many; King of Pop Returns". Billboard magazine. http://billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/charts/chart_alert/e3id5388aa9b5= 187ee7e0bde5d5e991eb4b. Retrieved on February 20, 2008. ^ Hasty, Katy (February 20, 2008). "Johnson Remains No. 1; Winehouse, Hancock Soar". Billboard magazine. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=3D10= 03712744. Retrieved on February 20, 2008. ^ "US fans shun CD". BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/entertainment/music/4730407.stm. Retrieved on April 7, 2008. ^ Waddell, Ray (November 7, 2008). "Michael Jackson Eyeing London Run?". Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=3D10= 03888626. Retrieved on November 8, 2008. ^ Friedman, Roger (May 16, 2008). "Jacko: Neverland East in Upstate New York". Fox News. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,356282,00.html#3. Retrieved on May 22, 2008. ^ "Michael Jackson Breaks Billboard Charts Records". Billboard. June 30, 2009. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/michael-jackson-breaks-billbo= ard-charts-1003989310.story. Retrieved on 2009-07-03. Preceded by Business as Usual by Men at Work Flashdance by Various artists Synchronicity by The Police Can't Slow Down by Lionel Richie Billboard 200 number-one album February 26 =E2=80=93 June 24, 1983 July 9=E2=80=9322, 1983 September 10=E2=80=9316, 1983 December 24, 1983 =E2=80=93 April 20, 1984 Succeeded by Flashdance by Various artists Synchronicity by The Police Synchronicity by The Police Footloose by Various artists Preceded by "Lies" / "Beach Culture" by Thompson Twins Billboard Hot Dance Club Play number-one single (all cuts) January 22 =E2=80=93 April 2, 1983 Succeeded by "Jeopardy" by Greg Kihn Band Preceded by Business as Usual by Men at Work War by U2 True by Spandau Ballet Now That's What I Call Music =E2=80=93 Various Artists UK Albums Chart numb= er one album March 5=E2=80=9311, 1983 March 19=E2=80=9325, 1983 May 21, 1983 =E2=80=93 June 24, 1983 January 28, 1984 =E2=80=93 February 3, 1984 Succeeded by War by U2 The Hurting by Tears for Fears Synchronicity by The Police Touch by Eurythmics Preceded by 1983 The Hot Ones by Various artists The Number Ones by The Beatles Thru the Roof '83 by Various artists 1984 Shakin' by Various artists Australian Kent Music Report number-one alb= um June 13=E2=80=9319, 1983 June 27 =E2=80=93 July 10, 1983 January 23 =E2=80=93 March 4, 1984 March 19 =E2=80=93 April 1, 1984 Succeeded by The Number Ones by The Beatles Synchronicity by The Police 1984 Shakin' by Various artists The Swing by INXS [show]v =E2=80=A2 d =E2=80=A2 eMichael Jackson Main articles Health and appearance =C2=B7 Neverland =C2=B7 1993 accusation= s of child sexual abuse =C2=B7 Living with Michael Jackson =C2=B7 People v. Jack= son =C2=B7 Death =C2=B7 Memorial service Studio albums Got to Be There =C2=B7 Ben =C2=B7 Music & Me =C2=B7 Forever, = Michael =C2=B7 Off the Wall =C2=B7 Thriller =C2=B7 Bad =C2=B7 Dangerous =C2=B7 HIStory =C2= =B7 Invincible Compilations The Best of Michael Jackson =C2=B7 Anthology =C2=B7 Number One= s =C2=B7 The Ultimate Collection =C2=B7 The Essential Michael Jackson =C2=B7 Visiona= ry: The Video Singles =C2=B7 King of Pop Other releases One Day in Your Life =C2=B7 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial =C2= =B7 Farewell My Summer Love =C2=B7 Looking Back to Yesterday =C2=B7 Blood on th= e Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix =C2=B7 Thriller 25 =C2=B7 Michael Jackson:= The Stripped Mixes =C2=B7 Hello World: The Motown Solo Collection Concert tours Victory Tour =C2=B7 Bad World Tour =C2=B7 Dangerous World Tou= r =C2=B7 HIStory World Tour =C2=B7 This Is It Videography The Wiz =C2=B7 Thriller =C2=B7 Captain EO =C2=B7 Moonwalker =C2= =B7 "Stark Raving Dad" =C2=B7 Ghosts =C2=B7 Miss Cast Away =C2=B7 Dome Project Video releases Dangerous - The Short Films =C2=B7 Video Greatest Hits - HIStory =C2=B7 HIStory on Film, Volume II =C2=B7 Number Ones =C2=B7 The One= =C2=B7 Live in Bucharest: The Dangerous Tour Assets Northern Songs =C2=B7 Sony/ATV Music Publishing Influence on society Moonwalk =C2=B7 Heal the World Foundation =C2=B7 Thril= l the World =C2=B7 Thriller (viral video) =C2=B7 Michael Jackson tribute concert Related articles Jackson family =C2=B7 The Jackson 5 =C2=B7 Singles discogr= aphy =C2=B7 Awards =C2=B7 Records and achievements =C2=B7 Moon Walk =C2=B7 Bubbl= es =C2=B7 Michael Jackson's Moonwalker =C2=B7 Lisa Marie Presley =C2=B7 Debbie Rowe [show]v =E2=80=A2 d =E2=80=A2 eQuincy Jones Albums The Birth Of A Band, Vol. 1 =C2=B7 The Quintessence =C2=B7 The Great= Wide World Of Quincy Jones: Live! =C2=B7 Big Band Bossa Nova =C2=B7 In The Heat = of The Night =C2=B7 Walking In Space =C2=B7 Gula Matari =C2=B7 Smackwater Jack= =C2=B7 You've Got It Bad, Girl =C2=B7 Body Heat =C2=B7 Mellow Madness =C2=B7 I Heard That= !! =C2=B7 Roots =C2=B7 Sounds...And Stuff Like That!! =C2=B7 The Dude =C2=B7 Back on the Bl= ock =C2=B7 Miles & Quincy Live at Montreux =C2=B7 Q's Jook Joint =C2=B7 Basie And Beyo= nd =C2=B7 The Original Jam Sessions 1969 Compilations Ndeda =C2=B7 The Best =C2=B7 From Q With Love =C2=B7 Q: The Mu= sical Biography Of Quincy Jones Singles "Soul Bossa Nova" Other Thriller =C2=B7 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial =C2=B7 Discography =C2=B7 = Category =C2=B7 Tamia [show]v =E2=80=A2 d =E2=80=A2 eGrammy Award for Album of the Year 1959 1960s The Music from Peter Gunn =C2=B7 Come Dance with Me! =C2=B7 The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart =C2=B7 Judy at Carnegie Hall =C2=B7 The Fir= st Family =C2=B7 The Barbra Streisand Album =C2=B7 Getz/Gilberto =C2=B7 Septem= ber of My Years =C2=B7 Sinatra: A Man and His Music =C2=B7 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart= s Club Band =C2=B7 By the Time I Get to Phoenix 1970s Blood, Sweat & Tears =C2=B7 Bridge Over Troubled Water =C2=B7 Tapestr= y =C2=B7 The Concert For Bangla Desh =C2=B7 Innervisions =C2=B7 Fulfillingness' Firs= t Finale =C2=B7 Still Crazy After All These Years =C2=B7 Songs in the Key of = Life =C2=B7 Rumours =C2=B7 Saturday Night Fever 1980s 52nd Street =C2=B7 Christopher Cross =C2=B7 Double Fantasy =C2=B7 Tot= o IV =C2=B7 Thriller =C2=B7 Can't Slow Down =C2=B7 No Jacket Required =C2=B7 Graceland = =C2=B7 The Joshua Tree =C2=B7 Faith 1990s Back on the Block =C2=B7 Unforgettable... with Love =C2=B7 Unplugged = =C2=B7 The Bodyguard =C2=B7 MTV Unplugged: Tony Bennett =C2=B7 Jagged Little Pill =C2= =B7 Falling into You =C2=B7 Time Out of Mind =C2=B7 The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill 2000s Supernatural =C2=B7 Two Against Nature =C2=B7 O Brother, Where Art Th= ou? =C2=B7 Come Away with Me =C2=B7 Speakerboxxx/The Love Below =C2=B7 Genius Loves Co= mpany =C2=B7 How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb =C2=B7 Taking the Long Way =C2=B7 Ri= ver: The Joni Letters =C2=B7 Raising Sand Complete List =C2=B7 Winners (1959=E2=80=931970) =C2=B7 Winners (1971=E2=80= =931990) =C2=B7 Winners (1991=E2=80=932010) Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thriller_(album)" Categories: 1982 albums | Albums produced by Quincy Jones | Grammy Award for Album of the Year | Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients | Michael Jackson albums | United States National Recording Registry recordings | Epic Records albums | Albums released in Super Audio Hidden categories: Featured articles ViewsArticle Discussion Edit this page History Personal toolsLog in / create account Navigation Main page Contents Featured content Current events Random article Search Interaction About Wikipedia Community portal Recent changes Contact Wikipedia Donate to Wikipedia Help Toolbox What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Printable version Permanent link Cite this page Languages =D8=A7=D9=84=D8=B9=D8=B1=D8=A8=D9=8A=D8=A9 Az=C9=99rbaycan =D0=91=D1=8A=D0=BB=D0=B3=D0=B0=D1=80=D1=81=D0=BA=D0=B8 Catal=C3=A0 =C4=8Cesky Cymraeg Dansk Deutsch Espa=C3=B1ol =D9=81=D8=A7=D8=B1=D8=B3=DB=8C Fran=C3=A7ais =ED=95=9C=EA=B5=AD=EC=96=B4 Hrvatski Italiano =D7=A2=D7=91=D7=A8=D7=99=D7=AA =E1=83=A5=E1=83=90=E1=83=A0=E1=83=97=E1=83=A3=E1=83=9A=E1=83=98 Kiswahili Latvie=C5=A1u Lietuvi=C5=B3 Magyar Nederlands =E6=97=A5=E6=9C=AC=E8=AA=9E =E2=80=AANorsk (bokm=C3=A5l)=E2=80=AC Polski Portugu=C3=AAs =D0=A0=D1=83=D1=81=D1=81=D0=BA=D0=B8=D0=B9 Shqip Sloven=C4=8Dina Sloven=C5=A1=C4=8Dina =D0=A1=D1=80=D0=BF=D1=81=D0=BA=D0=B8 / Srpski Suomi Svenska =E0=B9=84=E0=B8=97=E0=B8=A2 T=C3=BCrk=C3=A7e Ti=E1=BA=BFng Vi=E1=BB=87t =E4=B8=AD=E6=96=87 This page was last modified on 15 July 2009 at 11:56. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike Stephen King wrote in the endnotes for his story collection Just After Sunset (2008) that his newly published novella N. was "strongly influenced" by Machen's piece, which he noted, "surmounts its rather clumsy prose and works its way relentlessly into the reader's terror-zone. How many sleepless nights has it caused? God knows, but a few of them were mine. I think "Pan" is as close as the horror genre comes to a great white whale." In another interview he stated: "Not Lovecraft; it=E2=80=99s a riff on Arthur Machen=E2=80=99s =E2=80=9CThe Grea= t God Pan,=E2=80=9D which is one of the best horror stories ever written. Maybe the best in the English language. Mine isn=E2=80=99t anywhere near that good, but I loved t= he chance to put neurotic behavior=E2=80=94obsessive/compulsive disorder=E2=80= =94together with the idea of a monster-filled macroverse." [2] On 7/15/09, c b wrote: > The Great God Pan > From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia > Jump to: navigation, search > The Great God Pan > Author Arthur Machen > Country United Kingdom > Language English > Genre(s) Horror novella > Publisher Creation Books > Publication date 1926 > Media type print (hardback) > Pages 128 > The Great God Pan is a novella written by Arthur Machen. The original > story was published in 1890, and Machen revised and extended it in > 1894. On publication it was widely denounced by the press as > degenerate and horrific because of its decadent style and sexual > content, although it has since garnered a reputation as a classic of > horror. Machen=E2=80=99s story was only one of many at the time to focus = on > Pan as a useful symbol for the power of nature and paganism. > > Contents [hide] > 1 Plot summary > 2 Critical opinion > 3 Film, TV or theatrical adaptations > 4 Influence > 5 References > 6 External links > > > > [edit] Plot summary > A woman in Wales has her mind destroyed by a scientist's attempt to > enable her to see the god of nature Pan. Years later, a young woman > named Helen Vaughan arrives on the London social scene, disturbing > many young men and causing some to commit suicide; it transpires that > she is the monstrous offspring of the god Pan and the woman in the > experiment. > > > [edit] Critical opinion > In "Supernatural Horror in Literature" (1926; revised 1933), H. P. > Lovecraft praised the novel, saying: "No one could begin to describe > the cumulative suspense and ultimate horror with which every paragraph > abounds"; he added that "the sensitive reader" reaches the end with > "an appreciative shudder." Lovecraft also noted, however, that > "melodrama is undeniably present, and coincidence is stretched to a > length which appears absurd upon analysis." The Encyclopedia of > Science Fiction (1993) notes "The story begins with an sf rationale > (brain surgery) which remains one of the most dramatically horrible > and misogynistic in fiction." > > > [edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations > "The Great God" was brought to the stage in 2008 by WildClaw Theatre > Company in Chicago. It was adapted and directed by WildClaw Artistic > Director Charley Sherman. > > > [edit] Influence > The story's depiction of a monstrous half-human hybrid inspired the > main plotline of Lovecraft=E2=80=99s "The Dunwich Horror", which refers b= y > name to Machen=E2=80=99s story. According to Lovecraft scholar Robert M. > Price, "'The Dunwich Horror' is in every sense an homage to Machen and > even a pastiche. There is little in Lovecraft's wonderful story that > does not come directly out of Machen's fiction."[1] It also inspired > Peter Straub's Ghost Story. > > The book was translated into French by Paul-Jean Toulet (Le grand dieu > Pan, Paris, 1901). It was a major influence on his first novel, > Monsieur du Paur, homme public. > > Stephen King wrote in the endnotes for his story collection Just After > Sunset (2008) that his newly published novella N. was "strongly > influenced" by Machen's piece, which he noted, "surmounts its rather > clumsy prose and works its way relentlessly into the reader's > terror-zone. How many sleepless nights has it caused? God knows, but a > few of them were mine. I think "Pan" is as close as the horror genre > comes to a great white whale." In another interview he stated: "Not > Lovecraft; it=E2=80=99s a riff on Arthur Machen=E2=80=99s =E2=80=9CThe Gr= eat God Pan,=E2=80=9D which > is one of the best horror stories ever written. Maybe the best in the > English language. Mine isn=E2=80=99t anywhere near that good, but I loved= the > chance to put neurotic behavior=E2=80=94obsessive/compulsive disorder=E2= =80=94together > with the idea of a monster-filled macroverse." [2] > > > [edit] References > ^ Price, pp. ix-x. > ^ "SELF-INTERVIEW By Stephen King 10:50am September 4th, 2008 > > [edit] External links > > > On 7/15/09, Shane Mage wrote: > > > > On Jul 15, 2009, at 11:31 AM, c b wrote: > > > > > It would seem that Michael Jackson aesthetic was a species of the > > > bourgeois Romanticists "Peter Pan" philosophy..."child as the father > > > of the man",which more abstractly is probably part of the process of > > > the origin of > > > the human species. "Pan" is part of the species name of the > > > chimpanzee. > > > > > > But "pan" as genus (not species) name for chimpanzees is taken from > > the resemblance of chimps and bonobos to the iconography of the Great > > God Pan. And there is absolutely nothing childlike about Pan. > > > > > > Shane Mage > > > > > This cosmos did none of gods or men make, but it > > > always was and is and shall be: an everlasting fire, > > > kindling in measures and going out in measures." > > > > > > Herakleitos of Ephesos > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Marxism-Thaxis mailing list > > Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu > > To change your options or unsubscribe go to: > > http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis > > > From cb31450 at gmail.com Wed Jul 15 11:28:31 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:28:31 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Partial list of famous musical artists who died as young or younger than Michael Jackson In-Reply-To: <5c2e4d230907151023lf602d83jf5553aa9d8ab7891@mail.gmail.com> References: <5c2e4d230907100708u4429c293w1ac312c13441a993@mail.gmail.com> <5c2e4d230907150831q1f7f85f8o5f49c299a0229986@mail.gmail.com> <7372F6CF-3B53-47EB-A7B1-0076041BEAF8@pipeline.com> <5c2e4d230907150954j3aeeb5c3y1f885ba4337b73e2@mail.gmail.com> <5c2e4d230907151008n44d51d74uc63d14290a8f6f4e@mail.gmail.com> <5c2e4d230907151010y5c2a8e01kef0c29bdda5179ac@mail.gmail.com> <5c2e4d230907151023lf602d83jf5553aa9d8ab7891@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907151028x2f7b4a6ax12fdb3cc6303a44b@mail.gmail.com> As far as the horror story/movie genre, Michael Pan Jackson's greatest album was _Thriller_, in the video of which he transforms from a teenage boy dating a girl into a Wherewolf stalking her, thereby weaving in the classic myth of "The Beauty and the Beast". He features the voice of the classic horror film actor Vincent Price. Thriller (album) Thriller Studio album by Michael Jackson Released November 30, 1982 Recorded April 14 - November 8, 1982 Westlake Recording Studios (Los Angeles, California) Genre R&B, dance, dance-pop, pop/rock, funk[1] Length 42:19 Label Epic EK-38112 Producer Michael Jackson Quincy Jones Professional reviews Allmusic [1] Robert Christgau (A-)[2] Melody Maker (unfavorable) 1982[3] Q [4] Rolling Stone [5] Slant [6] Stylus (favorable)[7] The New York Times (favorable)[8] Michael Jackson chronology Off the Wall (1979) Thriller (1982) Bad (1987) Singles from Thriller "The Girl Is Mine" Released: October 18, 1982 "Billie Jean" Released: January 3, 1983 "Beat It" Released: February 14, 1983 "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" Released: May 8, 1983 "Human Nature" Released: July 3, 1983 "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" Released: September 19, 1983 "Thriller" Released: January 23, 1984 2001 Special Edition Thriller is the sixth studio album by American recording artist Michael Jackson. The album was released on November 30, 1982 by Epic Records as the follow-up to Jackson's critically and commercially successful 1979 album Off the Wall. Thriller explores similar genres to those of Off the Wall, including funk, disco, soul, soft rock, R&B, and pop. Thriller's lyrics deal with themes including paranoia and the supernatural. With a production budget of $750,000, recording sessions took place between April and November 1982 at Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California.[9] Assisted by producer Quincy Jones, Jackson wrote four of Thriller's nine tracks. Following the release of the album's first single "The Girl Is Mine", some observers assumed Thriller would only be a minor hit record. With the release of the second single "Billie Jean", the album topped the charts in many countries. At its peak, the album was selling a million copies a week worldwide. In just over a year, Thriller became--and currently remains--the best-selling album of all time. Sales are estimated to be over 50 million copies sold worldwide. Seven of the album's nine songs were released as singles, and all reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album won a record-breaking eight Grammy Awards at the 1984 Grammys. Thriller cemented Jackson's status as one of the predominant pop stars of the late 20th century, and enabled him to break down racial barriers via his appearances on MTV and meetings with President Ronald Reagan at the White House. The album was one of the first to use music videos as successful promotional tools--the videos for "Thriller", "Billie Jean" and "Beat It" all received regular rotation on MTV. In 2001, a special edition issue of the album was released, which contains additional audio interviews, a demo recording and the song "Someone In the Dark", which was a Grammy-winning track from the E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial storybook.[10] In 2008, the album was reissued again as Thriller 25, containing re-mixes that feature contemporary artists, a previously unreleased song and a DVD. Thriller ranked number 20 on Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list in 2003, and was listed by the National Association of Recording Merchandisers at number three in its Definitive 200 Albums of All Time. Thriller was preserved by the Library of Congress to the National Recording Registry, as it was deemed "culturally significant". Contents [hide] 1 Background 2 Recording 3 Music 4 Release and reception 5 Influence and legacy 5.1 Music industry 5.2 Music videos and racial equality 5.3 Contemporary appeal 6 Reissues and catalog sales 7 Track listing 8 Personnel 9 See also 10 References 11 Notes [edit] Background Jackson's previous album Off the Wall (1979) was a critical success and received generally favorable reviews.[11][12] It was also a commercial success, eventually selling over 20 million copies worldwide.[13] The years between Off the Wall and Thriller were a transitional period for the singer, a time of increasing independence and struggles with his family. In 1973, Jackson's father Joseph began a secret affair with a woman 20 years younger than he; the couple had a child in secret. In 1980, Joseph told his family of the affair and child. Michael, already angry with his father over his childhood abuse, felt so betrayed that he fell out with Joseph for many years.[14] The period saw the singer become deeply unhappy; Jackson explained, "Even at home, I'm lonely. I sit in my room sometimes and cry. It's so hard to make friends ... I sometimes walk around the neighborhood at night, just hoping to find someone to talk to. But I just end up coming home."[15] When Jackson turned 21 in August 1979, he fired Joseph as his manager and replaced him with John Branca.[16] Jackson confided in Branca that he wanted to be "the biggest star in show business" and "the wealthiest". The singer was upset about what he perceived to be the under-performance of Off the Wall, stating, "It was totally unfair that it didn't get Record of the Year and it can never happen again."[17] He also felt undervalued by the music industry; in 1980 when Jackson asked the publicist of Rolling Stone if they would be interested in doing a cover story on him, the publicist declined, to which Jackson responded, "I've been told over and over that black people on the cover of magazines doesn't sell copies ... Just wait. Someday those magazines are going to be begging me for an interview. Maybe I'll give them one. And maybe I won't."[17] [edit] Recording Jackson reunited with Off the Wall producer Quincy Jones to record his sixth studio album. The pair worked together on 300 songs, nine of which were eventually included.[18] Thriller was recorded between April and November 1982, with a production budget of $750,000. Several members of the band Toto were also involved in the album's recording and production.[18] Jackson wrote four songs for the record: "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", "The Girl Is Mine" (with Paul McCartney), "Beat It" and "Billie Jean".[19] Unlike many artists, Jackson did not write these songs on paper. Instead, he would dictate into a sound recorder; when recording he would sing from memory.[20][21] The relationship between Jackson and Jones became strained during the album's recording. Jackson spent much of his time rehearsing dance steps alone.[21] When the album's nine songs were completed, both Jones and Jackson were unhappy with the result and remixed every song, spending a week on each.[21] Jones believed that "Billie Jean" was not strong enough to be included on the record, but Jackson disagreed and kept it. Jones told Jackson that Thriller would be unlikely to sell successfully like Off the Wall had, because the market had since weakened. In response, Jackson threatened to cancel the album's release.[18] Jackson was inspired to create an album where "every song was a killer," as with Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker, and developed Thriller on that concept.[22][23] Jones and songwriter Rod Temperton gave detailed accounts of what occurred for the 2001 reissue of the album. Jones discussed "Billie Jean" and why it was so personal to Jackson, who struggled to deal with a number of obsessed fans. Jones wanted the long introduction on the song to be shortened; however, Jackson insisted that it remain because it made him want to dance.[19] The ongoing backlash against disco made it necessary to move in a different musical direction from the disco-heavy Off the Wall.[23] Jones and Jackson were determined to make a rock song that would appeal to all tastes and spent weeks looking for a suitable guitarist for the song "Beat It", a song Jackson wrote and played drums on. Eventually, they found Eddie Van Halen of the rock band Van Halen.[19][21] When Rod Temperton wrote the song "Thriller", he originally wanted to call it "Starlight" or "Midnight Man" but settled on "Thriller" because he felt the name had merchandising potential.[21] Always wanting a notable person to recite the closing lyrics, Temperton brought in actor Vincent Price, who completed his part in just two takes. Temperton wrote the spoken portion in a taxi on the way to the recording studio. Jones and Temperton said that some recordings were left off the final cut because they did not have the "edginess" of other album tracks.[19] [edit] Music "Thriller" Excerpt of the album's title track, and one of Jackson's signature pieces, "Thriller", released as a single in 1984. Jackson utilizes cinematic sound effects, horror film motifs and vocal trickery to convey a sense of danger in his work.[24] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Human Nature" "Human Nature", a top ten hit single in the US. It is the most notable ballad on the album, praised for its moody, introspective lyrics and sound. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Billie Jean" "Billie Jean", a number one hit single in many countries. The song was written and co-produced by Jackson. The track mixed uptempo funk and disco with the somber themes of paranoia and obsession. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Problems listening to these files? See media help. According to Steve Huey of Allmusic, Thriller refined the strengths of Jackson's previous album Off the Wall; the dance and rock tracks were more aggressive, while the pop tunes and ballads were softer and more soulful.[25] Notable tracks include the ballads "The Lady in My Life", "Human Nature", and "The Girl Is Mine"; the funk pieces "Billie Jean" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"; and the disco set "Baby Be Mine" and "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)".[1][5][6][25] "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" was written a few years prior to 1982 and has a similar sound to the material on Off The Wall. The song is accompanied by a bass and percussion background and the song's centerpiece, a climaxing Swahili chant, gave the song an international flavor.[26] "The Girl Is Mine" tells of two friends' fight over a woman, arguing over who loves her more and concludes with a spoken rap.[21][26] Despite the light pop flavor of these two records, Thriller, more so than Off the Wall, displayed foreshadowings of the contradictory thematic elements that would come to characterize Jackson's later work.[27] With Thriller, Jackson would begin his association with the subliminal theme of paranoia and darker imagery.[5] This is evident on the songs "Billie Jean", "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" and "Thriller".[1] In "Billie Jean", Jackson sings about an obsessive fan who alleges he has fathered a child of hers; in "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" he argues against gossips and the media.[5][25] In the former song, Jones had Jackson sing vocal overdubs through a six-foot-long cardboard tube, and brought in jazz saxophonist Tom Scott to play a rare instrument, the lyricon, a wind-controlled analog synthesizer. Bassist Louis Johnson ran through his part on a Yamaha bass guitar. The song opens with a long bass-and-drums introduction.[28] In the song "Thriller", sound effects such as creaking door, thunder, feet walking on wooden planks, winds and howling dogs can be heard.[21] The anti-gang-violence "Beat It" became a homage to West Side Story, and was Jackson's first successful rock cross-over piece.[25][29] Jackson later said of "Beat It", "the point is no one has to be the tough guy, you can walk away from a fight and still be a man. You don't have to die to prove you're a man".[26] "Human Nature" is moody and introspective, as conveyed in lyrics such as, "Looking out, across the morning, the City's heart begins to beat, reaching out, I touch her shoulder, I'm dreaming of the street".[26] By the late 1970s, Jackson's abilities as a vocalist were well regarded; Allmusic described him as a "blindingly gifted vocalist".[11] Rolling Stone compared his vocals to the "breathless, dreamy stutter" of Stevie Wonder. Their analysis was also that "Jackson's feathery-timbred tenor is extraordinary beautiful. It slides smoothly into a startling falsetto that's used very daringly".[12] With the release of Thriller, Jackson could sing low--down to a basso low C--but he preferred to sing higher because pop tenors have more range to create style.[30] Rolling Stone were of the opinion that Jackson was now singing in a "fully adult voice" that was "tinged by sadness".[5] "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)", credited to James Ingram and Quincy Jones, and "Lady in My Life" by Rod Temperton, both gave the album a stronger R&B direction; the latter song was described as "the closest Jackson has come to crooning a sexy, soulful ballad after his Motown years" by Taraborrelli.[26] The singer had already adopted a "vocal hiccup" which he continued to implement in Thriller. The purpose of the hiccup--somewhat like a gulping for air or gasping--is to help promote a certain emotion; be it excitement, sadness or fear.[31] [edit] Release and reception Thriller was released on November 30, 1982, and sold one million copies worldwide per week at its peak.[30] Seven singles were released from the album, including "The Girl Is Mine"--which was seen as a poor choice for the lead release and led some to believe that the album would be a disappointment, and to suggestions that Jackson was bowing to a white audience.[26] "The Girl Is Mine" was followed by the hit single "Billie Jean", which made Thriller a chart-topper.[32][33] Success continued with the single "Beat It", which featured guitarists Eddie Van Halen and Steve Lukather.[34] The title track "Thriller" was released as a single and also became a hit internationally.[26] Thriller was mostly well received by critics. A four-star Rolling Stone review by Christopher Connelly described it as "a zesty LP" with a "harrowing, dark message". Despite the positive response, the title track came under strong criticism. Rolling Stone expressed a negative sentiment, criticizing its "degenerat[ion] into silly camp". The magazine expressed confusion at the use of Vincent Price over Count Floyd for the track's concluding rap.[5] The New York Times gave a positive review of the album, and dedicated a large amount of its coverage to the song "Human Nature". They described it as the most "striking" song on the record, and wrote, "this is a haunting, brooding ballad by Steve Porcaro and John Bettis with an irresistible chorus and it should be an enormous hit". Concluding their review The New York Times added; "there are other hits here, too, lots of them. Best of all, with a pervasive confidence infusing the album as a whole, Thriller suggests that Mr. Jackson's evolution as an artist is far from finished".[8] Robert Christgau published a positive (A-) graded overview of the album a few days before its release. He acknowledged that there were "fillers" on the record but still labeled it "almost classic". He expressed the opinion that "Beat It" was the album's best track, calling it "the triumph and the thriller", but criticized "The Girl Is Mine" as "Michael's worst idea since 'Ben'". He was of the opinion that the collaboration did not work well, but still praised it for "getting interracial love on the radio".[2] A year after the album's release, Time summed up the three main singles from the album, saying, "The pulse of America and much of the rest of the world moves irregularly, beating in time to the tough strut of "Billie Jean", the asphalt aria of "Beat It", the supremely cool chills of "Thriller".[30] Conversely, in a Melody Maker review, Paolo Hewitt stated "[t]his is not a good LP"; in his opinion there were only "two songs worthy of mention". "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" was praised as an "exciting", "uptempo electro-funk song", as was "Billie Jean". Hewitt's stance was that as a whole, the album could only be described as "bland", particularly the closing tracks. He summed up: "Jackson seems to have lost his talent for turning gross into gold".[3] The album won Jackson a record-breaking seven Grammy Awards in 1984, including Album of the Year. The eighth Grammy went to Bruce Swedien.[35][36] That same year, Jackson won eight American Music Awards, the Special Award of Merit and three MTV Video Music Awards.[37] Thriller was recognized as the world's best-selling album on February 7, 1984, when it was inducted into the Guinness Book of World Records.[38] It is one of only three albums to remain in the top ten of the Billboard 200 for a full year, and spent 37 weeks at number one out of the 80 consecutive weeks it was in the top ten. The album was also the first of three to have seven Billboard Hot 100 top ten singles, and was the only album to be the best-seller of two years (1983-1984) in the US.[39][40] On March 6, 2009 Thriller was certified 28x Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, for shipments of at least 28 million copies in the US giving it Double Diamond Award status there.[41][42] The album topped the charts in many countries, sold 3.7 million copies in the UK,[42][43] 2.5 million in Japan[44] and went 14x Platinum in Australia.[45] Still popular today, Thriller sells an estimated 130,000 copies in the US per year; it reached number two in the US Catalog charts in February 2003 and number 39 in the UK in March 2007.[37] The album is cited as having sold between 47 and 109 million copies worldwide; the Guinness Book of World Records lists Thriller as having sold 65 million copies as of 2007.[46][47][48][49][50] [edit] Influence and legacy [edit] Music industry Blender described Jackson as the "late twentieth century pre-eminent pop icon", while The New York Times gave the opinion that he was a "musical phenomenon", and that "in the world of pop music, there is Michael Jackson and there is everybody else".[28][51] Jackson changed the way the industry functioned: both as an artistic persona, and as a financial, profitable entity. His attorney John Branca observed that Jackson achieved the highest royalty rate in the music industry to that point: approximately $2 for each album sold. As a result, Jackson earned record-breaking profits from compact disc sales, and from the sale of copies of the documentary, The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller, produced by Jackson and John Landis. Funded by MTV, the film sold over 350,000 copies in its first few months. In a market then driven by singles, Thriller raised the significance of albums, yet its multiple hit singles changed perceived notions as to the number of successful singles that could be taken from an individual album.[52] The era saw the arrival of novelties like the Michael Jackson doll, that appeared in stores in May 1984 at a price of $12.[30] Thriller retains a position in American culture; biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli explains, "At some point, Thriller stopped selling like a leisure item--like a magazine, a toy, tickets to a hit movie--and started selling like a household staple".[53] At the time of the album's release, a press statement from Gil Friesen, the then President of A&M Records, read that, "The whole industry has a stake in this success".[30] Time magazine speculated that "the fallout from Thriller has given the [music] business its best years since the heady days of 1978, when it had an estimated total domestic revenue of $4.1 billion".[30] Time summed up Thriller's impact as a "restoration of confidence" for an industry bordering on "the ruins of punk and the chic regions of synthesizer pop". The publication described Jackson's influence at that point as, "Star of records, radio, rock video. A one-man rescue team for the music business. A songwriter who sets the beat for a decade. A dancer with the fanciest feet on the street. A singer who cuts across all boundaries of taste and style and color too".[30] [edit] Music videos and racial equality Before the success of Thriller, many felt Jackson had struggled to get MTV airing because he was black.[28] In an effort to attain air time for Jackson, CBS Records President Walter Yetnikoff pressured MTV and declared, "I'm not going to give you any more videos and I'm going to go public and fucking tell them about the fact you don't want to play music by a black guy".[28] His position persuaded MTV to begin airing "Billie Jean" and later "Beat It", which led to a long partnership and later helped other black music artists to gain mainstream recognition.[54] MTV deny claims of racism in their broadcasting.[55] The popularity of his videos, such as "Beat It" and "Billie Jean", helped to place the young channel "on the map", and MTV's focus shifted in favor of pop and R&B.[54][56] Jackson in the revolutionary Thriller videoJackson transformed the medium of music video into an art form and promotional tool through the use of complex story lines, dance routines, special effects and cameo appearances by well known personalities.[25] When the 14-minute-long Thriller video aired, MTV ran it twice an hour to meet demand.[57] The short film marked an increase in scale for music videos and has been routinely named the best music video ever.[52] The popularity of the video sent the album back to number one in the album chart, but Jackson's label did not support the release of the third music video from the album. They were already pleased with its success, so Jackson convinced MTV to fund the project.[21][57] Author, music critic and journalist Nelson George wrote in 2004, "It's difficult to hear the songs from Thriller and disengage them from the videos. For most of us the images define the songs. In fact it could be argued that Michael is the first artist of the MTV age to have an entire album so intimately connected in the public imagination with its imagery".[24] Short films like Thriller largely remained unique to Jackson, while the group dance sequence in "Beat It" has been frequently imitated.[19] The choreography in Thriller has become a part of global pop culture, replicated everywhere from Bollywood to prisons in the Philippines.[58][59] For a black artist in the 1980s to that point, Jackson's success was unprecedented. According to The Washington Post, Thriller paved the way for other African-American artists such as Prince.[60] "The Girl Is Mine" was credited for getting interracial love on the radio.[61] Time noted, "Jackson is the biggest thing since The Beatles. He is the hottest single phenomenon since Elvis Presley. He just may be the most popular black singer ever".[30] [edit] Contemporary appeal A Michael Jackson celebrity impersonator for the 25th anniversary of the album Thriller at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival with performers from Step It Up and Dance.Today, the album is still viewed in a positive light by critics some two decades later. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic gave the album the maximum five stars, and wrote that the record had something to interest everyone. He believed it showcased harder funk and hard rock while remaining "undeniably fun". He went on to compliment "Billie Jean" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" and said, "The record's two best songs: 'Billie Jean, ...and the delirious 'Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'', the freshest funk on the album [but] the most claustrophobic, scariest track Jackson ever recorded." Erlewine gave the opinion that it was an improvement on the artist's previous album, although Allmusic was critical of the title track, describing it as "ridiculous" and as having the effect of "arriving in the middle of the record and sucking out its momentum".[1] Slant Magazine gave the album five stars and, like the Allmusic review and the original Rolling Stone review, paid compliment to the lyrics of "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'".[6] The author Nelson George wrote that Jackson "has educated R. Kelly, Usher, Justin Timberlake and countless others with Thriller as a textbook".[62] As a sign of the album's longevity, in 2003 Thriller was ranked at number 20 on the Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, and was listed by the National Association of Recording Merchandisers at number three of the Definitive 200 Albums of All Time.[63][64] In 2008, 25 years after its release, the record was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and, a few weeks later, was among 25 recordings preserved by the Library of Congress to the National Recording Registry as "culturally significant".[65][66] In 2009, music critics for MTV Base and VH1 both listed Thriller as the best album released since 1981.[67] Thriller, along with other critic favorites were then polled by the public. 40,000 people found Thriller to be the Best Album of all time by MTV Generation, gaining a third of all votes.[67][68] [edit] Reissues and catalog sales Thriller was reissued in 2001 in an expanded set titled Thriller: Special Edition. The original tracks were remastered, and the album included a new booklet and bonus material, including the songs "Someone In the Dark", "Carousel", and Jackson's original "Billie Jean" demo, as well as audio interviews with Jones and Temperton discussing the recording of the album.[19][69] Sony also hired sound engineer and mixer Mick Guzauski [70][71] to work with Jackson on creating 5.1-channel surround sound mixes of Thriller, as well as all his other albums, for release on the then-new Super Audio CD format. Despite numerous retries, the artist never approved any of the mixes.[72] Consequently, Thriller was issued on SACD with the stereo mix only. In February 2008, Epic Records released Thriller 25; Jackson served as executive producer.[42] Thriller 25 appeared on CD, USB and vinyl with seven bonus tracks, a new song called "For All Time", Vincent Price's voice-over, and five re-mixes featuring American artists Fergie, will.i.am, Kanye West, and Akon.[42][73][74] It also included a DVD featuring three music videos, the Motown 25 "Billie Jean" performance, and a booklet with a message from Jackson.[42] The ballad "For All Time" supposedly dates from 1982, but is often credited as being from Dangerous sessions.[75] Two singles were released from the reissue: "The Girl Is Mine 2008" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' 2008". Thriller 25 was a commercial success and did particularly well as a reissue. It peaked at number one in eight countries and Europe. It peaked at number two in the US, number three in the UK and reached the top 10 in over 30 national charts. It was certified Gold in 11 countries including the UK, received a 2x Gold certification in France and received platinum certification in Poland.[76][77][78] In the United States, Thriller 25 was the second best-selling album of its release week, selling one hundred and sixty six thousand copies, just fourteen thousand short of reaching the number one position. It was ineligible for the Billboard 200 chart as a re-release but entered the Pop Catalog Charts at number one (where it stayed for ten non-consecutive weeks),[79] with the best sales on that chart since December, 1996.[80][81][82] With the arrival of Halloween that November, Thriller 25 spent an eleventh non-consecutive week atop the US catalog chart. This brought US sales of the album to 688,000 copies, making it the best selling catalog album of 2008.[83] This was Jackson's best launch since Invincible in 2001, selling three million copies worldwide in 12 weeks.[84] After Jackson's death in June 2009, Thriller set additional records. It sold more than 100,000 copies, placing it at number two on the Top Pop Catalog Albums chart. Songs from Thriller also helped Jackson become the first artist to sell more than one million song downloads in a week.[85] [edit] Track listing All songs written and composed by Michael Jackson, except where noted. # Title Length 1. "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" 6:02 2. "Baby Be Mine" (Rod Temperton) 4:20 3. "The Girl Is Mine" (with Paul McCartney) 3:42 4. "Thriller" (Temperton) 5:57 5. "Beat It" 4:17 6. "Billie Jean" 4:54 7. "Human Nature" (John Bettis, Steve Porcaro) 4:05 8. "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" (James Ingram, Quincy Jones) 3:58 9. "The Lady in My Life" (Temperton) 4:59 2001 Special Edition # Title Length 10. "Interview with Quincy Jones #1" 2:18 11. "Someone in the Dark (previously unreleased)" (Bergman/Bergman/Temperton) 4:48 12. "Interview with Quincy Jones #2" 2:04 13. "Billie Jean (Demo) (previously unavailable)" (Jackson) 2:20 14. "Interview with Quincy Jones #3" 3:10 15. "Interview with Rod Temperton #1" 4:02 16. "Interview with Quincy Jones #4" 1:32 17. "Voice-Over Session from "Thriller" (previously unreleased)" (Temperton) 2:52 18. "Interview with Rod Temperton #2" 1:56 19. "Interview with Quincy Jones #5" 2:01 20. "Carousel (previously unreleased)" (Sembello/D. Freeman) 1:49 21. "Interview with Quincy Jones #6" 1:17 [edit] Personnel Brian Barns - keyboards, synthesizers, programming Michael Boddicker - keyboards, synthesizers N'dugu Chancler - drums Paulinho da Costa - percussion David Foster - keyboards, synthesizers Gary Grant - trumpet and fl?gelhorn Eddie Van Halen - guitar ("Beat It") Jerry Hey - trumpet and fl?gelhorn Michael Jackson - co-producer, lead and backup vocals, drums Paul Jackson - guitar Louis Johnson - bass guitar Quincy Jones - producer Steve Lukather - guitar, bass guitar Anthony Marinelli - synthesizer programming Paul McCartney - vocals ("The Girl Is Mine") David Paich - keyboards, synthesizers, programming Dean Parks - guitar Greg Phillinganes - keyboards, synthesizers, programming Jeff Porcaro - drums, horn and string arrangements Steve Porcaro - keyboards, synthesizers, programming Vincent Price - voice-over ("Thriller") Bill Reichenbach - trombone Bruce Swedien - recording engineer, mixer Rod Temperton - keyboards, synthesizers David Williams - guitar Larry Williams - saxophone and flute Bill Wolfer - keyboards, synthesizers [edit] See also List of best-selling albums worldwide List of best-selling albums in the United States [edit] References George, Nelson (2004). Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection booklet. Sony BMG. Taraborrelli, J. Randy (2004). The Magic and the Madness. Terra Alta, WV: Headline. ISBN 0-330-42005-4. [edit] Notes ^ a b c d e Erlewine, Stephen (February 19, 2007). "Thriller Overview". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=A9kqog44ttvjz. Retrieved on June 15, 2008. ^ a b Christgau, Robert (December 28, 1982). "Christgau's Consumer Guide, Dec 28th, 1982". Robert Christgau.com. http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv12-82.php. Retrieved on July 3, 2008. ^ a b Maker, Melody (1982). "Thriller Review". Uncut Presents NME Originals 80's (2005): 68. ^ "Review: Thriller". Q (January 2000): 138. ^ a b c d e f Connelly, Christopher (January 28, 1983). "Michael Jackson: Thriller". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/michaeljackson/albums/album/303823/review/6067536/thriller. Retrieved on June 15, 2008. ^ a b c Henderson, Eric (2003). "Michael Jackson: Thriller". Slant Magazine. http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/music_review.asp?ID=358. Retrieved on June 15, 2008. ^ Rosenberg, Tal (19 June 2007). "Review: Thriller". Stylus Magazine. http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/diamond/michael-jackson-thriller.htm. Retrieved on 13 June 2009. ^ a b Rockwell, John (December 19, 1982). "Michael Jackson's Thriller': Superb Job". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E00E4D71F39F93AA25751C1A964948260. Retrieved on July 3, 2008. ^ artist development ^ "Grammy Award Winners". The Recording Academy. http://www.grammy.com/GRAMMY_Awards/Winners/Results.aspx?title=&winner=Michael+Jackson&year=0&genreID=0&hp=1. Retrieved on February 14, 2008. ^ a b Erlewine, Stephen. "Off the Wall Overview". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=A7cu1z85ajyv6. Retrieved on June 15, 2008. ^ a b Holden, Stephen (November 1, 1979). "Off the Wall: Michael Jackson". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/259585/review/6067502/off_the_wall. Retrieved on July 23, 2008. ^ "Michael Jackson: Off the Wall - Classic albums - Music - Virgin media". Virgin Media. http://www.virginmedia.com/music/classicalbums/michaeljackson-offthewall.php. Retrieved on December 12, 2008. ^ Taraborrelli, p. 196 ^ Taraborrelli, p. 206 ^ Taraborrelli, p. 190 ^ a b Taraborrelli, p. 191 ^ a b c Taraborrelli, pp. 220-221 ^ a b c d e f Jackson, Michael. Thriller Special Edition Audio. ^ Taraborrelli, pp. 209-210 ^ a b c d e f g h "Michael Jackson's Monster Smash". The Daily Telegraph. November 25, 2007. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/11/25/sv_thriller.xml. Retrieved on April 20, 2008. ^ Ebony Magazine: Michael: 25 Years After Thriller, December 2007, pg. 97-98 ^ a b Jackson, Michael. Interview with Jesse Jackson. March 2005. ^ a b George, p. 23 ^ a b c d e Huey, Steve. "Michael Jackson - Biography". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:kifuxqe5ldae~T1. Retrieved on November 11, 2006. ^ a b c d e f g Taraborrelli, pp. 223-225 ^ Pareles, Jon (September 1987). "Critic's Notebook; How Good Is Jackson's 'Bad'?". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE1DC1F38F930A3575AC0A961948260&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fJ%2fJackson%2c%20Michael. Retrieved on April 19, 2007. ^ a b c d "Michael Jackson, "Billy Jean"". Blender. October 2005. http://www.blender.com/guide/articles.aspx?ID=1777. Retrieved on April 11, 2007. ^ "Michael Jackson: Biography". The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. 2004. http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/michaeljackson/biography. Retrieved on February 14, 2008. ^ a b c d e f g h Cocks, Jay (March 1984). "Why He's a Thriller". Time. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,950053-1,00.html. Retrieved on March 17, 2007. ^ George, p. 22 ^ "Sold On Song Top 100". British Broadcasting Corporation. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/soldonsong/songlibrary/billiejean.shtml. Retrieved on April 5, 2008. ^ "Sold On Song". British Broadcasting Corporation. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/soldonsong/songlibrary/thriller.shtml. Retrieved on April 5, 2008. ^ "Sessions". Steve Lukather. 2006. http://www.stevelukather.net/Biography.aspx. Retrieved on April 5, 2008. ^ "Grammy for Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones and Bruce Swedien". Grammy. http://www.grammy.com/GRAMMY_Awards/Winners/Results.aspx. Retrieved on February 25, 2009. ^ Guinness World Records (2006). Guinness World Records 2007. New York: Guinness World Records Ltd. ISBN 1-904994-12-1. ^ a b Jackson, Michael. Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection booklet. ^ Taraborrelli, p. 482 (pictures) ^ "The Billboard 200 Albums - 1983". http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/charts/yearend_chart_display.jsp?f=The+Billboard+200&g=Year-end+Albums&year=1983. Retrieved on 2009-07-07. ^ "The Billboard 200 Albums - 1984". http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/charts/yearend_chart_display.jsp?f=The+Billboard+200&g=Year-end+Albums&year=1984. Retrieved on 2009-07-07. ^ "Gold and Platinum". Recording Industry Association of America. http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?resultpage=1&table=tblTop100&action=. Retrieved on April 8, 2008. ^ a b c d e "Sony announce Thriller 25". Reuters. November 30, 2007. http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS58333+30-Nov-2007+PRN20071130. Retrieved on April 17, 2008. ^ Day, Elizabeth (March 16, 2008). "The whole world in his hands". The Guardian. http://music.guardian.co.uk/pop/story/0,,2265010,00.html#article_continue. Retrieved on April 21, 2008. ^ "Michael Jackson Remains A Global Phenomenon". Billboard magazine. July 2, 2009. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/michael-jackson-remains-a-global-phenomenon-1003990447.story?pn=5. Retrieved on July 3, 2009. ^ "ARIA Charts-Accreditations-2009 Albums". ARIA. http://aria.com.au/pages/httpwww.aria.com.aupagesARIACharts-Accreditations-2009Albums.htm. Retrieved on June 6, 2009. ^ George, p. 53 ^ White, Jim (March 12, 2007). "Michael Jackson's Thriller is old hat". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2007/12/03/do0302.xml. Retrieved on May 10, 2008. ^ "Michael Jackson Opens Up". CBS Broadcasting Inc. (CBS). November 6, 2007. http://www.showbuzz.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/06/music/main3461884.shtml??source=RSS&attr=_3461884. Retrieved on April 5, 2008. ^ Winterman, Denise (November 30, 2007). "Thrills and spills and record breaks". British Broadcasting Corporation. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7117000.stm. Retrieved on April 6, 2008. ^ "Music Icon Quincy Jones Kicks-Off New Series in Tribune Newspapers". PR Newswire. January 16, 2009. http://news.prnewswire.com/ViewContent.aspx?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/01-16-2009/0004956264&EDATE=. Retrieved on January 24, 2009. ^ "Michael Jackson At 25: A Musical Phenomenon". The New York Times. January 1984. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40F10FB3A5C0C778DDDA80894DC484D81. Retrieved on May 15, 2007. ^ a b "Michael Jackson". VH1. 2007. http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/jackson_michael/bio.jhtml. Retrieved on February 22, 2007. ^ Taraborrelli, p. 226 ^ a b Gundersen, Edna (August 25, 2005). "music videos changing places". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2005-08-25-mtv_x.htm. Retrieved on April 6, 2008. ^ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_14_110/ai_n16807343/ ^ "Why Are Michael Jackson's Fans So Devoted?". ABC News. February 23, 2005. http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/LegalCenter/story?id=464753&page=1. Retrieved on April 6, 2007. ^ a b Taraborrelli, pp. 270-271 ^ "1500 Prisoners Perform Thriller Dance". The Wrong Advices. July 21, 2007. http://thewrongadvices.com/lazy-monkey/1500-prisoners-perform-thriller-dance/. Retrieved on April 5, 2008. ^ "Jacko goes bollywood". TMZ.com. October 3, 2006. http://www.tmz.com/2006/10/03/jacko-goes-bollywood/. Retrieved on April 8, 2008. ^ Harrington, Richard (October 1988). "Prince & Michael Jackson: Two Paths to the Top of Pop". The Washington Post. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/73636369.html?dids=73636369:73636369&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Oct+9%2C+1988&author=Richard+Harrington&pub=The+Washington+Post+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&edition=&startpage=g.01&desc=Prince+%26+Michael+Jackson%3A+Two+Paths+to+the+Top+of+Pop. Retrieved on May 21, 2007. ^ Christgau, Robert. "Robert Christgau: Artist 932". Robert Christgau.com. http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=932. Retrieved on June 27, 2008. ^ George, p. 24 ^ "20) Thriller". Rolling Stone. November 3, 2003. http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/6598091/20_thriller. Retrieved on April 21, 2008. ^ "Definitive 200". The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. 2007. http://www.rockhall.com/pressroom/definitive-200. Retrieved on April 8, 2008. ^ "2008 Grammy Hall of Fame" (PDF). The Recording Academy. 2008. http://www.grammy.com/PressReleases/443_466_Hall%20of%20Fame%20release%20FINAL.pdf. Retrieved on April 5, 2008. ^ "Thriller, Joni Mitchell album make the cut for US recording registry". CBC News. May 14, 2008. http://www.cbc.ca/arts/media/story/2008/05/14/08us-recregistry.html. Retrieved on May 14, 2008. ^ a b "MTV's Greatest Album Ever - The Results". MTV. (April 9, 2009). http://www.mtv.co.uk/entertainment/greatest-album-ever/competition/mtvs-greatest-album-ever. Retrieved on April 9, 2008. ^ "Michael Jackson's album Thriller voted best album since 1981". Daily Mirror. (April 9, 2009). http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/news/2009/04/09/michael-jackson-s-album-thriller-voted-best-album-since-1981-115875-21265620/. Retrieved on April 9, 2008. ^ Jackson, Michael. Thriller Special Edition booklet. ^ Paul Verna (May 1, 2001). "Interview with Mick Guzauski". Mix Online. http://mixonline.com/mag/audio_mick_guzauski/. Retrieved on July 7, 2009. ^ Kevin Becka (June 1, 2006). ""Mix Interview: Mick Guzauski"". Mix Online. http://mixonline.com/recording/interviews/audio_mick_guzauski_2/. Retrieved on July 7, 2009. ^ Roger Friedman (July 23, 2001). "First Jackson Effort Rejected, New One Not Ready". Fox News. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,30233,00.html. Retrieved on July 7, 2009. ^ "Kanye West, Will.I.Am On New Edition Of Michael Jackson's Thriller". MTV (Music Television). http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1575462/20071130/west_kanye.jhtml. Retrieved on December 7, 2007. ^ "Kanye, Akon Help Jackson Revisit 'Thriller'". Billboard. December 30, 2007. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003679603. Retrieved on June 23, 2008. ^ Paphides, Pete (February 8, 2008). "Michael Jackson: Thriller 25". The Times. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/cd_reviews/article3327950.ece. Retrieved on April 6, 2008. ^ "Zona Musical" (in Spanish). zm.nu. http://zm.nu/detalle.php?base=zmnews&lay=cgi&form=detalle&tok4=notici&tok5=Noticias&id=17840. Retrieved on April 5, 2008. ^ "Thriller the best selling album of all time". digitalproducer. February 20, 2008. http://digitalproducer.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=312105&afterinter=true. Retrieved on April 6, 2008. ^ "Michael Jackson Thriller 25". ultratop.be. http://www.ultratop.be/nl/showitem.asp?interpret=Michael+Jackson&titel=Thriller+25&cat=a. Retrieved on April 6, 2008. ^ Grein, Paul (May 18, 2008). "Diva Smackdown". Yahoo. http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/chart_watch/7658/week-ending-may-18-2008-diva-smackdown-ends-with-ingenues-on-rise. Retrieved on May 22, 2008. ^ Caulfield, Keith (February 20, 2008). "Big Grammy Gains For Many; King of Pop Returns". Billboard magazine. http://billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/charts/chart_alert/e3id5388aa9b5187ee7e0bde5d5e991eb4b. Retrieved on February 20, 2008. ^ Hasty, Katy (February 20, 2008). "Johnson Remains No. 1; Winehouse, Hancock Soar". Billboard magazine. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003712744. Retrieved on February 20, 2008. ^ "US fans shun CD". BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/entertainment/music/4730407.stm. Retrieved on April 7, 2008. ^ Waddell, Ray (November 7, 2008). "Michael Jackson Eyeing London Run?". Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003888626. Retrieved on November 8, 2008. ^ Friedman, Roger (May 16, 2008). "Jacko: Neverland East in Upstate New York". Fox News. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,356282,00.html#3. Retrieved on May 22, 2008. ^ "Michael Jackson Breaks Billboard Charts Records". Billboard. June 30, 2009. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/michael-jackson-breaks-billboard-charts-1003989310.story. Retrieved on 2009-07-03. Preceded by Business as Usual by Men at Work Flashdance by Various artists Synchronicity by The Police Can't Slow Down by Lionel Richie Billboard 200 number-one album February 26 - June 24, 1983 July 9-22, 1983 September 10-16, 1983 December 24, 1983 - April 20, 1984 Succeeded by Flashdance by Various artists Synchronicity by The Police Synchronicity by The Police Footloose by Various artists Preceded by "Lies" / "Beach Culture" by Thompson Twins Billboard Hot Dance Club Play number-one single (all cuts) January 22 - April 2, 1983 Succeeded by "Jeopardy" by Greg Kihn Band Preceded by Business as Usual by Men at Work War by U2 True by Spandau Ballet Now That's What I Call Music - Various Artists UK Albums Chart number one album March 5-11, 1983 March 19-25, 1983 May 21, 1983 - June 24, 1983 January 28, 1984 - February 3, 1984 Succeeded by War by U2 The Hurting by Tears for Fears Synchronicity by The Police Touch by Eurythmics Preceded by 1983 The Hot Ones by Various artists The Number Ones by The Beatles Thru the Roof '83 by Various artists 1984 Shakin' by Various artists Australian Kent Music Report number-one album June 13-19, 1983 June 27 - July 10, 1983 January 23 - March 4, 1984 March 19 - April 1, 1984 Succeeded by The Number Ones by The Beatles Synchronicity by The Police 1984 Shakin' by Various artists The Swing by INXS [show]v * d * eMichael Jackson Main articles Health and appearance ? Neverland ? 1993 accusations of child sexual abuse ? Living with Michael Jackson ? People v. Jackson ? Death ? Memorial service Studio albums Got to Be There ? Ben ? Music & Me ? Forever, Michael ? Off the Wall ? Thriller ? Bad ? Dangerous ? HIStory ? Invincible Compilations The Best of Michael Jackson ? Anthology ? Number Ones ? The Ultimate Collection ? The Essential Michael Jackson ? Visionary: The Video Singles ? King of Pop Other releases One Day in Your Life ? E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ? Farewell My Summer Love ? Looking Back to Yesterday ? Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix ? Thriller 25 ? Michael Jackson: The Stripped Mixes ? Hello World: The Motown Solo Collection Concert tours Victory Tour ? Bad World Tour ? Dangerous World Tour ? HIStory World Tour ? This Is It Videography The Wiz ? Thriller ? Captain EO ? Moonwalker ? "Stark Raving Dad" ? Ghosts ? Miss Cast Away ? Dome Project Video releases Dangerous - The Short Films ? Video Greatest Hits - HIStory ? HIStory on Film, Volume II ? Number Ones ? The One ? Live in Bucharest: The Dangerous Tour Assets Northern Songs ? Sony/ATV Music Publishing Influence on society Moonwalk ? Heal the World Foundation ? Thrill the World ? Thriller (viral video) ? Michael Jackson tribute concert Related articles Jackson family ? The Jackson 5 ? Singles discography ? Awards ? Records and achievements ? Moon Walk ? Bubbles ? Michael Jackson's Moonwalker ? Lisa Marie Presley ? Debbie Rowe [show]v * d * eQuincy Jones Albums The Birth Of A Band, Vol. 1 ? The Quintessence ? The Great Wide World Of Quincy Jones: Live! ? Big Band Bossa Nova ? In The Heat of The Night ? Walking In Space ? Gula Matari ? Smackwater Jack ? You've Got It Bad, Girl ? Body Heat ? Mellow Madness ? I Heard That!! ? Roots ? Sounds...And Stuff Like That!! ? The Dude ? Back on the Block ? Miles & Quincy Live at Montreux ? Q's Jook Joint ? Basie And Beyond ? The Original Jam Sessions 1969 Compilations Ndeda ? The Best ? From Q With Love ? Q: The Musical Biography Of Quincy Jones Singles "Soul Bossa Nova" Other Thriller ? E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ? Discography ? Category ? Tamia [show]v * d * eGrammy Award for Album of the Year 1959 1960s The Music from Peter Gunn ? Come Dance with Me! ? The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart ? Judy at Carnegie Hall ? The First Family ? The Barbra Streisand Album ? Getz/Gilberto ? September of My Years ? Sinatra: A Man and His Music ? Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ? By the Time I Get to Phoenix 1970s Blood, Sweat & Tears ? Bridge Over Troubled Water ? Tapestry ? The Concert For Bangla Desh ? Innervisions ? Fulfillingness' First Finale ? Still Crazy After All These Years ? Songs in the Key of Life ? Rumours ? Saturday Night Fever 1980s 52nd Street ? Christopher Cross ? Double Fantasy ? Toto IV ? Thriller ? Can't Slow Down ? No Jacket Required ? Graceland ? The Joshua Tree ? Faith 1990s Back on the Block ? Unforgettable... with Love ? Unplugged ? The Bodyguard ? MTV Unplugged: Tony Bennett ? Jagged Little Pill ? Falling into You ? Time Out of Mind ? The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill 2000s Supernatural ? Two Against Nature ? O Brother, Where Art Thou? ? Come Away with Me ? Speakerboxxx/The Love Below ? Genius Loves Company ? How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb ? Taking the Long Way ? River: The Joni Letters ? Raising Sand Complete List ? Winners (1959-1970) ? Winners (1971-1990) ? Winners (1991-2010) Stephen King wrote in the endnotes for his story collection Just After Sunset (2008) that his newly published novella N. was "strongly influenced" by Machen's piece, which he noted, "surmounts its rather clumsy prose and works its way relentlessly into the reader's terror-zone. How many sleepless nights has it caused? God knows, but a few of them were mine. I think "Pan" is as close as the horror genre comes to a great white whale." In another interview he stated: "Not Lovecraft; it's a riff on Arthur Machen's "The Great God Pan," which is one of the best horror stories ever written. Maybe the best in the English language. Mine isn't anywhere near that good, but I loved the chance to put neurotic behavior--obsessive/compulsive disorder--together with the idea of a monster-filled macroverse." [2] From cb31450 at gmail.com Wed Jul 15 11:39:44 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:39:44 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Partial list of famous musical artists who died as young or younger than Michael Jackson In-Reply-To: <5c2e4d230907151032q2d30e50en361bdc1bda9ea741@mail.gmail.com> References: <5c2e4d230907100708u4429c293w1ac312c13441a993@mail.gmail.com> <5c2e4d230907150831q1f7f85f8o5f49c299a0229986@mail.gmail.com> <7372F6CF-3B53-47EB-A7B1-0076041BEAF8@pipeline.com> <5c2e4d230907150954j3aeeb5c3y1f885ba4337b73e2@mail.gmail.com> <5c2e4d230907151008n44d51d74uc63d14290a8f6f4e@mail.gmail.com> <5c2e4d230907151010y5c2a8e01kef0c29bdda5179ac@mail.gmail.com> <5c2e4d230907151023lf602d83jf5553aa9d8ab7891@mail.gmail.com> <5c2e4d230907151028x2f7b4a6ax12fdb3cc6303a44b@mail.gmail.com> <5c2e4d230907151032q2d30e50en361bdc1bda9ea741@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907151039xe27f8d0se6788ff978e7f765@mail.gmail.com> http://www.bartleby.com/people/WordswthW.html The Child is father of the Man. ?My Heart Leaps up When I Behold William Wordsworth "MY HEART LEAPS UP WHEN I BEHOLD" My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky: So was it when my life began; So is it now I am a man; So be it when I shall grow old, Or let me die! The Child is father of the Man; I could wish my days to be Bound each to each by natural piety. 1802. From cb31450 at gmail.com Wed Jul 15 11:47:58 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:47:58 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Partial list of famous musical artists who died as young or younger than Michael Jackson In-Reply-To: <5c2e4d230907151039xe27f8d0se6788ff978e7f765@mail.gmail.com> References: <5c2e4d230907100708u4429c293w1ac312c13441a993@mail.gmail.com> <5c2e4d230907150831q1f7f85f8o5f49c299a0229986@mail.gmail.com> <7372F6CF-3B53-47EB-A7B1-0076041BEAF8@pipeline.com> <5c2e4d230907150954j3aeeb5c3y1f885ba4337b73e2@mail.gmail.com> <5c2e4d230907151008n44d51d74uc63d14290a8f6f4e@mail.gmail.com> <5c2e4d230907151010y5c2a8e01kef0c29bdda5179ac@mail.gmail.com> <5c2e4d230907151023lf602d83jf5553aa9d8ab7891@mail.gmail.com> <5c2e4d230907151028x2f7b4a6ax12fdb3cc6303a44b@mail.gmail.com> <5c2e4d230907151032q2d30e50en361bdc1bda9ea741@mail.gmail.com> <5c2e4d230907151039xe27f8d0se6788ff978e7f765@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907151047q500e1284lef138c4e78e56f6@mail.gmail.com> Here we go: Wordsworth's belief that children have an instinctive wisdom that adults lack. CB ^^^^^ Ode: Intimations of Immortality (Redirected from Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood) Jump to: navigation, search Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood"Ode: Intimations of Immortality From Recollections of Early Childhood" is a long ode in eleven sections by the English Romantic poet William Wordsworth. It is a deeply philosophical work, with themes ranging from the Platonic belief in pre-existence, to Wordsworth's belief that children have an instinctive wisdom that adults lack. Composed at Grasmere, in the English Lake District, between 1802 and 1804, "Intimations of Immortality" was first published in Poems, in Two Volumes (1807). [1] Arranged in eleven stanzas of anywhere from eight to forty lines each, the poem is written in anisometric verse, with lines of varied iambic stresses. Wordsworth applies memories of his early childhood to his adult philosophy of life. According to the author's prose introduction, "Intimations of Immortality" was inspired in part by Platonic philosophy. Plato taught pre-existence, meaning that the soul dwelled in an ideal alternate state prior to its present occupation of the body, and the soul will return to that ideal previous state after the body's death. The immortality the title refers to is the immortality of the soul, which Wordsworth maintains is felt or intimated during early childhood. [2] Hence Wordsworth's famous line: "The Child is Father of the Man." "Intimations of Immortality" begins with the speaker recalling how nature and "every common sight" once seemed divine to him. In Stanza II, he reminds himself that rainbows and the like are still "beautiful and fair" to him, but nevertheless he feels "there hath past [passed] away a glory from the earth." In Stanza III, he feels that no private grief can diminish the joyous quality of nature. He feels nature's joy in the fourth stanza, but the feeling quickly fades. In Stanza V, Wordsworth begins to philosophize in earnest. "Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting," he says, for our souls originate in a purer, more glorious realm: heaven itself. Small children retain some memory of paradise, which glorifies their experiences on earth, but youths begin to lose it, and adults, distracted by earthly concerns,[3] entirely forget it (Stanza VI). Next, the speaker observes a six-year-old boy mimicking adult behavior in his play, "as if his whole vocation / Were endless imitation." In Stanza VIII, the speaker addresses the child, wondering why he, "thou best Philosopher" and "Mighty Prophet," imitates adult behavior as though he were eager to hasten "the inevitable yoke" of earthly cares and customs ("freight"). In the ninth stanza, the speaker rejoices that his memories of childhood ("those shadowy recollections" that "are yet a master light of all our seeing") remain to inspire him. In the tenth stanza, he calls on the birds to sing and the lambs to bound, to share his joy. Instead of mourning the loss of childhood innocence and wisdom, the speaker vows to "find / Strength in what remains behind" and to develop a mature "philosophic mind", 'which stems from a consciousness of mortality, as opposed to the child's feeling of immortality.' [4] Wordsworth sums up his philosophy in the final stanza (XI). His mature mind, he says, 'enables him to love nature and natural beauty all the more, for each of nature's objects can stir him to thought, and even the simplest flower blowing in the wind can raise in him "thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears."' [5] Stirringly written with 'linguistic strategies [that] are extraordinarily sophisticated and complex', "Intimations of Immortality" is Wordsworth's 'mature masterpiece' reflecting his belief that 'life on earth is a dim shadow of an earlier, purer existence, dimly recalled in childhood and then forgotten in the process of growing up.' [6] [edit] Musical settings Wordworth's poem has 3 times been set to music in large-scale compositions for symphony orchestra and singers. Arthur Somervell's version was first performed at the Leeds Festival in 1907. Gerald Finzi's cantata Intimations of Immortality was premiered in 1950, when it was conducted by Herbert Sumsion in Gloucester Cathedral at the Three Choirs Festival.[7] It was also recorded by Ron Perlman on an album entitled "Of Love & Hope" inspired by the television show Beauty & the Beast, starring Ron Perlman and Linda Hamilton. The music was taken and adapted from the T.V.series. [8] Audio [edit] Appearances The poem was read by actor Timothy West at the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles[9]. It is also cited several times in the first story, "Rumpole and the Younger Generation" by John Mortimer.[10] Audio [edit] References ^ The Poetical Works of Wordsworth, pp. 353. Introduction by Paul D. Sheats. Cambridge ed. Houghton Mifflin Co., New York, 1982. ^ Sheats, Introduction. ^ Compare Wordsworth's sonnet "The world is too much with us". ^ Phillips, Brian. SparkNote on Wordsworth's Poetry. "Ode: Intimations of Immortality." 18 Aug. 2007. ^ Ibid ^ Ibid ^ Alfred Louis Bacharach, The New Musical Companion, London, V. Gollancz, 1957; p. 498. ^ http://www.amazon.com/Beauty-Beast-Love-Hope/dp/B000008DBI ^ "Timetable: The royal wedding day". http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4421763.stm. Retrieved on 2008-05-02. ^ John Mortimer, Rumpole of the Bailey, pp. 7-47. Penguin Books, London, 1978. Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ode:_Intimations_of_Immortality" Categories: Poetry by William Wordsworth | 1807 poems On 7/15/09, c b wrote: > http://www.bartleby.com/people/WordswthW.html > > The Child is father of the Man. > ?My Heart Leaps up When I Behold > William > Wordsworth > > > > "MY HEART LEAPS UP WHEN I BEHOLD" > My heart leaps up when I behold > A rainbow in the sky: > So was it when my life began; > So is it now I am a man; > So be it when I shall grow old, > Or let me die! > The Child is father of the Man; > I could wish my days to be > Bound each to each by natural piety. > 1802. > From cb31450 at gmail.com Wed Jul 15 11:32:11 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:32:11 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Partial list of famous musical artists who died as young or younger than Michael Jackson In-Reply-To: <5c2e4d230907151028x2f7b4a6ax12fdb3cc6303a44b@mail.gmail.com> References: <5c2e4d230907100708u4429c293w1ac312c13441a993@mail.gmail.com> <5c2e4d230907150831q1f7f85f8o5f49c299a0229986@mail.gmail.com> <7372F6CF-3B53-47EB-A7B1-0076041BEAF8@pipeline.com> <5c2e4d230907150954j3aeeb5c3y1f885ba4337b73e2@mail.gmail.com> <5c2e4d230907151008n44d51d74uc63d14290a8f6f4e@mail.gmail.com> <5c2e4d230907151010y5c2a8e01kef0c29bdda5179ac@mail.gmail.com> <5c2e4d230907151023lf602d83jf5553aa9d8ab7891@mail.gmail.com> <5c2e4d230907151028x2f7b4a6ax12fdb3cc6303a44b@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907151032q2d30e50en361bdc1bda9ea741@mail.gmail.com> The Great God Pan The Great God Pan Author Arthur Machen Country United Kingdom Language English Genre(s) Horror novella Publisher Creation Books Publication date 1926 Media type print (hardback) Pages 128 The Great God Pan is a novella written by Arthur Machen. The original story was published in 1890, and Machen revised and extended it in 1894. On publication it was widely denounced by the press as degenerate and horrific because of its decadent style and sexual content, although it has since garnered a reputation as a classic of horror. Machen?s story was only one of many at the time to focus on Pan as a useful symbol for the power of nature and paganism. Contents [hide] 1 Plot summary 2 Critical opinion 3 Film, TV or theatrical adaptations 4 Influence 5 References 6 External links [edit] Plot summary A woman in Wales has her mind destroyed by a scientist's attempt to enable her to see the god of nature Pan. Years later, a young woman named Helen Vaughan arrives on the London social scene, disturbing many young men and causing some to commit suicide; it transpires that she is the monstrous offspring of the god Pan and the woman in the experiment. [edit] Critical opinion In "Supernatural Horror in Literature" (1926; revised 1933), H. P. Lovecraft praised the novel, saying: "No one could begin to describe the cumulative suspense and ultimate horror with which every paragraph abounds"; he added that "the sensitive reader" reaches the end with "an appreciative shudder." Lovecraft also noted, however, that "melodrama is undeniably present, and coincidence is stretched to a length which appears absurd upon analysis." The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1993) notes "The story begins with an sf rationale (brain surgery) which remains one of the most dramatically horrible and misogynistic in fiction." [edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations "The Great God" was brought to the stage in 2008 by WildClaw Theatre Company in Chicago. It was adapted and directed by WildClaw Artistic Director Charley Sherman. [edit] Influence The story's depiction of a monstrous half-human hybrid inspired the main plotline of Lovecraft?s "The Dunwich Horror", which refers by name to Machen?s story. According to Lovecraft scholar Robert M. Price, "'The Dunwich Horror' is in every sense an homage to Machen and even a pastiche. There is little in Lovecraft's wonderful story that does not come directly out of Machen's fiction."[1] It also inspired Peter Straub's Ghost Story. The book was translated into French by Paul-Jean Toulet (Le grand dieu Pan, Paris, 1901). It was a major influence on his first novel, Monsieur du Paur, homme public. Stephen King wrote in the endnotes for his story collection Just After Sunset (2008) that his newly published novella N. was "strongly influenced" by Machen's piece, which he noted, "surmounts its rather clumsy prose and works its way relentlessly into the reader's terror-zone. How many sleepless nights has it caused? God knows, but a few of them were mine. I think "Pan" is as close as the horror genre comes to a great white whale." In another interview he stated: "Not Lovecraft; it?s a riff on Arthur Machen?s ?The Great God Pan,? which is one of the best horror stories ever written. Maybe the best in the English language. Mine isn?t anywhere near that good, but I loved the chance to put neurotic behavior?obsessive/compulsive disorder?together with the idea of a monster-filled macroverse." [2] [edit] References ^ Price, pp. ix-x. ^ "SELF-INTERVIEW By Stephen King 10:50am September 4th, 2008 [edit] External links has original text related to this article: The Great God PanThe Great God Pan at Project Gutenberg This article about a 19th century novel is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. On 7/15/09, c b wrote: > As far as the horror story/movie genre, Michael Pan Jackson's greatest > album was _Thriller_, in the video of which he transforms from a > teenage boy dating a girl into a Wherewolf stalking her, thereby > weaving in the classic myth of "The Beauty and the Beast". He > features the voice of the classic horror film actor Vincent Price. > > > Thriller (album) > > > > Thriller > > Studio album by Michael Jackson > Released November 30, 1982 > Recorded April 14 - November 8, 1982 > Westlake Recording Studios > (Los Angeles, California) > Genre R&B, dance, dance-pop, pop/rock, funk[1] > Length 42:19 > Label Epic > EK-38112 > Producer Michael Jackson > Quincy Jones > Professional reviews > Allmusic [1] > Robert Christgau (A-)[2] > Melody Maker (unfavorable) 1982[3] > Q [4] > Rolling Stone [5] > Slant [6] > Stylus (favorable)[7] > The New York Times (favorable)[8] > > Michael Jackson chronology > Off the Wall > (1979) Thriller > (1982) Bad > (1987) > > Singles from Thriller > "The Girl Is Mine" > Released: October 18, 1982 > "Billie Jean" > Released: January 3, 1983 > "Beat It" > Released: February 14, 1983 > "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" > Released: May 8, 1983 > "Human Nature" > Released: July 3, 1983 > "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" > Released: September 19, 1983 > "Thriller" > Released: January 23, 1984 > > 2001 Special Edition > > Thriller is the sixth studio album by American recording artist > Michael Jackson. The album was released on November 30, 1982 by Epic > Records as the follow-up to Jackson's critically and commercially > successful 1979 album Off the Wall. Thriller explores similar genres > to those of Off the Wall, including funk, disco, soul, soft rock, R&B, > and pop. Thriller's lyrics deal with themes including paranoia and the > supernatural. > > With a production budget of $750,000, recording sessions took place > between April and November 1982 at Westlake Recording Studios in Los > Angeles, California.[9] Assisted by producer Quincy Jones, Jackson > wrote four of Thriller's nine tracks. Following the release of the > album's first single "The Girl Is Mine", some observers assumed > Thriller would only be a minor hit record. With the release of the > second single "Billie Jean", the album topped the charts in many > countries. At its peak, the album was selling a million copies a week > worldwide. In just over a year, Thriller became--and currently > remains--the best-selling album of all time. Sales are estimated to be > over 50 million copies sold worldwide. Seven of the album's nine songs > were released as singles, and all reached the top 10 on the Billboard > Hot 100. The album won a record-breaking eight Grammy Awards at the > 1984 Grammys. > > Thriller cemented Jackson's status as one of the predominant pop stars > of the late 20th century, and enabled him to break down racial > barriers via his appearances on MTV and meetings with President Ronald > Reagan at the White House. The album was one of the first to use music > videos as successful promotional tools--the videos for "Thriller", > "Billie Jean" and "Beat It" all received regular rotation on MTV. In > 2001, a special edition issue of the album was released, which > contains additional audio interviews, a demo recording and the song > "Someone In the Dark", which was a Grammy-winning track from the E.T. > the Extra-Terrestrial storybook.[10] In 2008, the album was reissued > again as Thriller 25, containing re-mixes that feature contemporary > artists, a previously unreleased song and a DVD. > > Thriller ranked number 20 on Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest > Albums of All Time list in 2003, and was listed by the National > Association of Recording Merchandisers at number three in its > Definitive 200 Albums of All Time. Thriller was preserved by the > Library of Congress to the National Recording Registry, as it was > deemed "culturally significant". > > Contents [hide] > 1 Background > 2 Recording > 3 Music > 4 Release and reception > 5 Influence and legacy > 5.1 Music industry > 5.2 Music videos and racial equality > 5.3 Contemporary appeal > 6 Reissues and catalog sales > 7 Track listing > 8 Personnel > 9 See also > 10 References > 11 Notes > > > > [edit] Background > Jackson's previous album Off the Wall (1979) was a critical success > and received generally favorable reviews.[11][12] It was also a > commercial success, eventually selling over 20 million copies > worldwide.[13] > > The years between Off the Wall and Thriller were a transitional period > for the singer, a time of increasing independence and struggles with > his family. In 1973, Jackson's father Joseph began a secret affair > with a woman 20 years younger than he; the couple had a child in > secret. In 1980, Joseph told his family of the affair and child. > Michael, already angry with his father over his childhood abuse, felt > so betrayed that he fell out with Joseph for many years.[14] The > period saw the singer become deeply unhappy; Jackson explained, "Even > at home, I'm lonely. I sit in my room sometimes and cry. It's so hard > to make friends ... I sometimes walk around the neighborhood at night, > just hoping to find someone to talk to. But I just end up coming > home."[15] When Jackson turned 21 in August 1979, he fired Joseph as > his manager and replaced him with John Branca.[16] > > Jackson confided in Branca that he wanted to be "the biggest star in > show business" and "the wealthiest". The singer was upset about what > he perceived to be the under-performance of Off the Wall, stating, "It > was totally unfair that it didn't get Record of the Year and it can > never happen again."[17] He also felt undervalued by the music > industry; in 1980 when Jackson asked the publicist of Rolling Stone if > they would be interested in doing a cover story on him, the publicist > declined, to which Jackson responded, "I've been told over and over > that black people on the cover of magazines doesn't sell copies ... > Just wait. Someday those magazines are going to be begging me for an > interview. Maybe I'll give them one. And maybe I won't."[17] > > > [edit] Recording > Jackson reunited with Off the Wall producer Quincy Jones to record his > sixth studio album. The pair worked together on 300 songs, nine of > which were eventually included.[18] Thriller was recorded between > April and November 1982, with a production budget of $750,000. Several > members of the band Toto were also involved in the album's recording > and production.[18] Jackson wrote four songs for the record: "Wanna Be > Startin' Somethin'", "The Girl Is Mine" (with Paul McCartney), "Beat > It" and "Billie Jean".[19] Unlike many artists, Jackson did not write > these songs on paper. Instead, he would dictate into a sound recorder; > when recording he would sing from memory.[20][21] > > The relationship between Jackson and Jones became strained during the > album's recording. Jackson spent much of his time rehearsing dance > steps alone.[21] When the album's nine songs were completed, both > Jones and Jackson were unhappy with the result and remixed every song, > spending a week on each.[21] Jones believed that "Billie Jean" was not > strong enough to be included on the record, but Jackson disagreed and > kept it. Jones told Jackson that Thriller would be unlikely to sell > successfully like Off the Wall had, because the market had since > weakened. In response, Jackson threatened to cancel the album's > release.[18] > > Jackson was inspired to create an album where "every song was a > killer," as with Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker, and developed Thriller > on that concept.[22][23] Jones and songwriter Rod Temperton gave > detailed accounts of what occurred for the 2001 reissue of the album. > Jones discussed "Billie Jean" and why it was so personal to Jackson, > who struggled to deal with a number of obsessed fans. Jones wanted the > long introduction on the song to be shortened; however, Jackson > insisted that it remain because it made him want to dance.[19] The > ongoing backlash against disco made it necessary to move in a > different musical direction from the disco-heavy Off the Wall.[23] > Jones and Jackson were determined to make a rock song that would > appeal to all tastes and spent weeks looking for a suitable guitarist > for the song "Beat It", a song Jackson wrote and played drums on. > Eventually, they found Eddie Van Halen of the rock band Van > Halen.[19][21] > > When Rod Temperton wrote the song "Thriller", he originally wanted to > call it "Starlight" or "Midnight Man" but settled on "Thriller" > because he felt the name had merchandising potential.[21] Always > wanting a notable person to recite the closing lyrics, Temperton > brought in actor Vincent Price, who completed his part in just two > takes. Temperton wrote the spoken portion in a taxi on the way to the > recording studio. Jones and Temperton said that some recordings were > left off the final cut because they did not have the "edginess" of > other album tracks.[19] > > > [edit] Music > "Thriller" > > Excerpt of the album's title track, and one of Jackson's signature > pieces, "Thriller", released as a single in 1984. Jackson utilizes > cinematic sound effects, horror film motifs and vocal trickery to > convey a sense of danger in his work.[24] > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > "Human Nature" > > "Human Nature", a top ten hit single in the US. It is the most notable > ballad on the album, praised for its moody, introspective lyrics and > sound. > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > "Billie Jean" > > "Billie Jean", a number one hit single in many countries. The song was > written and co-produced by Jackson. The track mixed uptempo funk and > disco with the somber themes of paranoia and obsession. > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > Problems listening to these files? See media help. > According to Steve Huey of Allmusic, Thriller refined the strengths of > Jackson's previous album Off the Wall; the dance and rock tracks were > more aggressive, while the pop tunes and ballads were softer and more > soulful.[25] Notable tracks include the ballads "The Lady in My Life", > "Human Nature", and "The Girl Is Mine"; the funk pieces "Billie Jean" > and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"; and the disco set "Baby Be Mine" > and "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)".[1][5][6][25] "Wanna Be Startin' > Somethin'" was written a few years prior to 1982 and has a similar > sound to the material on Off The Wall. The song is accompanied by a > bass and percussion background and the song's centerpiece, a climaxing > Swahili chant, gave the song an international flavor.[26] "The Girl Is > Mine" tells of two friends' fight over a woman, arguing over who loves > her more and concludes with a spoken rap.[21][26] > > Despite the light pop flavor of these two records, Thriller, more so > than Off the Wall, displayed foreshadowings of the contradictory > thematic elements that would come to characterize Jackson's later > work.[27] With Thriller, Jackson would begin his association with the > subliminal theme of paranoia and darker imagery.[5] This is evident on > the songs "Billie Jean", "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" and > "Thriller".[1] In "Billie Jean", Jackson sings about an obsessive fan > who alleges he has fathered a child of hers; in "Wanna Be Startin' > Somethin'" he argues against gossips and the media.[5][25] In the > former song, Jones had Jackson sing vocal overdubs through a > six-foot-long cardboard tube, and brought in jazz saxophonist Tom > Scott to play a rare instrument, the lyricon, a wind-controlled analog > synthesizer. Bassist Louis Johnson ran through his part on a Yamaha > bass guitar. The song opens with a long bass-and-drums > introduction.[28] In the song "Thriller", sound effects such as > creaking door, thunder, feet walking on wooden planks, winds and > howling dogs can be heard.[21] > > The anti-gang-violence "Beat It" became a homage to West Side Story, > and was Jackson's first successful rock cross-over piece.[25][29] > Jackson later said of "Beat It", "the point is no one has to be the > tough guy, you can walk away from a fight and still be a man. You > don't have to die to prove you're a man".[26] "Human Nature" is moody > and introspective, as conveyed in lyrics such as, "Looking out, across > the morning, the City's heart begins to beat, reaching out, I touch > her shoulder, I'm dreaming of the street".[26] > > By the late 1970s, Jackson's abilities as a vocalist were well > regarded; Allmusic described him as a "blindingly gifted > vocalist".[11] Rolling Stone compared his vocals to the "breathless, > dreamy stutter" of Stevie Wonder. Their analysis was also that > "Jackson's feathery-timbred tenor is extraordinary beautiful. It > slides smoothly into a startling falsetto that's used very > daringly".[12] With the release of Thriller, Jackson could sing > low--down to a basso low C--but he preferred to sing higher because pop > tenors have more range to create style.[30] Rolling Stone were of the > opinion that Jackson was now singing in a "fully adult voice" that was > "tinged by sadness".[5] "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)", credited to > James Ingram and Quincy Jones, and "Lady in My Life" by Rod Temperton, > both gave the album a stronger R&B direction; the latter song was > described as "the closest Jackson has come to crooning a sexy, soulful > ballad after his Motown years" by Taraborrelli.[26] The singer had > already adopted a "vocal hiccup" which he continued to implement in > Thriller. The purpose of the hiccup--somewhat like a gulping for air or > gasping--is to help promote a certain emotion; be it excitement, > sadness or fear.[31] > > > [edit] Release and reception > Thriller was released on November 30, 1982, and sold one million > copies worldwide per week at its peak.[30] Seven singles were released > from the album, including "The Girl Is Mine"--which was seen as a poor > choice for the lead release and led some to believe that the album > would be a disappointment, and to suggestions that Jackson was bowing > to a white audience.[26] "The Girl Is Mine" was followed by the hit > single "Billie Jean", which made Thriller a chart-topper.[32][33] > Success continued with the single "Beat It", which featured guitarists > Eddie Van Halen and Steve Lukather.[34] The title track "Thriller" was > released as a single and also became a hit internationally.[26] > > Thriller was mostly well received by critics. A four-star Rolling > Stone review by Christopher Connelly described it as "a zesty LP" with > a "harrowing, dark message". Despite the positive response, the title > track came under strong criticism. Rolling Stone expressed a negative > sentiment, criticizing its "degenerat[ion] into silly camp". The > magazine expressed confusion at the use of Vincent Price over Count > Floyd for the track's concluding rap.[5] The New York Times gave a > positive review of the album, and dedicated a large amount of its > coverage to the song "Human Nature". They described it as the most > "striking" song on the record, and wrote, "this is a haunting, > brooding ballad by Steve Porcaro and John Bettis with an irresistible > chorus and it should be an enormous hit". Concluding their review The > New York Times added; "there are other hits here, too, lots of them. > Best of all, with a pervasive confidence infusing the album as a > whole, Thriller suggests that Mr. Jackson's evolution as an artist is > far from finished".[8] > > Robert Christgau published a positive (A-) graded overview of the > album a few days before its release. He acknowledged that there were > "fillers" on the record but still labeled it "almost classic". He > expressed the opinion that "Beat It" was the album's best track, > calling it "the triumph and the thriller", but criticized "The Girl Is > Mine" as "Michael's worst idea since 'Ben'". He was of the opinion > that the collaboration did not work well, but still praised it for > "getting interracial love on the radio".[2] A year after the album's > release, Time summed up the three main singles from the album, saying, > "The pulse of America and much of the rest of the world moves > irregularly, beating in time to the tough strut of "Billie Jean", the > asphalt aria of "Beat It", the supremely cool chills of > "Thriller".[30] Conversely, in a Melody Maker review, Paolo Hewitt > stated "[t]his is not a good LP"; in his opinion there were only "two > songs worthy of mention". "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" was praised as > an "exciting", "uptempo electro-funk song", as was "Billie Jean". > Hewitt's stance was that as a whole, the album could only be described > as "bland", particularly the closing tracks. He summed up: "Jackson > seems to have lost his talent for turning gross into gold".[3] > > The album won Jackson a record-breaking seven Grammy Awards in 1984, > including Album of the Year. The eighth Grammy went to Bruce > Swedien.[35][36] That same year, Jackson won eight American Music > Awards, the Special Award of Merit and three MTV Video Music > Awards.[37] Thriller was recognized as the world's best-selling album > on February 7, 1984, when it was inducted into the Guinness Book of > World Records.[38] It is one of only three albums to remain in the top > ten of the Billboard 200 for a full year, and spent 37 weeks at number > one out of the 80 consecutive weeks it was in the top ten. The album > was also the first of three to have seven Billboard Hot 100 top ten > singles, and was the only album to be the best-seller of two years > (1983-1984) in the US.[39][40] > > On March 6, 2009 Thriller was certified 28x Platinum by the Recording > Industry Association of America, for shipments of at least 28 million > copies in the US giving it Double Diamond Award status there.[41][42] > The album topped the charts in many countries, sold 3.7 million copies > in the UK,[42][43] 2.5 million in Japan[44] and went 14x Platinum in > Australia.[45] Still popular today, Thriller sells an estimated > 130,000 copies in the US per year; it reached number two in the US > Catalog charts in February 2003 and number 39 in the UK in March > 2007.[37] The album is cited as having sold between 47 and 109 million > copies worldwide; the Guinness Book of World Records lists Thriller as > having sold 65 million copies as of 2007.[46][47][48][49][50] > > > [edit] Influence and legacy > > [edit] Music industry > Blender described Jackson as the "late twentieth century pre-eminent > pop icon", while The New York Times gave the opinion that he was a > "musical phenomenon", and that "in the world of pop music, there is > Michael Jackson and there is everybody else".[28][51] Jackson changed > the way the industry functioned: both as an artistic persona, and as a > financial, profitable entity. His attorney John Branca observed that > Jackson achieved the highest royalty rate in the music industry to > that point: approximately $2 for each album sold. As a result, Jackson > earned record-breaking profits from compact disc sales, and from the > sale of copies of the documentary, The Making of Michael Jackson's > Thriller, produced by Jackson and John Landis. Funded by MTV, the film > sold over 350,000 copies in its first few months. In a market then > driven by singles, Thriller raised the significance of albums, yet its > multiple hit singles changed perceived notions as to the number of > successful singles that could be taken from an individual album.[52] > The era saw the arrival of novelties like the Michael Jackson doll, > that appeared in stores in May 1984 at a price of $12.[30] Thriller > retains a position in American culture; biographer J. Randy > Taraborrelli explains, "At some point, Thriller stopped selling like a > leisure item--like a magazine, a toy, tickets to a hit movie--and > started selling like a household staple".[53] > > At the time of the album's release, a press statement from Gil > Friesen, the then President of A&M Records, read that, "The whole > industry has a stake in this success".[30] Time magazine speculated > that "the fallout from Thriller has given the [music] business its > best years since the heady days of 1978, when it had an estimated > total domestic revenue of $4.1 billion".[30] Time summed up Thriller's > impact as a "restoration of confidence" for an industry bordering on > "the ruins of punk and the chic regions of synthesizer pop". The > publication described Jackson's influence at that point as, "Star of > records, radio, rock video. A one-man rescue team for the music > business. A songwriter who sets the beat for a decade. A dancer with > the fanciest feet on the street. A singer who cuts across all > boundaries of taste and style and color too".[30] > > > [edit] Music videos and racial equality > Before the success of Thriller, many felt Jackson had struggled to get > MTV airing because he was black.[28] In an effort to attain air time > for Jackson, CBS Records President Walter Yetnikoff pressured MTV and > declared, "I'm not going to give you any more videos and I'm going to > go public and fucking tell them about the fact you don't want to play > music by a black guy".[28] His position persuaded MTV to begin airing > "Billie Jean" and later "Beat It", which led to a long partnership and > later helped other black music artists to gain mainstream > recognition.[54] MTV deny claims of racism in their broadcasting.[55] > The popularity of his videos, such as "Beat It" and "Billie Jean", > helped to place the young channel "on the map", and MTV's focus > shifted in favor of pop and R&B.[54][56] > > > Jackson in the revolutionary Thriller videoJackson transformed the > medium of music video into an art form and promotional tool through > the use of complex story lines, dance routines, special effects and > cameo appearances by well known personalities.[25] When the > 14-minute-long Thriller video aired, MTV ran it twice an hour to meet > demand.[57] The short film marked an increase in scale for music > videos and has been routinely named the best music video ever.[52] The > popularity of the video sent the album back to number one in the album > chart, but Jackson's label did not support the release of the third > music video from the album. They were already pleased with its > success, so Jackson convinced MTV to fund the project.[21][57] Author, > music critic and journalist Nelson George wrote in 2004, "It's > difficult to hear the songs from Thriller and disengage them from the > videos. For most of us the images define the songs. In fact it could > be argued that Michael is the first artist of the MTV age to have an > entire album so intimately connected in the public imagination with > its imagery".[24] Short films like Thriller largely remained unique to > Jackson, while the group dance sequence in "Beat It" has been > frequently imitated.[19] The choreography in Thriller has become a > part of global pop culture, replicated everywhere from Bollywood to > prisons in the Philippines.[58][59] > > For a black artist in the 1980s to that point, Jackson's success was > unprecedented. According to The Washington Post, Thriller paved the > way for other African-American artists such as Prince.[60] "The Girl > Is Mine" was credited for getting interracial love on the radio.[61] > Time noted, "Jackson is the biggest thing since The Beatles. He is the > hottest single phenomenon since Elvis Presley. He just may be the most > popular black singer ever".[30] > > > [edit] Contemporary appeal > > A Michael Jackson celebrity impersonator for the 25th anniversary of > the album Thriller at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival with performers > from Step It Up and Dance.Today, the album is still viewed in a > positive light by critics some two decades later. Stephen Thomas > Erlewine of Allmusic gave the album the maximum five stars, and wrote > that the record had something to interest everyone. He believed it > showcased harder funk and hard rock while remaining "undeniably fun". > He went on to compliment "Billie Jean" and "Wanna Be Startin' > Somethin'" and said, "The record's two best songs: 'Billie Jean, > ...and the delirious 'Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'', the freshest funk > on the album [but] the most claustrophobic, scariest track Jackson > ever recorded." Erlewine gave the opinion that it was an improvement > on the artist's previous album, although Allmusic was critical of the > title track, describing it as "ridiculous" and as having the effect of > "arriving in the middle of the record and sucking out its > momentum".[1] Slant Magazine gave the album five stars and, like the > Allmusic review and the original Rolling Stone review, paid compliment > to the lyrics of "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'".[6] > > The author Nelson George wrote that Jackson "has educated R. Kelly, > Usher, Justin Timberlake and countless others with Thriller as a > textbook".[62] As a sign of the album's longevity, in 2003 Thriller > was ranked at number 20 on the Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of > All Time list, and was listed by the National Association of Recording > Merchandisers at number three of the Definitive 200 Albums of All > Time.[63][64] In 2008, 25 years after its release, the record was > inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and, a few weeks later, was > among 25 recordings preserved by the Library of Congress to the > National Recording Registry as "culturally significant".[65][66] In > 2009, music critics for MTV Base and VH1 both listed Thriller as the > best album released since 1981.[67] Thriller, along with other critic > favorites were then polled by the public. 40,000 people found Thriller > to be the Best Album of all time by MTV Generation, gaining a third of > all votes.[67][68] > > > [edit] Reissues and catalog sales > Thriller was reissued in 2001 in an expanded set titled Thriller: > Special Edition. The original tracks were remastered, and the album > included a new booklet and bonus material, including the songs > "Someone In the Dark", "Carousel", and Jackson's original "Billie > Jean" demo, as well as audio interviews with Jones and Temperton > discussing the recording of the album.[19][69] Sony also hired sound > engineer and mixer Mick Guzauski [70][71] to work with Jackson on > creating 5.1-channel surround sound mixes of Thriller, as well as all > his other albums, for release on the then-new Super Audio CD format. > Despite numerous retries, the artist never approved any of the > mixes.[72] Consequently, Thriller was issued on SACD with the stereo > mix only. > > In February 2008, Epic Records released Thriller 25; Jackson served as > executive producer.[42] Thriller 25 appeared on CD, USB and vinyl with > seven bonus tracks, a new song called "For All Time", Vincent Price's > voice-over, and five re-mixes featuring American artists Fergie, > will.i.am, Kanye West, and Akon.[42][73][74] It also included a DVD > featuring three music videos, the Motown 25 "Billie Jean" performance, > and a booklet with a message from Jackson.[42] The ballad "For All > Time" supposedly dates from 1982, but is often credited as being from > Dangerous sessions.[75] Two singles were released from the reissue: > "The Girl Is Mine 2008" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' 2008". > > Thriller 25 was a commercial success and did particularly well as a > reissue. It peaked at number one in eight countries and Europe. It > peaked at number two in the US, number three in the UK and reached the > top 10 in over 30 national charts. It was certified Gold in 11 > countries including the UK, received a 2x Gold certification in France > and received platinum certification in Poland.[76][77][78] In the > United States, Thriller 25 was the second best-selling album of its > release week, selling one hundred and sixty six thousand copies, just > fourteen thousand short of reaching the number one position. It was > ineligible for the Billboard 200 chart as a re-release but entered the > Pop Catalog Charts at number one (where it stayed for ten > non-consecutive weeks),[79] with the best sales on that chart since > December, 1996.[80][81][82] With the arrival of Halloween that > November, Thriller 25 spent an eleventh non-consecutive week atop the > US catalog chart. This brought US sales of the album to 688,000 > copies, making it the best selling catalog album of 2008.[83] This was > Jackson's best launch since Invincible in 2001, selling three million > copies worldwide in 12 weeks.[84] > > After Jackson's death in June 2009, Thriller set additional records. > It sold more than 100,000 copies, placing it at number two on the Top > Pop Catalog Albums chart. Songs from Thriller also helped Jackson > become the first artist to sell more than one million song downloads > in a week.[85] > > > [edit] Track listing > All songs written and composed by Michael Jackson, except where noted. > > # Title Length > 1. "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" 6:02 > 2. "Baby Be Mine" (Rod Temperton) 4:20 > 3. "The Girl Is Mine" (with Paul McCartney) 3:42 > 4. "Thriller" (Temperton) 5:57 > 5. "Beat It" 4:17 > 6. "Billie Jean" 4:54 > 7. "Human Nature" (John Bettis, Steve Porcaro) 4:05 > 8. "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" (James Ingram, Quincy Jones) 3:58 > 9. "The Lady in My Life" (Temperton) 4:59 > > 2001 Special Edition > # Title Length > 10. "Interview with Quincy Jones #1" 2:18 > 11. "Someone in the Dark (previously unreleased)" > (Bergman/Bergman/Temperton) 4:48 > 12. "Interview with Quincy Jones #2" 2:04 > 13. "Billie Jean (Demo) (previously unavailable)" (Jackson) 2:20 > 14. "Interview with Quincy Jones #3" 3:10 > 15. "Interview with Rod Temperton #1" 4:02 > 16. "Interview with Quincy Jones #4" 1:32 > 17. "Voice-Over Session from "Thriller" (previously unreleased)" > (Temperton) 2:52 > 18. "Interview with Rod Temperton #2" 1:56 > 19. "Interview with Quincy Jones #5" 2:01 > 20. "Carousel (previously unreleased)" (Sembello/D. Freeman) 1:49 > 21. "Interview with Quincy Jones #6" 1:17 > > > [edit] Personnel > Brian Barns - keyboards, synthesizers, programming > Michael Boddicker - keyboards, synthesizers > N'dugu Chancler - drums > Paulinho da Costa - percussion > David Foster - keyboards, synthesizers > Gary Grant - trumpet and fl?gelhorn > Eddie Van Halen - guitar ("Beat It") > Jerry Hey - trumpet and fl?gelhorn > Michael Jackson - co-producer, lead and backup vocals, drums > Paul Jackson - guitar > Louis Johnson - bass guitar > Quincy Jones - producer > Steve Lukather - guitar, bass guitar > Anthony Marinelli - synthesizer programming > Paul McCartney - vocals ("The Girl Is Mine") > David Paich - keyboards, synthesizers, programming > Dean Parks - guitar > Greg Phillinganes - keyboards, synthesizers, programming > Jeff Porcaro - drums, horn and string arrangements > Steve Porcaro - keyboards, synthesizers, programming > Vincent Price - voice-over ("Thriller") > Bill Reichenbach - trombone > Bruce Swedien - recording engineer, mixer > Rod Temperton - keyboards, synthesizers > David Williams - guitar > Larry Williams - saxophone and flute > Bill Wolfer - keyboards, synthesizers > > > > [edit] See also > List of best-selling albums worldwide > List of best-selling albums in the United States > > [edit] References > George, Nelson (2004). Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection > booklet. Sony BMG. > Taraborrelli, J. Randy (2004). The Magic and the Madness. Terra Alta, > WV: Headline. ISBN 0-330-42005-4. > > [edit] Notes > ^ a b c d e Erlewine, Stephen (February 19, 2007). "Thriller > Overview". Allmusic. > http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=A9kqog44ttvjz. Retrieved > on June 15, 2008. > ^ a b Christgau, Robert (December 28, 1982). "Christgau's Consumer > Guide, Dec 28th, 1982". Robert Christgau.com. > http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv12-82.php. Retrieved on July > 3, 2008. > ^ a b Maker, Melody (1982). "Thriller Review". Uncut Presents NME > Originals 80's (2005): 68. > ^ "Review: Thriller". Q (January 2000): 138. > ^ a b c d e f Connelly, Christopher (January 28, 1983). "Michael > Jackson: Thriller". Rolling Stone. > http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/michaeljackson/albums/album/303823/review/6067536/thriller. > Retrieved on June 15, 2008. > ^ a b c Henderson, Eric (2003). "Michael Jackson: Thriller". Slant > Magazine. http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/music_review.asp?ID=358. > Retrieved on June 15, 2008. > ^ Rosenberg, Tal (19 June 2007). "Review: Thriller". Stylus Magazine. > http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/diamond/michael-jackson-thriller.htm. > Retrieved on 13 June 2009. > ^ a b Rockwell, John (December 19, 1982). "Michael Jackson's > Thriller': Superb Job". The New York Times. > http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E00E4D71F39F93AA25751C1A964948260. > Retrieved on July 3, 2008. > ^ artist development > ^ "Grammy Award Winners". The Recording Academy. > http://www.grammy.com/GRAMMY_Awards/Winners/Results.aspx?title=&winner=Michael+Jackson&year=0&genreID=0&hp=1. > Retrieved on February 14, 2008. > ^ a b Erlewine, Stephen. "Off the Wall Overview". Allmusic. > http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=A7cu1z85ajyv6. Retrieved > on June 15, 2008. > ^ a b Holden, Stephen (November 1, 1979). "Off the Wall: Michael > Jackson". 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"Michael Jackson - Biography". Allmusic. > http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:kifuxqe5ldae~T1. > Retrieved on November 11, 2006. > ^ a b c d e f g Taraborrelli, pp. 223-225 > ^ Pareles, Jon (September 1987). "Critic's Notebook; How Good Is > Jackson's 'Bad'?". The New York Times. > http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE1DC1F38F930A3575AC0A961948260&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fJ%2fJackson%2c%20Michael. > Retrieved on April 19, 2007. > ^ a b c d "Michael Jackson, "Billy Jean"". Blender. October 2005. > http://www.blender.com/guide/articles.aspx?ID=1777. Retrieved on April > 11, 2007. > ^ "Michael Jackson: Biography". The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. > 2004. http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/michaeljackson/biography. > Retrieved on February 14, 2008. > ^ a b c d e f g h Cocks, Jay (March 1984). "Why He's a Thriller". > Time. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,950053-1,00.html. > Retrieved on March 17, 2007. > ^ George, p. 22 > ^ "Sold On Song Top 100". British Broadcasting Corporation. > http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/soldonsong/songlibrary/billiejean.shtml. > Retrieved on April 5, 2008. > ^ "Sold On Song". British Broadcasting Corporation. > http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/soldonsong/songlibrary/thriller.shtml. > Retrieved on April 5, 2008. > ^ "Sessions". Steve Lukather. 2006. > http://www.stevelukather.net/Biography.aspx. Retrieved on April 5, > 2008. > ^ "Grammy for Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones and Bruce Swedien". > Grammy. http://www.grammy.com/GRAMMY_Awards/Winners/Results.aspx. > Retrieved on February 25, 2009. > ^ Guinness World Records (2006). Guinness World Records 2007. New > York: Guinness World Records Ltd. ISBN 1-904994-12-1. > ^ a b Jackson, Michael. 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"Big Grammy Gains For Many; > King of Pop Returns". Billboard magazine. > http://billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/charts/chart_alert/e3id5388aa9b5187ee7e0bde5d5e991eb4b. > Retrieved on February 20, 2008. > ^ Hasty, Katy (February 20, 2008). "Johnson Remains No. 1; Winehouse, > Hancock Soar". Billboard magazine. > http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003712744. > Retrieved on February 20, 2008. > ^ "US fans shun CD". BBC. > http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/entertainment/music/4730407.stm. Retrieved > on April 7, 2008. > ^ Waddell, Ray (November 7, 2008). "Michael Jackson Eyeing London > Run?". Billboard. > http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003888626. > Retrieved on November 8, 2008. > ^ Friedman, Roger (May 16, 2008). "Jacko: Neverland East in Upstate > New York". Fox News. > http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,356282,00.html#3. Retrieved on May > 22, 2008. > ^ "Michael Jackson Breaks Billboard Charts Records". Billboard. June > 30, 2009. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/michael-jackson-breaks-billboard-charts-1003989310.story. > Retrieved on 2009-07-03. > Preceded by > Business as Usual by Men at Work > Flashdance by Various artists > Synchronicity by The Police > Can't Slow Down by Lionel Richie Billboard 200 number-one album > February 26 - June 24, 1983 > July 9-22, 1983 > September 10-16, 1983 > December 24, 1983 - April 20, 1984 Succeeded by > Flashdance by Various artists > Synchronicity by The Police > Synchronicity by The Police > Footloose by Various artists > Preceded by > "Lies" / "Beach Culture" by Thompson Twins Billboard Hot Dance Club > Play number-one single (all cuts) > January 22 - April 2, 1983 Succeeded by > "Jeopardy" by Greg Kihn Band > Preceded by > Business as Usual by Men at Work > War by U2 > True by Spandau Ballet > Now That's What I Call Music - Various Artists UK Albums Chart number one album > March 5-11, 1983 > March 19-25, 1983 > May 21, 1983 - June 24, 1983 > January 28, 1984 - February 3, 1984 Succeeded by > War by U2 > The Hurting by Tears for Fears > Synchronicity by The Police > Touch by Eurythmics > Preceded by > 1983 The Hot Ones by Various artists > The Number Ones by The Beatles > Thru the Roof '83 by Various artists > 1984 Shakin' by Various artists Australian Kent Music Report number-one album > June 13-19, 1983 > June 27 - July 10, 1983 > January 23 - March 4, 1984 > March 19 - April 1, 1984 Succeeded by > The Number Ones by The Beatles > Synchronicity by The Police > 1984 Shakin' by Various artists > The Swing by INXS > > > > > [show]v * d * eMichael Jackson > > Main articles Health and appearance ? Neverland ? 1993 accusations of > child sexual abuse ? Living with Michael Jackson ? People v. Jackson ? > Death ? Memorial service > > Studio albums Got to Be There ? Ben ? Music & Me ? Forever, Michael ? > Off the Wall ? Thriller ? Bad ? Dangerous ? HIStory ? Invincible > > Compilations The Best of Michael Jackson ? Anthology ? Number Ones ? > The Ultimate Collection ? The Essential Michael Jackson ? Visionary: > The Video Singles ? King of Pop > > Other releases One Day in Your Life ? E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ? > Farewell My Summer Love ? Looking Back to Yesterday ? Blood on the > Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix ? Thriller 25 ? Michael Jackson: The > Stripped Mixes ? Hello World: The Motown Solo Collection > > Concert tours Victory Tour ? Bad World Tour ? Dangerous World Tour ? > HIStory World Tour ? This Is It > > Videography The Wiz ? Thriller ? Captain EO ? Moonwalker ? "Stark > Raving Dad" ? Ghosts ? Miss Cast Away ? Dome Project > > Video releases Dangerous - The Short Films ? Video Greatest Hits - > HIStory ? HIStory on Film, Volume II ? Number Ones ? The One ? Live in > Bucharest: The Dangerous Tour > > Assets Northern Songs ? Sony/ATV Music Publishing > > Influence on society Moonwalk ? Heal the World Foundation ? Thrill the > World ? Thriller (viral video) ? Michael Jackson tribute concert > > Related articles Jackson family ? The Jackson 5 ? Singles discography > ? Awards ? Records and achievements ? Moon Walk ? Bubbles ? Michael > Jackson's Moonwalker ? Lisa Marie Presley ? Debbie Rowe > > [show]v * d * eQuincy Jones > > Albums The Birth Of A Band, Vol. 1 ? The Quintessence ? The Great Wide > World Of Quincy Jones: Live! ? Big Band Bossa Nova ? In The Heat of > The Night ? Walking In Space ? Gula Matari ? Smackwater Jack ? You've > Got It Bad, Girl ? Body Heat ? Mellow Madness ? I Heard That!! ? Roots > ? Sounds...And Stuff Like That!! ? The Dude ? Back on the Block ? > Miles & Quincy Live at Montreux ? Q's Jook Joint ? Basie And Beyond ? > The Original Jam Sessions 1969 > > Compilations Ndeda ? The Best ? From Q With Love ? Q: The Musical > Biography Of Quincy Jones > > Singles "Soul Bossa Nova" > > Other Thriller ? E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ? Discography ? Category ? Tamia > > [show]v * d * eGrammy Award for Album of the Year > > 1959 > 1960s The Music from Peter Gunn ? Come Dance with Me! ? The > Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart ? Judy at Carnegie Hall ? The First > Family ? The Barbra Streisand Album ? Getz/Gilberto ? September of My > Years ? Sinatra: A Man and His Music ? Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts > Club Band ? By the Time I Get to Phoenix > > > 1970s Blood, Sweat & Tears ? Bridge Over Troubled Water ? Tapestry ? > The Concert For Bangla Desh ? Innervisions ? Fulfillingness' First > Finale ? Still Crazy After All These Years ? Songs in the Key of Life > ? Rumours ? Saturday Night Fever > > > 1980s 52nd Street ? Christopher Cross ? Double Fantasy ? Toto IV ? > Thriller ? Can't Slow Down ? No Jacket Required ? Graceland ? The > Joshua Tree ? Faith > > > 1990s Back on the Block ? Unforgettable... with Love ? Unplugged ? The > Bodyguard ? MTV Unplugged: Tony Bennett ? Jagged Little Pill ? Falling > into You ? Time Out of Mind ? The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill > > > 2000s Supernatural ? Two Against Nature ? O Brother, Where Art Thou? ? > Come Away with Me ? Speakerboxxx/The Love Below ? Genius Loves Company > ? How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb ? Taking the Long Way ? River: The > Joni Letters ? Raising Sand > > > Complete List ? Winners (1959-1970) ? Winners (1971-1990) ? Winners (1991-2010) > > > > > > > > Stephen King wrote in the endnotes for his story collection Just After > Sunset (2008) that his newly published novella N. was "strongly > influenced" by Machen's piece, which he noted, "surmounts its rather > clumsy prose and works its way relentlessly into the reader's > terror-zone. How many sleepless nights has it caused? God knows, but a > few of them were mine. I think "Pan" is as close as the horror genre > comes to a great white whale." In another interview he stated: "Not > Lovecraft; it's a riff on Arthur Machen's "The Great God Pan," which > is one of the best horror stories ever written. Maybe the best in the > English language. Mine isn't anywhere near that good, but I loved the > chance to put neurotic behavior--obsessive/compulsive disorder--together > with the idea of a monster-filled macroverse." [2] > From justiceloving at yahoo.com Thu Jul 16 07:58:39 2009 From: justiceloving at yahoo.com (justiceloving at yahoo.com) Date: Thu, 16 Jul 2009 06:58:39 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] questions Message-ID: <853481.81728.qm@web52612.mail.re2.yahoo.com> Will some one kindly?let me know?what?was Stein's Wooden Trichotomies, and shed light on?this passage of Marx by explaining the mentioned forms of families: "It is, of course, just as absurd to hold the Teutonic-Christian form of the family to be absolute as it would be to apply that character to the ancient Roman, the ancient Greek, or the Eastern forms...." From cb31450 at gmail.com Thu Jul 16 11:02:32 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:02:32 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] questions In-Reply-To: <853481.81728.qm@web52612.mail.re2.yahoo.com> References: <853481.81728.qm@web52612.mail.re2.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907161002m5ae727f5m592eefa800455249@mail.gmail.com> Usually, "wooden tircotomies" refers to some kind of poor and "rigid" effort at Hegelian dialectic. Look at Engels _The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State_ where the Teutonic-Christian , ancient Greek and Roman forms of the family are discussed from a Marxist standpoint. Word "family" has a Latin origin. Roman family is "pater" ruled. On 7/16/09, justiceloving at yahoo.com wrote: > > Will some one kindly let me know what was Stein's Wooden Trichotomies, and > shed light on this passage of Marx by explaining the mentioned forms of families: "It is, > of course, just as absurd to hold the Teutonic-Christian form of the family > to be absolute as it would be to apply that character to the ancient Roman, > the ancient Greek, or the Eastern forms...." > > > > _______________________________________________ > Marxism-Thaxis mailing list > Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu > To change your options or unsubscribe go to: > http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis > From karldallas at f2s.com Thu Jul 16 16:02:45 2009 From: karldallas at f2s.com (Karl Dallas) Date: Thu, 16 Jul 2009 23:02:45 +0100 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Marxism-Thaxis Digest, Vol 69, Issue 11 In-Reply-To: <7263010.1247767448865.JavaMail.root@n19> References: <7263010.1247767448865.JavaMail.root@n19> Message-ID: And the relevance of this stuff about aa deluded young pop star and a 19th Century horror author to the subject of this list (which, I seem to recall, once was Marxism) would be what, exactly? From rdumain at autodidactproject.org Thu Jul 16 16:13:50 2009 From: rdumain at autodidactproject.org (Ralph Dumain) Date: Thu, 16 Jul 2009 18:13:50 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] relevance In-Reply-To: References: <7263010.1247767448865.JavaMail.root@n19> Message-ID: The relevance consists in this: IF: (1) You constantly submit to the list whole entries from wikipedia in an unreadable format, without comment, assuming that we can't use Wikipedia ourselves; (2) Randomly pick up on any idea that crosses your mind and run with it in an arbitrary and superficial fashion; (3) Mechanically correlate every piece of information that crosses your path with your confused understanding of isolated phrases culled from the classics of dialectical materialism; (4) Make idiotic assertions about everything based on arbitrary self-delusion, such as representing Obama's victory as a manifestation of a anti-racism; (5) Lie through your teeth about China being a socialist country; (6) Think that the USSR was your friend and had your interests at heart; (7) Are a follower of the Communist Party: THEN: You demonstrate to all and sundry that you are a dumb ass with nothing worthwhile to say about anything. At 06:02 PM 7/16/2009, Karl Dallas wrote: >And the relevance of this stuff about aa deluded young pop star and a >19th Century horror author to the subject of this list (which, I seem >to recall, once was Marxism) would be what, exactly? From cb31450 at gmail.com Fri Jul 17 12:40:51 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:40:51 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Marxism-Thaxis Digest, Vol 69, Issue 11 In-Reply-To: References: <7263010.1247767448865.JavaMail.root@n19> Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907171140p5247a346wacd6e3043156f338@mail.gmail.com> Listen up better. In brief, Michael Jackson who had the "ears" of millions sought to unite Black and White. Any _Marxist_ in the United States who is not concerned about this issue is not a Marxist. Are you a "Marxist" or what ? Pay attention and respond to that. On 7/16/09, Karl Dallas wrote: > And the relevance of this stuff about aa deluded young pop star and a > 19th Century horror author to the subject of this list (which, I seem > to recall, once was Marxism) would be what, exactly? > > _______________________________________________ > Marxism-Thaxis mailing list > Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu > To change your options or unsubscribe go to: > http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis > From cb31450 at gmail.com Fri Jul 17 12:50:01 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:50:01 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] relevance In-Reply-To: References: <7263010.1247767448865.JavaMail.root@n19> Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907171150r268827a8m6e9a820da3f0cad2@mail.gmail.com> Spoken like a true autosundry On 7/16/09, Ralph Dumain wrote: > The relevance consists in this: > > IF: > > (1) You constantly submit to the list whole entries from wikipedia in > an unreadable format, without comment, assuming that we can't use > Wikipedia ourselves; > > (2) Randomly pick up on any idea that crosses your mind and run with > it in an arbitrary and superficial fashion; > > (3) Mechanically correlate every piece of information that crosses > your path with your confused understanding of isolated phrases culled > from the classics of dialectical materialism; > > (4) Make idiotic assertions about everything based on arbitrary > self-delusion, such as representing Obama's victory as a > manifestation of a anti-racism; > > (5) Lie through your teeth about China being a socialist country; > > (6) Think that the USSR was your friend and had your interests at heart; > > (7) Are a follower of the Communist Party: > > THEN: > > You demonstrate to all and sundry that you are a dumb ass with > nothing worthwhile to say about anything. > > At 06:02 PM 7/16/2009, Karl Dallas wrote: > >And the relevance of this stuff about aa deluded young pop star and a > >19th Century horror author to the subject of this list (which, I seem > >to recall, once was Marxism) would be what, exactly? > > > _______________________________________________ > Marxism-Thaxis mailing list > Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu > To change your options or unsubscribe go to: > http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis > From farmelantj at juno.com Fri Jul 17 13:29:44 2009 From: farmelantj at juno.com (farmelantj at juno.com) Date: Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:29:44 GMT Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Leszek Kolakowski dies Message-ID: <20090717.152944.24226.0@webmail14.vgs.untd.com> *Leszek Kolakowski, philosopher, sociologist and essayist has died, aged 82. * ?We receive this news with great pain and sorrow,? said Rector of Warsaw University, Katarzyna Chalasinska-Macukow. ?This is a big loss not just for Poland but for the world.? Poland?s lower house of parliament, the Sejm, stopped debating, Friday, to pay the distinguished intellectual a minute?s silence in his memory. Kolakowski?s /Main Currents of Marxism/ (1978) became a standard academic text in universities the world over and he was awarded Poland?s highest honour, the White Eagle, for services to the history of ideas. Kolakowski was born in Radom, central Poland in 1927. He took his degree at Lodz University and his doctorate in Warsaw University where he later led the history of philosophy departament. Originally a member of the communist Polish United Workers Party he became disillusioned and joined a growing band of revisionist Marxists. After being thrown out of the party and losing his post at Warsaw University, Kolakowski became convinced that Stalinism was the logical conclusion of Marxism and not its aberration, as was the line in many communist parties in Europe and elsewhere. From the late 1960s he worked in universities in the US, and UK, where he became a prominent academic at Oxford University. He is thought to be a major intellectual inspiration to the opposition to communism in Poland. * http://polskieradio.pl/thenews/national/artykul112297_leszek_kolakowski_dies.html * ____________________________________________________________ Find great deals and choose from hundreds of model airplane designs. Click now! http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/BLSrjpTGsHZPKZ01ZDS1WjzmkCKC3b8ag4Q8yTHHPo8TvX8NEFaBAoHLSZS/ From cb31450 at gmail.com Fri Jul 17 13:33:31 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Fri, 17 Jul 2009 15:33:31 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Marxism-Thaxis Digest, Vol 69, Issue 11 In-Reply-To: <5c2e4d230907171140p5247a346wacd6e3043156f338@mail.gmail.com> References: <7263010.1247767448865.JavaMail.root@n19> <5c2e4d230907171140p5247a346wacd6e3043156f338@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907171233w6b76ca44l3248ddb4738adf75@mail.gmail.com> Marxists "should" be interested in mass "phenonomena", mass culture, mass consciousness of many forms. Adorno may have been "wrong" about popular music and culture (smile), but he wasn't "wrong" to "investigate" popular music and culture vis-a-vis working class mass consciousness. That was not a project irrelevant to Marxism. Socialist realist aesthetics concerns itself with working class highlife, play, fun, life _outside_ of work, because in reality workers have life outside of work. Work hard, play hard. See Marxist Thaxis discussions from circa 1998 -2000 on need for Marxists to learn about working class partying, music, arts ,recreation, relaxation. See Angela Davis book on women blues singers, and the African American music tradition as blues tradition. See discussion of relationship between modern popular music and this blues tradition. See discussions of "relevance" of this and relationships between women and men , as well as Black culture and Black/White relations ( on Marxism - Thaxis) See relationship between Communists of the 30's and 40's and jazz musicians such as Billie Holiday and Charlie Parker. Consider concerns of Sidney Finkelstein on these issues Sidney Finkelstein Birth/Death: July 4, 1909 ? January 14, 1974. Sidney Finkelstein was born in Brooklyn, New York on July 4, 1909, studied at City College in New York, and did graduate work at Columbia University and New York University. In the 1930s he was a book reviewer for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle and worked for the United States Postal Service. In the 1940s he joined the music staff of the Herald Tribune and was also a music reviewer for New Masses, Masses, and Mainstream. Between 1951 and 1973 he worked for Vanguard Records, specializing in jazz and classical recordings. As an author he was most noted for a number of books that brought a socialist realist perspective to the arts, partricularly Jazz, a People's Music, in 1948. Finkelstein died in Brooklyn on January 14, 1974. Resources by this Author Inner and Outer Jazz Jazz Studies Online is sponsored by the Center for Jazz Studies, with funding from the Ford Foundation | Credits ? 2008 Columbia University | Copyright Policy Sidney Finkelstein | Jazz Studies OnlineSidney Finkelstein was born in Brooklyn, New York on July 4, 1909, ... a People's Music, in 1948. Finkelstein died in Brooklyn on January 14, 1974. ... jazzstudiesonline.org/?q=node/280 - Cached - Similar - Composer and Nation. By Sidney Finkelstein. pp. 333. (Lawrence ...By Sidney Finkelstein. pp. 333. (Lawrence & Wishart,. London, 1960, 30s.) ... Mr. Finkelstein's, wide and detailed knowledge of the music of the past ... ml.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/42/1/63.pdf - Similar - Sidney Finkelstein, Welk Music Group, Santa Monica, CA in Jigsaw's ...Sidney Finkelstein in Jigsaw's business directory includes Sidney's title, phone as well as business email address. Jigsaw's business directory provides ... www.jigsaw.com/scid1052451/sidney_finkelstein.xhtml - Cached - Similar - Sidney Finkelstein - Music - Compare Prices, Reviews and Buy at ...Sidney Finkelstein - 2 results like the Jazz, a People's Music, Composer and Nation: The Folk Heritage in Music Sidney Finkelstein - Music. www.nextag.com/Music--zzSidney+Finkelsteinz220026zB6z5---html - Cached - Similar - Jazz: A People's Music. by Sidney Finkelstein : riverrun bookshop :Jazz: A People's Music. by Finkelstein, Sidney. Publisher Information: Citadel 1948. 278 pp. Edition: First. Binding: Hardbound ... www.riverrunbookshop.com/cgi-bin/rrbooks/4837.html - Cached - Similar - Music and ideology in Cold War Europe - Google Books Resultby Mark Carroll - 2003 - Music - 245 pages ... who had been lionised by the Left for his 'proletarian music', was criticised ... The critique was written by the New York Marxist Sidney Finkelstein, ... books.google.com/books?isbn=0521820723... - Sidney Finkelstein (Open Library)How music expresses ideas. by Sidney Finkelstein. (International Publishers, 1970). Art and society. by Sidney Finkelstein. (International Publishers, 1947) ... openlibrary.org/a/OL4374214A - Cached - Similar - Also, it is not the Marxist position on philosophy and art to ignore bourgeois philosophies and arts, but to consider especially progressive bourgeois and petit bourgeois thinkers and artists as capable of giving great insight on mass thinking . The textbook example on this is Marx liked to read Flaubert or some other French novelist who was a reactionary politically, because even reactionary artists can have useful insights for the cause of the working class, and otherwise in terms of understanding humanity and society. And always remember: The Soviet Union is your friend. On 7/17/09, c b wrote: > Listen up better. In brief, Michael Jackson who had the "ears" of > millions sought to unite Black and White. Any _Marxist_ in the United > States who is not concerned about this issue is not a Marxist. Are you > a "Marxist" or what ? > > Pay attention and respond to that. > > On 7/16/09, Karl Dallas wrote: > > And the relevance of this stuff about aa deluded young pop star and a > > 19th Century horror author to the subject of this list (which, I seem > > to recall, once was Marxism) would be what, exactly? > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Marxism-Thaxis mailing list > > Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu > > To change your options or unsubscribe go to: > > http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis > > > From ankersman at gmail.com Fri Jul 17 18:55:54 2009 From: ankersman at gmail.com (Paul) Date: Sat, 18 Jul 2009 12:55:54 +1200 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] relevance Message-ID: Having just joined the list a day or two ago, I was beginning to regret the decision. . . But I'll hang around for a bit more. If I may say, a relevant response to the Jackson claptrap, Misters Dallas & Dumain. From karldallas at f2s.com Sat Jul 18 00:14:04 2009 From: karldallas at f2s.com (Karl Dallas) Date: Sat, 18 Jul 2009 07:14:04 +0100 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Marxism-Thaxis Digest, Vol 69, Issue 12 In-Reply-To: <25902690.1247853841475.JavaMail.root@n19> References: <25902690.1247853841475.JavaMail.root@n19> Message-ID: And if I substitute mindless abuse for reasoned discussion, what does THAT prove? Message: 2 > Date: Thu, 16 Jul 2009 18:13:50 -0400 > From: Ralph Dumain > Subject: Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] relevance > To: marxism-thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu > Message-ID: > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed > > The relevance consists in this: > > IF: > > (1) You constantly submit to the list whole entries from wikipedia in > an unreadable format, without comment, assuming that we can't use > Wikipedia ourselves; > > (2) Randomly pick up on any idea that crosses your mind and run with > it in an arbitrary and superficial fashion; > > (3) Mechanically correlate every piece of information that crosses > your path with your confused understanding of isolated phrases culled > from the classics of dialectical materialism; > > (4) Make idiotic assertions about everything based on arbitrary > self-delusion, such as representing Obama's victory as a > manifestation of a anti-racism; > > (5) Lie through your teeth about China being a socialist country; > > (6) Think that the USSR was your friend and had your interests at heart; > > (7) Are a follower of the Communist Party: > > THEN: > > You demonstrate to all and sundry that you are a dumb ass with > nothing worthwhile to say about anything. > > At 06:02 PM 7/16/2009, Karl Dallas wrote: > >And the relevance of this stuff about aa deluded young pop star and a > >19th Century horror author to the subject of this list (which, I seem > >to recall, once was Marxism) would be what, exactly? > > > > > ------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > Marxism-Thaxis mailing list > Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu > To change your options or unsubscribe go to: > http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis > > > End of Marxism-Thaxis Digest, Vol 69, Issue 12 > ********************************************** > > > From ballistanc at yahoo.com Sat Jul 18 06:36:07 2009 From: ballistanc at yahoo.com (juan De La Cruz) Date: Sat, 18 Jul 2009 05:36:07 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Fw: Asesinos Message-ID: <492616.44829.qm@web35506.mail.mud.yahoo.com> --- On Sat, 7/18/09, betancouour romana wrote: From: betancouour romana Subject: Fw: Asesinos To: ricardoliriano at hotmail.com Cc: "juan De La Cruz" Date: Saturday, July 18, 2009, 7:46 AM --- On Fri, 7/17/09, betancouour romana wrote: From: betancouour romana Subject: Asesinos To: "Karamba Babe" Cc: antinoe at hotmail.com Date: Friday, July 17, 2009, 6:34 PM ?ASESINOS! Desde sus origines el Estado Dominicano ?ste se a presentado tal y como es:? una maquina de dominacion de clase.? Nunca le ha importado la edad o sexo para? torturar, ?desaparecer?? o asesinar a cualquiera que intente reclamar una vida digna.? Desde Cristobal Colon a Fidel Castro su naturaleza de clase ha sido la misma.? Todas las rebeliones proletarias han sido aplastadas sin misericordia.? Aun asi, ellas nos han dejado una herencia de resistencia que nos permite hoy definir una ?estrategia limpia? para liberarnos del yugo del capital.? A pesar de que un numero altisimo de nuestros hermanos de clase han sido ?desaparecidos?, torturados y/o asesinados, nuestra clase nunca a dejado de luchar.? Las luchas de hoy son una continuidad de la rebeldia de las hermanas Mirabal, de los proletari at s caidos en la batalla del Puente Duarte en 1965, de los asesinados durante la rebelion proletaria de 1984, de la rebelion proletaria contra la burguesia en Cuba en 1992, ?y de las luchas historicas del proletariado haitiano hoy.? Consciente la burguesia entonces de que no puede permitir que su enemigo historico supere la division y se constituya en clase revolucionaria para arrebatarle el poder, utiliza distintos metodos, a partir de la relacion de fuerza entre las clases, y asi reproduce sus abusos historicos. Por ejemplo, la cantidad de homicidios de mujeres por a?o, durante el primer a?o de gestion del jefe actual del Poder Ejecutivo(1996-1997), aumento de 57 a 154.? Para 1998 Leonel Fernandez retomo la practica de las ?redadas? indiscriminadas, y presos preventivos.? De acuerdo a los datos suministrados por la Direccion General de Prisiones, del total de 13, 587(proletarios) recluidos en las carceles dominicanas, un 77% corresponde a presos preventivos, un 11% espera el resultado de un proceso de apelacion y s?lo un 12% esta sirviendo condena irrevocable?(1998). Ya un a?o antes se habia reportado la continuidad de la politica criminal carcelaria:? ?corrupcion e incapacidad, conjugada con el hacinamiento de los presos en el penal de La Victoria?.? Las terribles condiciones de ?vida? a que es sometido el proletariado dan cuenta de repetidos actos de tortura.? En el perido 1998-1999 el se?or Fernandez retoma la practica de asesinatos arbitrarios, dando un salto hacia atr?s.? ?El a?o 1998 (vi?) un preocupante aumento de casi un 50% en este tipo de muertes con respecto al a?o anterior?. El ultimatum dado por la Organizaci?n de Estados Americanos(OEA) al jefe del poder ejecutivo, para que aclarara el caso del profesor Narciso Gonzalez, no ha sido cumplido?.. A partir de esas evidencias podemos concluir que, cuando indignado el periodista Marino Zapete acusa al presidente Fernandez de Asesino, por considerarlo responsable del crimen del ni?o de 13 a?os Miguel Angel Encarnacion, en Capotillo en el marco de protestas contra los apagones, tiene razon. ?Esta sociedad es un fracaso! ?Empleo y Comida! ?Tumbar a los de Arriba! From dogangoecmen at aol.com Sun Jul 19 07:49:57 2009 From: dogangoecmen at aol.com (dogangoecmen at aol.com) Date: Sun, 19 Jul 2009 09:49:57 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Leszek Kolakowski dies In-Reply-To: <20090717.152944.24226.0@webmail14.vgs.untd.com> References: <20090717.152944.24226.0@webmail14.vgs.untd.com> Message-ID: <8CBD68EEFC63FD9-1DC4-6E2A@webmail-dh44.sysops.aol.com> at the end of the day he was an anti-marxist and ant-communist. this is probably what his antistalinism is about. and that was then one of the ways to make academic carrier in the capitalist world. i do not see any philosophical value in his so-called philosophical work. but i may learn someting new if it can be shown based on the textual evidences. in short, i do not miss him - an enemy of working classes... -----Original Message----- From: farmelantj at juno.com To: marxistphilosophy at yahoogroups.com; marxism-thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu Sent: Fri, Jul 17, 2009 10:29 pm Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Leszek Kolakowski dies *Leszek Kolakowski, philosopher, sociologist and essayist has died, aged 82. * ?We receive this news with great pain and sorrow,? said Rector of Warsaw University, Katarzyna Chalasinska-Macukow. ?This is a big loss not just for Poland but for the world.? Poland?s lower house of parliament, the Sejm, stopped debating, Friday, to pay the distinguished intellectual a minute?s silence in his memory. Kolakowski?s /Main Currents of Marxism/ (1978) became a standard academic text in universities the world over and he was awarded Poland?s highest honour, the White Eagle, for services to the history of ideas. Kolakowski was born in Radom, central Poland in 1927. He took his degree at Lodz University and his doctorate in Warsaw University where he later led the history of philosophy departament . Originally a member of the communist Polish United Workers Party he became disillusioned and joined a growing band of revisionist Marxists. After being thrown out of the party and losing his post at Warsaw University, Kolakowski became convinced that Stalinism was the logical conclusion of Marxism and not its aberration, as was the line in many communist parties in Europe and elsewhere. From the late 1960s he worked in universities in the US, and UK, where he became a prominent academic at Oxford University. He is thought to be a major intellectual inspiration to the opposition to communism in Poland. * http://polskieradio.pl/thenews/national/artykul112297_leszek_kolakowski_dies.html * ____________________________________________________________ Find great deals and choose from hundreds of model airplane designs. Click now! http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/BLSrjpTGsHZPKZ01ZDS1WjzmkCKC3b8ag4Q8yTHHPo8TvX8NEFaBAoHLSZS/ _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis From cb31450 at gmail.com Mon Jul 20 10:41:31 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:41:31 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Free Thought Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907200941o5bd34aabib1e725713f34450@mail.gmail.com> MY SON WAS TAUGHT TO BELIEVE IN JESUS BY HIS MOTHER -- HOW DO I HELP HIM BECOME A FREE THINKER? By Danny Postel, New Humanist Panicked by his son's Jesus references, an agnostic dad discovers a skeptic's reading list for kids. But is counter-indoctrination really the answer? http://www.alternet.org/rights/141410/my_son_was_taught_to_believe_in_jesus_by_his_mother_--_how_do_i_help_him_become_a_free_thinker/ From billyoc at gmail.com Mon Jul 20 10:57:51 2009 From: billyoc at gmail.com (Bill O'Connor) Date: Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:57:51 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Free Thought In-Reply-To: <5c2e4d230907200941o5bd34aabib1e725713f34450@mail.gmail.com> (c. b.'s message of "Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:41:31 -0400") References: <5c2e4d230907200941o5bd34aabib1e725713f34450@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <874ot7e1gw.fsf@t22.Belkin> c b writes: > MY SON WAS TAUGHT TO BELIEVE IN JESUS BY HIS MOTHER -- HOW DO I HELP > HIM BECOME A FREE THINKER? > By Danny Postel, New Humanist > Panicked by his son's Jesus references, an agnostic dad > discovers a skeptic's reading list for kids. But is > counter-indoctrination really the answer? > > http://www.alternet.org/rights/141410/my_son_was_taught_to_believe_in_jesus_by_his_mother_--_how_do_i_help_him_become_a_free_thinker/ A lifetime of Catholic school made me a marxist. Must have been all that hanging around with the poor that he did. I'd remind the kid of that, and leave him be. -- In Solidarity, Billy O'Connor From cb31450 at gmail.com Thu Jul 23 14:20:49 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:20:49 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Marx playing chess ? Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907231320j33869454ifd364e38e07299f2@mail.gmail.com> http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1278768 Karl Marx vs Meyer "Chess Manifesto" (game of the day Jul-24-08) Casual Game 1867 ? King's Gambit: Accepted. Double Muzio Gambit Paulsen Defense (C37 From cb31450 at gmail.com Thu Jul 23 14:22:45 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:22:45 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Book on Marx and Wittgenstein Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907231322g1bd764d4h428a478b1da3a9be@mail.gmail.com> Preview this book Marx and Wittgenstein By D. Rubinstein http://books.google.com/books?id=F0FEE89yojQC&dq=rubin+stein+karl+marx&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=sAqhn1i1vp&sig=PJkih73R0XicL_vPZBkhtERFPEI&hl=en&ei=WsVoSpWKNovUM-HFpYQF&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5 From cb31450 at gmail.com Thu Jul 23 14:29:09 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:29:09 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] questions In-Reply-To: <5c2e4d230907161002m5ae727f5m592eefa800455249@mail.gmail.com> References: <853481.81728.qm@web52612.mail.re2.yahoo.com> <5c2e4d230907161002m5ae727f5m592eefa800455249@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907231329x6ec1eceeqf53e6af9f4d20c1a@mail.gmail.com> Frederick Engels Origins of the Family, Private Property, and the State Chapter IV. The Greek Gens -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From bogus@does.not.exist.com Mon Jul 6 09:31:04 2009 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:31:04 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: of kindred stock, had been organized in the same organic series as the Americans: gens, phratry, tribe, confederacy of tribes. The phratry might be absent, as among the Dorians, and the confederacy of tribes was not necessarily fully developed everywhere as yet; but in every case the gens was the unit. At the time of their entry into history, the Greeks are on the threshold of civilization; between them and the American tribes, of whom we spoke above, lie almost two entire great periods of development, by which the Greeks of the heroic age are ahead of the Iroquois. The gens of the Greeks is therefore no longer the archaic gens of the Iroquois; the impress of group marriage is beginning to be a good deal blurred. Mother-right has given way to father-right; increasing private wealth has thus made its first breach in the gentile constitution. A second breach followed naturally from the first. After the introduction of father-right the property of a rich heiress would have passed to her husband and thus into another gens on her marriage, but the foundation of all gentile law was now violated and in such a case the girl was not only permitted but ordered to marry within the gens, in order that her property should be retained for the gens. According to Grote's History of Greece, the Athenian gens, in particular, was held together by the following institutions and customs: 1. Common religious rites, and the exclusive privilege of priesthood in honor of a particular god, the supposed ancestral father of the gens, who in this attribute was designated by a special surname. 2. A common burial place (cf. Demosthenes' Eubulides). 3. Mutual right of inheritance. 4. Mutual obligations of help, protection, and assistance in case of violence. 5. Mutual right and obligation to marry within the gens in certain cases, especially for orphan girls and heiresses. 6. Possession, at least in some cases, of common property, with a special archon (head man or president) and treasurer. Next, several gentes were united in the phratry, but less closely; though here also we find mutual rights and obligations of a similar kind, particularly the common celebration of certain religious ceremonies and the right to avenge the death of a phrator. Similarly, all the phratries of a tribe held regularly recurring religious festivals in common, at which a leader of the tribe (phylobasileus), elected from the nobility (Eupatridai), officiated. Rest at: http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1884/origin-family/ch04.htm On 7/16/09, c b wrote: > Usually, "wooden tircotomies" refers to some kind of poor and "rigid" > effort at Hegelian dialectic. > > Look at Engels _The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the > State_ where the Teutonic-Christian , ancient Greek and Roman forms of > the family are discussed from a Marxist standpoint. Word "family" has > a Latin origin. Roman family is "pater" ruled. > > On 7/16/09, justiceloving at yahoo.com wrote: > > > > Will some one kindly let me know what was Stein's Wooden Trichotomies, and > > shed light on this passage of Marx by explaining the mentioned forms of families: "It is, > > of course, just as absurd to hold the Teutonic-Christian form of the family > > to be absolute as it would be to apply that character to the ancient Roman, > > the ancient Greek, or the Eastern forms...." > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Marxism-Thaxis mailing list > > Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu > > To change your options or unsubscribe go to: > > http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis > > > From cb31450 at gmail.com Thu Jul 23 15:04:28 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:04:28 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] questions Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907231404i12629bf2o5789bf64cffc8cc7@mail.gmail.com> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- of kindred stock, had been organized in the same organic series as the Americans: gens, phratry, tribe, confederacy of tribes. The phratry might be absent, as among the Dorians, and the confederacy of tribes was not necessarily fully developed everywhere as yet; but in every case the gens was the unit. At the time of their entry into history, the Greeks are on the threshold of civilization; between them and the American tribes, of whom we spoke above, lie almost two entire great periods of development, by which the Greeks of the heroic age are ahead of the Iroquois. The gens of the Greeks is therefore no longer the archaic gens of the Iroquois; the impress of group marriage is beginning to be a good deal blurred. Mother-right has given way to father-right; increasing private wealth has thus made its first breach in the gentile constitution. A second breach followed naturally from the first. After the introduction of father-right the property of a rich heiress would have passed to her husband and thus into another gens on her marriage, but the foundation of all gentile law was now violated and in such a case the girl was not only permitted but ordered to marry within the gens, in order that her property should be retained for the gens. According to Grote's History of Greece, the Athenian gens, in particular, was held together by the following institutions and customs: 1. Common religious rites, and the exclusive privilege of priesthood in honor of a particular god, the supposed ancestral father of the gens, who in this attribute was designated by a special surname. 2. A common burial place (cf. Demosthenes' Eubulides). 3. Mutual right of inheritance. 4. Mutual obligations of help, protection, and assistance in case of violence. 5. Mutual right and obligation to marry within the gens in certain cases, especially for orphan girls and heiresses. 6. Possession, at least in some cases, of common property, with a special archon (head man or president) and treasurer. Next, several gentes were united in the phratry, but less closely; though here also we find mutual rights and obligations of a similar kind, particularly the common celebration of certain religious ceremonies and the right to avenge the death of a phrator. Similarly, all the phratries of a tribe held regularly recurring religious festivals in common, at which a leader of the tribe (phylobasileus), elected from the nobility (Eupatridai), officiated. Rest at: http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1884/origin-family/ch04.htm From dogangoecmen at aol.com Fri Jul 24 17:06:48 2009 From: dogangoecmen at aol.com (=?utf-8?Q?DG=C3=B6=C3=A7men?=) Date: Fri, 24 Jul 2009 19:06:48 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] My Essays Are Available Message-ID: <8CBDACA8EA67EA8-C4C-194B@WEBMAIL-MY39.sysops.aol.com> Hi All, some of my Essays are available ot the link below. Others will be added soon. Comments are always welcome. Thank you. D.G??men http://dogangocmen.wordpress.com/ From steiger2001 at centrum.cz Sat Jul 25 01:19:00 2009 From: steiger2001 at centrum.cz (steiger2001 at centrum.cz) Date: Sat, 25 Jul 2009 09:19:00 +0200 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] My Essays Are Available In-Reply-To: <8CBDACA8EA67EA8-C4C-194B@WEBMAIL-MY39.sysops.aol.com> References: <8CBDACA8EA67EA8-C4C-194B@WEBMAIL-MY39.sysops.aol.com> Message-ID: <1248506340.492961.18318.nullmailer@mail1005.cent> Dear Dogan: Thanks a lot for your essays. I am sorry not being able to read those in Turkish but those in English or German are interesting as much. I do hope I can read (and perhaps even comment) some of them soon I have to apologize for not having translated yet the Losurdo discussion sofar - it?s of no use to enumerate the reasons. I have the text printed and it is on my desk but unfortunately "higher power" prevented me from doing what I have promised. Nevertheless,? since my wife and me will have to leave in late September for New York to see her family I do believe I will be more free there and could start working on the translation -- finally! Best regards, Stephen Steiger ______________________________________________________________ > Od: "DG??men" > Komu: marxism-thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu, hegel-marx at yahoogroups.com,hegel-logic at yahoogroups.com, hegel at yahoogroups.com > Datum: 25.07.2009 01:08 > P?edm?t: [Marxism-Thaxis] My Essays Are Available > Hi All, some of my Essays are available ot the link below. Others will be added soon. Comments are always welcome. Thank you. D.G??men http://dogangocmen.wordpress.com/ _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis From ballistanc at yahoo.com Sat Jul 25 18:44:08 2009 From: ballistanc at yahoo.com (juan De La Cruz) Date: Sat, 25 Jul 2009 17:44:08 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Notas sobre Honduras.... Message-ID: <108018.47160.qm@web35504.mail.mud.yahoo.com> compa?er at s, ahi les estamos enviando un documento que intenta explicar las contradicciones no antagonicias que se han acelerado en Honduras y que son generadas esencialmente por los antagonismos de clase. ? con saludos calurosos, Ballista, por el Grupo Comunista Internacionalista ? ? Notas sobre Honduras:?? Golpe de Estado y Guerra ? Las minor?as revolucionarias hemos estado argumentando desde siempre que la competencia entre facciones de la burgues?a por el control del mercado evoluciona violentamente hacia la guerra capitalista y, que a pesar de los esfuerzos realizados por el capital a partir de 1945 para arrastrar a la masa proletaria detr?s de este o aquel l?der nacionalista, el movimiento revolucionario ha logrado, a pesar de sus errores, desatar rebeliones proletarias en partes diferentes del mundo que han impedido que los planes de la burgues?a mundial se materialicen durante todo este per?odo.? Aun as?, la tendencia del capital es generalizar su guerra como ?nica salida para interrumpir la tendencia a la baja de la tasa de ganancia mundial.? A pesar del fracaso de la burgues?a cubana, ahora la facci?n ?radical? de la social democracia vuelve a levantar cabeza en Am?rica Latina, como producto del ciclo de destrucci?n actual, en el rico Estado de Venezuela.? Ya se reportan cr?menes y ?desapariciones? en nombre del ?socialismo del siglo xxi?.? Y, a trav?s de Petrocaribe, se arrojan migajas a la masa proletaria, obligada a aceptarlas o reventar de hambre; mientras otras fracciones de capital que no pueden competir se suman al bloque progresista conocido por las siglas ALBA. ? La lucha por el control del mercado para redistribuir la plusval?a, en el marco del ciclo de destrucci?n que ha succionado $950 billones de d?lares en tan solo 30 a?os del mercado latinoamericano, desat? la rebeli?n en Venezuela e impuso la corriente reformista liderada por el grupo del agente Ch?vez, que ha logrado articular un bloque regional para continuar manteniendo a la masa proletaria en el marco de la polarizaci?n burguesa.? Aun as?, la facci?n en competencia acaba de? otorgarle su primera derrota en Honduras y con ella se ha puesto en escena la guerra capitalista.? De acuerdo a algunos analistas la orden del golpe de Estado contra la facci?n reformista eman? de la Suprema Corte.? A pesar de eso, ning?n Estado en el hemisferio, hasta el momento, ha reconocido la gesti?n de Micheletti.? De hecho, los esfuerzos del Primer Ministro reci?n nombrado Enrique Ortez, por explicar la situaci?n, han sido rechazados por la Organizaci?n de Estados Americanos (OEA). Al leer el lenguaje diplom?tico nos damos cuenta de las contradicciones interburguesas y de la liquidaci?n del proletariado como clase revolucionaria, en el contexto de la ?estrategia de estrangulaci?n diplom?tica? y las posiciones que diferentes fracciones del capital han tomado para salir de ambiente de crisis pol?tica.? Por ejemplo, el golpe de Estado ha sido calificado por la presidenta de Argentina, Cristina Fern?ndez de Kirchner como ?un retorno a la barbarie?; como si ella no conociera las condiciones de vida que le ha impuesto el capital a la clase trabajadora en ese pa?s.? ?En que momento hemos salido de la barbarie capitalista? A partir de esas condiciones tenemos la posibilidad de impedir que la burgues?a desate su guerra, pues su facci?n venezolana no descarta una intervenci?n militar si Zelaya es arrestado en su intento de regresar a Honduras: ?Esa junta militar estar?a entrando en un estado de guerra de facto.? Nosotros tendr?amos que actuar militarmente.? Yo he puesto a las fuerzas armadas de Venezuela en alerta?. (Hugo Ch?vez) Aun as?, la burgues?a mundial ha complicado las posibilidades de la corriente reformista de retornar a la administraci?n del Estado en Honduras.? En el Pacifico y Medio Oriente el lenguaje diplom?tico usado para responder a las contradicciones ha sido muy medido.? ?China, Israel, y Taiw?n han hecho enunciados no-determinantes que han dejado las puertas abiertas? para mantener las relaciones existentes y/o futuras con la direcci?n nueva.? El vocero del Primer Ministro Chino, Qin Gang, expres? preocupaci?n en torno a la situaci?n en Honduras y augur? porque pueda retornar a la estabilidad tan pronto como sea posible.? A?adiendo que China est? en disposici?n de establecer relaciones amistosas, de cooperaci?n y normales con todos los pa?ses?.? Mas todav?a, para el jefe del Estado de Taiw?n, Ma Ying Jeou, el golpe de Estado ??no afectar? los lazos entre nuestros pa?ses?.? Es decir que lo ?nico que puede desplazar del poder a los actuales inquilinos del Estado es su derrocamiento armado.? De todos modos, este ?ltimo no resuelve el problema de la divisi?n del trabajo, de la naturaleza de las relaciones de producci?n, del trabajo asalariado y otros ejes centrales del programa comunista, pero nos brinda la oportunidad de iniciar una tentativa. La correlaci?n de fuerzas interburguesas nos muestra al bloque europeo condenando la acci?n de las fuerzas armadas y las ramas judicial y legislativa del Estado.? Espa?a ha llamado a los 27 Estados miembros del bloque a desconocer la administraci?n hondure?a nueva.? Mientras que las Naciones Unidas y la Asamblea General se han sumado a las condenas y demandas de la OEA.? Mercosur, el Grupo Rio y el bloque ALBA tambi?n han respaldado a Zelaya y sus intenciones de retornar a la presidencia.? A pesar de todo, la burgues?a hondure?a se mantiene firme en el poder. Consciente de sus intereses, ?la ?nica organizaci?n internacional que ha ejecutado acciones punitiva contra el gobierno interino es el Banco Mundial, que ha suspendido todos los pr?stamos para programas de desarrollo y un congelamiento de todos los valores garantizados, (grants valued) valorados aproximadamente en cuatrocientos millones de d?lares?. De acuerdo a las informaciones que han estado saliendo, la Secretaria de Estado del Departamento de Estado ha estado midiendo sus enunciados y acciones porque est? involucrada en relaciones econ?micas con estructuras que directamente participaron en el golpe de Estado.? Hilary Clinton, ha dejado saber que ella considera que la crisis ?evolucion? hacia un golpe?, dejando abierta la opci?n a la posibilidad de no designar legalmente la remoci?n de Zelaya como un golpe de Estado, lo cual activar?a la suspensi?n obligatoria de ayuda congresual. As? las cosas, se inicia un proceso de ?t?cticas dilatorias? para impedir que el proletariado salga a la escena pol?tica como clase revolucionaria.? Se presentan definiciones de la acci?n antes de que el Estado mundial de la burgues?a decida el curso de los acontecimientos.? De acuerdo al vocero del Departamento de Estado, Ian Kelly, hablando en torno ha si la destituci?n de Zelaya era definida legalmente como un golpe militar, este dijo que ?hay una disposici?n en secci?n, creo que es la 7008 del acto de operaci?n extranjera, que nos obliga a hacer un enunciado legal de los hechos sobre el terreno y si o no la disposici?n de corte de fondos aplica a estas circunstancias?. Otra corriente del pensamiento dentro del Departamento de Estado complica las cosas para el bloque reformista pues no define las acciones del 28 de Junio como un golpe de Estado militar: ?Los militares se movilizaron en contra del presidente.? Ellos? violaron la intimidad de su hogar, lo hicieron preso y expulsaron del pa?s.? Entonces los militares participaron en el golpe.? De todos modos la transferencia del liderazgo no fue una acci?n militar.? La transferencia de liderazgo fue realizada por el Congreso hondure?o y por eso el golpe, mientras tiene un componente militar? es un evento mas amplio?.? Otra fuente a?ade que ?lo que estamos observando es quien? en la pr?ctica asumi? el poder.? Pero, ?En que momento la burgues?a ?mundial ha perdido el poder?? Hasta el momento, y en? todo el hemisferio, han logrado mantener la polarizaci?n burguesa.? Y como se est?n discutiendo definiciones en torno al conflicto, nos gustar?a presentar la concepci?n comunista de la contradicci?n: el Estado es una maquina de dominaci?n de clase que tiene como objeto primordial liquidar la aparici?n del proletariado como clase revolucionaria.? Sus m?todos van ha estar determinados por la correlaci?n entre las capas y clases en pugna en un momento hist?rico determinado, por ejemplo, el ciclo de destrucci?n actual impone una vuelta al terrorismo de Estado extremo a partir del avance de la competencia y las rebeliones proletarias.? El poder real del Estado descansa en el conjunto de sus aparatos y las Fuerzas Armadas es el aparato determinante, el que impone por la fuerza el poder del capital.? Los acontecimientos en ?frica y Honduras volvieron a confirmar esa tesis comunista.? El capital impone su ley independiente de los deseos de sus gerentes. Entonces las discusiones entre los agentes de la dominaci?n democr?tica solo tiene la intenci?n de ganar tiempo para ajustar su pol?tica de dominaci?n, pues los enfrentamientos en Honduras pueden salir del control burgu?s. Estamos en frente de una cuesti?n pol?tica que lamentablemente no se resuelve a golpe de definiciones.? Aun as?, la facci?n en el poder piensa que sus acciones est?n afuera de la definici?n tradicional de golpe de Estado militar, que plantea la subordinaci?n de las Fuerzas Armadas a la autoridad civil.? Y desde que ning?n l?der militar ha asumido posici?n de poder (? ?) en la rama ejecutiva, algunos analistas han descrito la acci?n como un ?desplazamiento judicial llevado a efecto t?ctica y log?sticamente como un golpe?.? De acuerdo con los enunciados del jefe legal de las Fuerzas Armadas Hondure?as, Coronel Herberth Inestroza Membre?o, ?un golpe es un paso pol?tico, (y) requiere que las fuerzas armadas asuman el poder sobre todo el pa?s, lo cual no sucedi??.? ?Pero desde cuando las Fuerzas Armadas perdieron el control y/o el poder real de todo el? pa?s? ? ?Cu?les elementos de la pol?tica de gesti?n de capital aceleraron el golpe de Estado generado por los antagonismos de clase?? Las corrientes ?marxista? y ?marxista-leninista? siempre han luchado por la reforma agraria, conscientes de la separaci?n radical que impone el modo de producci?n capitalista.? En Honduras, el 0.1% de la formaci?n social, la burgues?a, es due?a del 80% de la tierra.? Mientras que el 50% de la masa proletaria vive por debajo del nivel de pobreza y m?s de 1.7 millones no encuentra donde vender su fuerza de trabajo.? En t?rminos generales, esas son las mismas condiciones en toda la regi?n.? El reformismo armado, aunque consciente de esa separaci?n hist?rica, ha tomado partido a favor de la reforma agraria, por eso su concepci?n y pr?ctica nunca ataca la estructura econ?mica y su aparato militar, dejando entonces las puertas abiertas al putchismo; pues a medida que avanza la lucha aut?noma del proletariado contra todas las fracciones de capital, las estructuras intactas del modo de producci?n tienen que actuar para impedir el avance de su enemigo hist?rico. Al momento de responder correctamente la pregunta tenemos que tomar en cuenta tambi?n otros elementos determinantes de la pol?tica reformista.? Continuemos con el aparato judicial.? Desde una ?ptica revolucionaria, el conjunto de aparatos que conforman la m?quina de dominaci?n de clase no solo tiene que conquistarse sino que inmediatamente alcanzada esa meta tiene que iniciarse un proceso de destrucci?n positiva de la sociedad y del Estado.? La facci?n reformista tom? las riendas del Estado a trav?s de un proceso electoral (no lo conquist?), dejando la divisi?n del trabajo intacta; despu?s adelant? un refer?ndum que trajo aparejado la posibilidad de extender el per?odo presidencial.? Peor todav?a, una encuesta realizada suger?a que m?s del 70% de la masa proletaria ten?a la intenci?n de aprobarlo.? Esta posibilidad fue considerada ?injusta? (igual que la reforma econ?mica) por la competencia, la cual transform? su Frente en una conspiraci?n golpista para remover a Zelaya de su cargo. En cuanto a la violaci?n burguesa de sus propias leyes, la facci?n reformista adelant? su ?proyecto moral?, el cual pretend?a revelar las finanzas de las ramas legislativa y judicial, con el objetivo de iniciar un proceso de investigaci?n.? A partir de ese momento el ?Partido Liberal? le retira su apoyo a Zelaya. (Ver, James W. Bodden) A pesar del apoyo que ha recibido el proyecto de Zelaya de un conjunto de estructuras autoproclamadas socialistas y/o revolucionarias, es evidente que a partir de las concepciones y pr?cticas del derrocado presidente, su grupo y aliados en la regi?n y el mundo, no califican como tal.? Para el l?der de la rama local de V?a Campesina, Rafael Alegr?a, ?lo que Zelaya ha hecho solo han sido reformas peque?as?El no es un socialista o revolucionario, pero estas reformas, que no da?aron en lo absoluto a la oligarqu?a, han sido suficiente para ellos atacarlo furiosamente?. De todos modos, la respuesta militar dada por la burgues?a hondure?a no impedir? que las luchas proletarias contra el capital contin?en generaliz?ndose.? Todo lo contrario, acelera la posibilidad de un enfrentamiento clase contra clase.? Ya durante todo el 2009 los explotados de la regi?n han adelantado huelgas contra el agravamiento de sus condiciones de vida que demuestran que el proletariado existe.? Por ejemplo, los ?departamentos franceses de ultramar? Guadalupe y Martinique le impusieron al presidente Nicol?s Sarkozy un aumento en el salario m?nimo.? Las protestas violentas de los proletarios en la regi?n Amaz?nica en el Per?, y el levantamiento de nuestros hermanos de clase en Hait? con las tropas de las Naciones Unidas son algunos de los episodios que muestran al proletariado vivo y luchando. Lo que estamos tratando de demostrar es que las condiciones de vida que impone la din?mica del capital mundial son id?nticas en todas partes del mundo, de lo que se deriva la simultaneidad y generalizaci?n de las luchas.? En Honduras 100,000 proletarios tienen que dejar su pellejo en el sector de las Maquiladoras, ensamblando partes de auto para el mercado norteamericano, mayormente.? Mientras esa misma din?mica genera un proceso de migraci?n e inmigraci?n id?ntico al que se produce, por ejemplo, en ?frica y otros continentes.? Cerca de 300,000 ?hondure?os? se ven forzados a desplazarse hacia el mercado laboral de los Estados Unidos, de acuerdo al Censo del 2000.? El proletariado es obligado a moverse a partir de las necesidades del capital, con lo cual se intenta desactivar la fuerza de la explosi?n social que inevitablemente se producir?, independiente de lo que los proletarios inscriban en sus banderas, y los esfuerzos que hace constantemente la burgues?a por mantenerlo atrapado en la polarizaci?n burguesa. Juan Barahona, coordinador del Bloque Popular y del Frente Nacional de Resistencia contra el golpe, inform? que se ha decretado un paro general en apoyo a la restituci?n del mandatario y que miles de ?hondure?os? se desplazan a la zona fronteriza con Nicaragua para esperar a Zelaya y acompa?antes a Tegucigalpa, en su intenci?n por retomar el poder. Sin embargo, Luis Rub?, Fiscal General, considera que ?los delitos de Zelaya no pueden ser negociados, la orden de captura se mantiene vigente, y puede ser cumplida por la polic?a o los militares?.? Lo anterior es tambi?n confirmado por Adolfo Sevilla, Ministro de Defensa: ?Zelaya ser? arrestado si es encontrado en territorio hondure?os, pero asegur? ser?n respetadas su integridad f?sica y sus garant?as?.? En el ?nterin, miles de polic?as se declararon en huelga para exigir un aumento del salario al denunciar que desde el golpe han trabajado tiempo extra, en algunos casos para reprimir a los opositores.? Ayer viernes se llev? a efecto una marcha multitudinaria en el capital Tegucigalpa, en apoyo a los golpistas? ?Lo ?extra?o? es que a pesar del apoyo brindado a los golpistas por la burgues?a ?local? la competencia no haya decidido atacar la estructura econ?mica y su aparato militar! ?Cu?l es la relaci?n especifica entre la facci?n norteamericana de la burgues?a mundial y el golpe de Estado? Algunos analistas han demostrado que ?toda propuesta que el grupo Micheletti ha presentado ha sido redactada por Bennett Ratcliff?.? Mas todav?a, dice Robert White que ?si tu quieres entender quien es el poder real detr?s del golpe, tienes que investigar quien le est? pagando a Lanny Davis?.? (Hay una an?cdota de un grupo de agentes de la dominaci?n democr?tica que viajaban en un avi?n con destino a Ir?n.? Cuando se le pregunt? a uno de ellos qu? le hab?a impresionado m?s de su visita a la Casa Blanca, este respondi? que el timbre de la puerta principal.? Tiene un sonido inconfundible: ?Clinton! ) Su conexi?n en Honduras tambi?n remite al CEAL y sus principales clientes y/o contactos, Camilo Atala y Jorge Canahuati, miembros destacados de la burgues?a hondure?a que aumenta su tasa de acumulaci?n gracias a un salario promedio en las Zonas Francas de 77 centavos por hora.? Dice Robert White que ?la tragedia es que los Canahuatis, los Atalas y otros grandes hombres de empresa no entienden que es en sus mejores intereses hacer cosas como ayudar a las gentes a vivir decentemente, reducir el desempleo, y aumentar el salario m?nimo?. Hasta el momento la burgues?a mundial ha logrado mantener la polarizaci?n burguesa.? Pero el lenguaje de algunos sectores indica que en cualquier momento podr?an iniciarse ataques contra las instituciones del Estado:? Nosotr at s vamos a instalar la Asamblea Constitucional.? Vamos a quemar el Congreso?. A modo de Conclusi?n: El movimiento comunista revolucionario tiene la responsabilidad de jugar un papel de primera l?nea en los acontecimientos que sacuden a Honduras y que tienden a generalizar la guerra capitalista en la regi?n.? A partir de las condiciones que hemos intentado describir, hay que hacer un esfuerzo por romper la polarizaci?n burguesa atacando, como fuerza aut?noma las estructura econ?mica y aparato militar de la dictadura capitalista en cualquier pa?s de la regi?n. Como hemos constatado, en el discurso burgu?s el proletariado no existe como clase revolucionaria.? Aun as?, son el agravamiento de las propias condiciones de vida las que les est?n imponiendo al ?pueblo?, a los ?hondure?os? , ?haitianos?, ?peruanos??y ?masas populares? la practica requerida para terminar con su condici?n de explotados. Y solo avanzando en la consolidaci?n de la estructura internacional tendremos fuerzas suficientes para decretar una huelga mundial contra la burgues?a que evite que esta desate la guerra civil en Honduras, que es tambi?n una guerra contra nuestra clase. ?Esta sociedad es un Fracaso! ?Quemar el Congreso! From dogangoecmen at aol.com Mon Jul 27 11:47:17 2009 From: dogangoecmen at aol.com (=?utf-8?Q?DG=C3=B6=C3=A7men?=) Date: Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:47:17 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] My Essays Are Available In-Reply-To: <1248506340.492961.18318.nullmailer@mail1005.cent> References: <8CBDACA8EA67EA8-C4C-194B@WEBMAIL-MY39.sysops.aol.com> <1248506340.492961.18318.nullmailer@mail1005.cent> Message-ID: <8CBDCF96ADF2598-584-FA2@mblk-d38.sysops.aol.com> Dear Stephen, I thank you very much. D.G??men http://dogangocmen.wordpress.com/ -----Original Message----- From: steiger2001 at centrum.cz To: Forum for the discussion of theoretical issues raised by Karl Marxand thethinkers he inspired Sent: Sat, Jul 25, 2009 10:19 am Subject: Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] My Essays Are Available Dear Dogan:? Thanks a lot for your essays. I am sorry not being able to read those in Turkish but those in English or German are interesting as much. I do hope I can read (and perhaps even comment) some of them soon? I have to apologize for not having translated yet the Losurdo discussion sofar - it?s of no use to enumerate the reasons. I have the text printed and it is on my desk but unfortunately "higher power" prevented me from doing what I have promised. Nevertheless,? since my wife and me will have to leave in late September for New York to see her family I do believe I will be more free there and could start working on the translation -- finally!? Best regards, Stephen Steiger? ? ______________________________________________________________? > Od: "DG??men" > Komu: marxism-thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu, hegel-marx at yahoogroups.com,hegel-logic at yahoogroups.com, hegel at yahoogroups.com? > Datum: 25.07.2009 01:08? > P?edm?t: [Marxism-Thaxis] My Essays Are Available? >? Hi All,? ? some of my Essays are available ot the link below.? ? Others will be added soon. Comments are always welcome.? ? Thank you.? ? ? D.G??men? http://dogangocmen.wordpress.com/? _______________________________________________? Marxism-Thaxis mailing list? Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu? To change your options or unsubscribe go to:? http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis? _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis From cb31450 at gmail.com Tue Jul 28 11:28:52 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Tue, 28 Jul 2009 13:28:52 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] =?windows-1252?q?Future_is_agenda_at_Boggs=92_94?= =?windows-1252?q?th_birthday_celebration?= Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907281028x2be2e341l98fa7670981ab426@mail.gmail.com> Future is agenda at Boggs? 94th birthday celebration By Terry Kelly The Michigan Citizen http://www.michigancitizen.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=1&twindow=&mad=&sdetail=7596&wpage=1&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=&pform=&sc=1070&hn=michigancitizen&he=.com DETROIT ? ?We exist in a failed paradigm,? Danny Glover told the 250 celebrants at the 94th birthday party for Grace Lee Boggs, held Sun., July 19, at Central United Methodist Church. ?It has failed everything. How do we come out of the ashes?? It was the right group to ask. From bogus@does.not.exist.com Mon Jul 6 09:31:04 2009 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:31:04 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: comrades from the sixties, who shared memories of change and growth, to the spill-over crowd of participants from the concluding Allied Media Conference, to the national planners in town preparing for the U.S. Social Forum that is coming to Detroit next year, the future was the agenda for the 94th birthday gathering. Grace=92s concluding comments carried on the theme, following how the very idea of revolution developed. =93I was taught that to be a revolutionary you had to be as tough as nails,=94 she said. =93The idea was to get angry people angrier. If you talked about love in connection with revolution you were likely to be ridiculed.=94 As she traced the changes in the idea of revolution she had witnessed over her 70 years in the struggle, Grace noted that those gathered for the celebration =93embody the new ideas.=94 The women=92s movement introduced the idea that the personal is political. How can you then talk of revolution as tough? The ecology movement talked about loving the earth. Dr. Martin Luther King talked of the beloved community and challenged Americans to create the beloved community or have chaos. =93Now we have the chaos,=94 Boggs said. =93So we have to build community.= =94 The effort to do so is global. People are resisting globalization and damage to the earth, building community; she said, and traced the movement in recent decades. In 1994 the Sandinistas took over the military with arms, but gave up the arms and went back to work to build up and improve their communities. In 1999, young people closed down the Worth Trade Organization saying people, not trade matters. The World Social Forum started in Puerto Allegro based on the belief that another world was possible. Organizers were not interested in begging government, she said. It is up to us to make another world possible. We do that, she said, by changing ourselves from the ultra individualistic style of Darwin=92s survival of the fittest, to transforming ourselves to people growing our souls by working with others to build communities. Boggs believes this is the change Detroit needs. From cb31450 at gmail.com Thu Jul 30 12:01:55 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:01:55 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Partial list of famous musical artists who died as young or younger than Michael Jackson Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907301101m3a3b0d3cs240e81c3cc02e71f@mail.gmail.com> http://www.michronicleonline.com/articlelive/articles/4054/1/DRUGS-THE-DESTOYERS/Page1.html DRUGS. THE DESTOYERS By Steve Holesey There will be debates, new information, denials, revelations, speculation, and just about anything else you can think of, for perhaps years to come. But the known facts make it clear that what took the life of Michael Jackson was his overuse of heavy-duty prescription drugs. Even his brother, Tito, has publicly acknowledged that there was a serious problem as far back as the ?90s. Because he was rich and famous, Jackson was able to get pretty much anything he wanted. Michael was surrounded by enablers, yes-men and various other hangers-on which made it that much easier. They formed a fence around him that blocked the outside world, which included concerned people who could have helped him. BILLIE HOLIDAY was, and will always be, one the finest jazz singers of all time. In fact, she, Ella Fitzgerald and Betty Carter rank as the three most accomplished and effective female jazz vocalists ever. They are untouchable. Holiday was plagued by an addiction to heroin that hampered her every step of the way. However, it was only near the end of her celebrated career that this affliction began to affect her special voice. But even then she was still capable of brilliance. ?Lady in Satin? is one of the most powerful and soul-touching albums ever recorded, featuring Billie with an orchestra. The sound is lush and beautiful. By this time there was a ravaged edge to her voice, but she still delivers songs like ?You Don?t Know What Love Is? and ?I Get Along Without You Very Well? superbly. In a strange, almost haunting way, the condition of her voice made the songs that much more effective. AMY WINEHOUSE is a fascinating singer from England with a voice and style steeped in Black culture and music traditions (R&B and jazz especially). Her 2006 album, ?Back to Black,? was a huge success, finding favor with music buyers of many persuasions and ethnicities. Its success and artistic merit also resulted in Winehouse receiving the coveted Best New Artist Grammy. But while all this was happening, the songstress with the exotic look reminiscent of the Ronettes from the 1960s, was, with much media attention, battling substance abuse (cocaine, heroin and more). Interestingly, one of her biggest hits is titled ?Rehab.? Fans are wishing the best for the talented lady. SLY STONE (real name: Sylvester Stewart) exploded on the music scene in the latter half of the ?60s, offering sounds and looks no one had heard or seen before. The music of Sly & the Family Stone was exciting, energetic and often life-affirming. The best of the best included ?Dance to the Music,? ?Everyday People,? ?Hot Fun the Summertime,? ?I Want to Take You Higher? and ?Stand!? In 1971, he introduced a completely different, much slowed down sound with ?Family Affair? and continued with ?If You Want Me to Stay? and others. But drug use ultimately made Sly undependable and far less creative. Eventually he became a recluse and today is only seen occasionally. WHITNEY HOUSTON knows there is a lot riding on her ?I Look to You? album, which will probably be released by the time you read this. It can be accurately defined as a comeback project because Houston is rising from the depths of drug hell, after reaching megastardom in the 1980s with a gift-from-God voice and outstanding material. Some blamed her downward plunge on her former husband, Bobby Brown, also a recovering addict, but that is not fair. She made her own decisions, and now she has made the decision to get her life and career back together. The odds are in her favor. RAY CHARLES was a heroin addict for many years, was arrested for it and had to go through an extremely difficult detox program, all of which was made graphically clear in the remarkable movie ?Ray,? with Jamie Foxx turning in an Academy Award-winning performance. Although Charles would never in a million years have advocated anyone using drugs, he said he had no regrets about his own drug use because that was what he chose to do at the time and had to go through. Like so many before him, Michael Jackson, one of the greatest entertainers and recording artists of all time, became, much like Elvis Presley, a prisoner of his massive fame. In many ways another legend, jazz icon Miles Davis, was representative of the many jazz musicians who were addicted to hard drugs. No one knows for sure why jazz musicians tend to be more prone to drug abuse. But some believe it has something to do with the music itself emerging from such a deep place in the musicians? psyche and heart. This is compounded by the pain of making music that is not fully accepted or understood, and the fact that so many jazz musicians have to struggle to survive. NATALIE COLE has many people praying for her and sending out other expressions of support as she gallantly fights a battle with hepatitis C, the result of hard-core drug use in the past. Cole, with dozens of major hits to her credit and known worldwide as a class act, seemed to have it all. Few knew that she had a drug issue. But she looked great when she made a guest appearance on ?American Idol? last season. Esther Phillips is another special lady of song afflicted by drug addiction. The blues songstress? voice was like no other, used to great effect on hits like ?Release Me,? ?And I Love Him,? ?Home Is Where the Hatred Is? and the big surprise, her disco rendition of Dinah Washington?s signature song, ?What a Difference a Day Makes.? JUNE POINTER was always the liveliest member of the Pointer Sisters, and that?s saying a lot because everyone in the group has always been strictly high energy. It was so sad to hear that June had become enslaved by drugs. For a long time Anita and Ruth attempted to work around it, but it got to the point where that was no longer possible. Sometimes June wouldn?t show up and promoters, as well as audiences, would not accept two ladies on stage. Eventually she was replaced by Issa Pointer, the daughter of Ruth Pointer from her brief marriage to Dennis Edwards. Robert Downey Jr. is one of the greatest actors of all time, and also one of the most likable people, quirks and all. One would be hard-pressed to find anyone with a drug problem having so many well-wishers. It hurt his supporters when he had to do time after being arrested yet again. But today Downey is doing well, personally and professionally. ?Iron Man? was a huge success, and the sequel is highly anticipated. These are but a few of the many drug stories (Rick James, the DeBarges, etc.) One can only hope that the problems they had, and in some cases continue to have, will serve as a deterrent to others contemplating drug experimentation. From cb31450 at gmail.com Thu Jul 30 12:12:21 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:12:21 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Partial list of famous musical artists who died as young or younger than Michael Jackson Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907301112l62c7582cu18c8cb76a4c208a8@mail.gmail.com> Bix Beiderbecke Bix Beiderbecke - died at 28 Background information Birth name Leon Bismark Beiderbecke Born March 10, 1903(1903-03-10) Origin Davenport, Iowa,[1] U.S. Died August 6, 1931 (aged 28) Genre(s) Jazz Dixieland Occupation(s) Musician composer Instrument(s) Cornet, Piano Years active 1924-1931 Website bixbeiderbecke.com Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke (March 10, 1903 ? August 6, 1931) was an American jazz cornetist and composer, as well as a skilled classical and jazz pianist. One of the leading names in 1920s jazz, Beiderbecke's career was cut short by chronic poor health, exacerbated by alcoholism. Critic Scott Yanow describes Beiderbecke as the "possessor of a beautiful, distinctive tone and a strikingly original improvising style. Beiderbecke's chief competitor among cornetists in the 1920s was Louis Armstrong, but (due to their different sounds and styles) one really could not compare them."[2] Bix Beiderbecke recorded many jazz standards during his career in the 1920s and early 1930s, including "Riverboat Shuffle", "Copenhagen", "Davenport Blues", "Singin' the Blues", "In a Mist", "Mississippi Mud", "I'm Coming, Virginia", and "Georgia On My Mind". Contents [hide] 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Death 4 Influences 5 Influence on later musicians 6 Popular culture 7 Name 8 Compositions by Bix Beiderbecke 9 Major Recordings, 1924-1930 10 Cover Versions of "In a Mist" 11 Cover Versions of "Davenport Blues" 12 Honors 13 References 14 External links [edit] Early life Beiderbecke's childhood home in Davenport.Bix Beiderbecke was born in Davenport, Iowa[1], the son of Bismark and Agatha Beiderbeckes, both natives of Iowa. He was the youngest of three children in the middle-class family of German origin. As a teenager he would sneak off to the banks of the Mississippi to listen to bands play on the riverboats arriving from the south. Illness frequently kept Beiderbecke out of school, and his grades suffered. He attended Davenport High School briefly, but his parents felt that enrolling him in the exclusive Lake Forest Academy, north of Chicago in Lake Forest, Illinois, as a boarding student would provide him with both the necessary faculty attention and discipline to improve his academic performance. However, the change of scenery did not improve Beiderbecke's academic record, as the only subjects in which he displayed interest were music and sports. Beiderbecke began going into Chicago to catch the hot jazz bands at clubs and speakeasies. He often failed to return to his dormitory before curfew, and sometimes stayed off-campus the next day. Beiderbecke was dismissed from the academy due to his academic failings and extracurricular activities. His time now free, he began his musical career. [edit] Career Bix Beiderbecke was one of the great jazz musicians of the 1920s, the Jazz Age. Beiderbecke first recorded with the Wolverine Orchestra in 1924. The ensemble was casually called the Wolverines. The group recorded the jazz standards "Riverboat Shuffle", written for the band by Hoagy Carmichael, and "Copenhagen", written by Charlie Davis. Jazz composer and pianist Hoagy Carmichael had booked their appearance at Indiana University in 1924. Bix Beiderbecke became a sought-after musician in Chicago and New York City. He made innovative and influential recordings with Frankie Trumbauer ("Tram") and the Jean Goldkette Orchestra. In 1927, he played cornet on the landmark Okeh recording "Singin' the Blues", with Frankie Trumbauer on C-melody saxophone and Eddie Lang on guitar, one of the most important and influential jazz recordings of the 1920s. The orchestra on that session also included Jimmy Dorsey on clarinet and alto saxophone, Miff Mole on trombone, Chauncey Morehouse on drums, and Paul Madeira Mertz on piano. When the Goldkette Orchestra disbanded after their last recording ("Clementine (From New Orleans)"), released as Victor 20994, in September 1927, Beiderbecke and Trumbauer, a 'C' melody and alto saxophone player, briefly joined Adrian Rollini's band at the Club New Yorker, New York. Beiderbecke then moved on to the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, the most popular and highest paid band of the day. Although some historians have derided Whiteman and lamented Beiderbecke's tenure with the large orchestra, historian Dick Sudhalter, in his book Lost Chords, asserts: "Colleagues have testified that, far from feeling bound or stifled by the Whiteman Orchestra, as [saxophonist and author Benny] Green and others have suggested, Beiderbecke often felt a sense of exhilaration. It was like attending a music school, learning and broadening; formal music, especially the synthesis of the American vernacular idiom with a more classical orientation, so much sought-after in the 1920s, were calling out to him." Bix Beiderbecke also played piano, sometimes switching from cornet for a chorus or two during a song (e.g., "For No Reason at All in C", 1927). He wrote several compositions for the piano, and recorded one of them, "In a Mist" (after it was transcribed from his improvisations by the Goldkette/Whiteman arranger Bill Challis). His piano compositions include "In a Mist", "Flashes", "In the Dark" and "Candlelights." These were later recorded by (among others) Jess Stacy, Bunny Berigan, Jimmy and Marian McPartland, Dill Jones and Ralph Sutton. The only known sound film footage of Bix Beiderbecke playing the cornet in the 1920s is a Fox Movietone News[1] newsreel, "Jazz King Tears Up Old Contract", from the week of May 18, 1928, chronicling Paul Whiteman's move from Victor Records to Columbia. The orchestra is shown performing "My Ohio Home" with Beiderbecke standing up and playing the cornet. (There is some home movie footage of Beiderbecke playing cornet and clowning with members of the Jean Goldkette Orchestra a few years prior). Bix Beiderbecke played cornet on four number one hit records in 1928 recorded with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra: "Together", number one for two weeks, "Ramona", number one for three weeks, "My Angel", number one for six weeks, and "Ol' Man River", with Bing Crosby on vocals, was number one for one week. By contrast, Louis Armstrong did not have any number one records in the 1920s. "Ol' Man River" would be the first of 41 number one hits for Bing Crosby during his career. On his last recording session, in New York, on September 15, 1930, Bix recorded the original version of the jazz and pop standard "Georgia on My Mind" with Hoagy Carmichael and His Orchestra, which was released as Victor 23013. Bix Beiderbecke played the cornet on the session with Hoagy Carmichael on vocals in an orchestra that included Eddie Lang on guitar, Joe Venuti on violin, Jimmy Dorsey on clarinet/alto saxophone, Jack Teagarden on trombone, Bud Freeman on tenor saxophone, and Pee Wee Russell on alto saxophone. Frankie Trumbauer had originally suggested to Hoagy Carmichael that he compose "Georgia On My Mind". "Georgia on My Mind" would subsequently be recorded by Frankie Trumbauer, who had a Top Ten hit in 1931 with his version, Louis Armstrong, Mildred Bailey with the Matty Malneck Orchestra, Gene Krupa with Anita O'Day on vocals, Django Reinhardt, Billie Holiday, Fats Waller, Frankie Laine, the Spencer Davis Group featuring Steve Winwood in 1966, the Washboard Rhythm Kings, James Brown, Michael Bolton, Ray Charles, who had a No.1 hit, won a Grammy Award, and whose recording of the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1993, and Willie Nelson, who also won a Grammy Award for his recording. [edit] Death Bix Beiderbecke had suffered health problems from an early age and his health declined further in his adult years. He toured relentlessly, and consumed alcohol excessively, much of it low quality, and often somewhat poisonous, Prohibition-Era alcohol. As a result, his stage performances began to suffer. Bandleader Paul Whiteman and his musicians were frustrated with Beiderbecke's behavior; another trumpet player famously wrote the reminder "Wake up Bix" shortly before Beiderbecke's solo on a sheet music transcript.[3] His spirits also suffered from declining work opportunities around the New York City area. In September 1929, bandleader Paul Whiteman sent Beiderbecke back home to Davenport, Iowa, to recover from a breakdown (caused by alcoholism, related physical problems and the stress of touring). His treatment was initially successful, but failed later. Beiderbecke was cutting an increasingly sad figure, and while he played intermittently over the next two years, when he was well enough to travel, neither he nor his playing was ever the same again. Bix Beiderbecke plaque in Sunnyside, Queens.In late July or early August 1931, he took up residence at 43-30 46th Street, Sunnyside, Queens, New York City. He died in his Queens apartment alone on August 6, 1931, at 9:30 in the evening from alcohol withdrawal, just 28 years old.[3] The official cause of his death was "lobar pneumonia" and "brain edema". To mark the 100th anniversary of his birth, the Greater Astoria Historical Society and other community organizations erected a plaque in Beiderbecke's honor at the apartment building in which he died in Sunnyside, Queens.[4] Bix Beiderbecke was buried in his family plot in Oakdale Cemetery in Davenport, Iowa. [edit] Influences Bix Beiderbecke in a Gennett recording session with his Rhythm Jugglers, a pickup band formed ? and dissolved ? in 1925. From left to right, Howdy Quicksell (banjo), Tom Gargano (drums), Paul Mertz (piano), Don Murray (clarinet), Beiderbecke (cornet), and Tommy Dorsey (trombone)Bix Beiderbecke absorbed the music he heard of New Orleans jazz cornetists. He was influenced by Nick LaRocca of the Original Dixieland Jass Band. The LaRocca influence is evident in a number of Beiderbecke's recordings (especially the covers of O.D.J.B. songs). Beiderbecke also absorbed patterns from Joe "King" Oliver, and clarinetist Leon Roppolo. Beiderbecke's famous two-note interjection on "Goose Pimples" suggests Freddie Keppard, among older New Orleans players. According to many contemporaries, Beiderbecke was most influenced by Emmett Hardy, a highly regarded New Orleans cornetist who never recorded commercially and died at the age of only 28. Several fellow musicians said that Hardy's influence was very evident in Beiderbecke's early recordings with The Wolverines. New Orleans drummer Ray Bauduc heard Hardy's playing in the early 1920s and said that he was even more inspired than Beiderbecke. Bix Beiderbecke was also influenced by contemporary European music, such as the compositions of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, and similarly by American Impressionists, notably Eastwood Lane. Bix Beiderbecke is remembered today for his own individualistic style of jazz cornet playing, which moved away from his predecessors and influenced those who followed. As Louis Armstrong said, "Lots of cats tried to play like Bix; ain't none of them play like him yet." [edit] Influence on later musicians Louis Armstrong once remarked that he never played the tune "Singin' the Blues" because he thought Beiderbecke's classic recording of the song should not be touched. One follower was cornetist Jimmy McPartland, who replaced Beiderbecke in the 'Wolverine' Orchestra in late 1924. He continued to pay tribute to Beiderbecke throughout his long career (McPartland died in 1991). Beiderbecke's influence was most noticeable amongst white musicians, but black players also fell under his spell, notably trumpeters and cornetists John Nesbitt (of McKinney's Cotton Pickers), Rex Stewart of (Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra, Duke Ellington's Orchestra), and Doc Cheatham of (Cab Calloway's Orchestra). In the 1930s Bobby Hackett was widely billed as the "new Bix", especially after he reprised Beiderbecke's "I'm Coming Virginia" solo at Benny Goodman's famous 1938 Carnegie Hall concert. In 1965, Bobby Hackett recorded "Davenport Blues". Later Beiderbecke-influenced trumpet/cornet players have included: Ruby Braff, Dick Sudhalter, Warren Vach?, Randy Sandke, Ralph Norton and Tom Pletcher. Miles Davis was fascinated by Beiderbecke's playing, and sought out people who had known and played with him. Davis' silvery tone and understated, "cool" phrasing clearly hark back to one aspect of Beiderbecke's style. Hoagy Carmichael wrote his first composition, "Riverboat Shuffle", for Bix Beiderbecke's band The Wolverines, whom he had hired to perform at Indiana University in 1924. Carmichael wrote the classic jazz standard "Stardust" after a jam session with Bix Beiderbecke and based the verse of the tune on Beiderbecke's improvisations. Bing Crosby was also influenced by Bix Beiderbecke's musical style and approach in developing his own vocal phrasing and singing style. Jazz guitarist George Barnes stated in a 1975 Guitar Player interview: "When I was 11, I heard some Bix Beiderbecke records featuring Joe Venuti. I knew then that I wanted to be a jazz musician." [edit] Popular culture The character Rick Martin in Dorothy Baker's novel Young Man With A Horn (1938) was partly based on Beiderbecke's life. The story was later adapted as a movie (1950) starring Kirk Douglas as Martin (with horn playing dubbed by Harry James). (According to some sources, first choice Bobby Hackett was passed over because of unreliability). Bix Beiderbecke's recording of "Jazz Me Blues" appears in the 1955 Richard Brooks movie The Blackboard Jungle starring Glenn Ford and Anne Francis. The recording of "Singin' the Blues (Till My Daddy Comes Home)" by Bix Beiderbecke, Frankie Trumbauer, and Eddie Lang is featured in the 1994 Academy Award-winning Woody Allen movie Bullets Over Broadway. In the 1958 movie High School Confidential starring Russ Tamblyn, Michael Landon, and Jerry Lee Lewis, the Ray Anthony character in the movie is named "Bix". Anthony was a bandleadeer and was a former trumpeter in the Glenn Miller Orchestra in 1940-1941 and plays a bandleader in the movie. Young Man with a Horn was later parodied in the BBC radio series Round The Horne as "Young Horne With a Man", featuring "Bix Spiderthrust". Frederick W. Turner's 2003 novel 1929: A Novel of the Jazz Age is based on the life and career of Bix Beiderbecke. In 1990, the autobiographical picture "Bix" from Italian director Pupi Avati was filmed, starring Bryant Weeks, Ray Edelstein, Julia Ewing, and Mark Collver. Shooting of the picture in great part took place on location in and around Davenport, Iowa. Bix Beiderbecke's music is featured in three British comedy-drama television series, all written by Alan Plater: The Beiderbecke Affair (1984), The Beiderbecke Tapes (1987) and The Beiderbecke Connection (1988). In an episode from Season One of the AMC television series Mad Men, main character Don Draper's mistress, Midge, uses Beiderbecke's name as her pseudonym when calling him at his office. In 2008, the recordings of "Ostrich Walk" and "There'll Come a Time" by Bix Beiderbecke and Frankie Trumbauer were included on the soundtrack to the Brad Pitt movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which was nominated for 13 Academy Awards. The movie was based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald included in Tales of the Jazz Age. For 35 years, Bix Beiderbecke's home town, Davenport, Iowa, has honored his memory with an annual festival capped off with a 7 mile[2] run with 15,000+ runners. [edit] Name There has been debate about the full name of Bix Beiderbecke: was he baptized Leon Bix or Leon Bismark (Bix being a shortened form of the latter). He was named after his father Leon Bismark Beiderbecke. From the early 1960s onwards, Beiderbecke's living relatives (notably his brother Charles "Burnie") forcefully claimed that his name had always been Leon Bix. This was accepted as a fact by Beiderbecke researchers Phil and Linda Evans. Other researchers, including Rich Johnson, have found documents showing his full name to be Leon Bismark. These include records from the Early First Presbyterian Church to which the family belonged, and from Tyler School, which Beiderbecke attended. In addition, the will of a relative, Mary Hill, named young Beiderbecke as a beneficiary. His mother signed for his receipt of her gift, writing "Leon Bismark Beiderbecke". The latest major biography on Beiderbecke, Jean-Pierre Lion's Bix- the definitive biography of a jazz legend (Continuum International Publishing Group, 2005; page 4) also accepts the name Bismark as a fact.[5] Beiderbecke appeared to dislike his formal name from an early age. For example: in a letter to his mother when he was nine (1912), he signed it, "frome [sic] your Leon Bix Beiderbecke not Bismark Remeber [sic]." (this letter is reprinted in Evans & Evans pp 28-29). The family may have wanted to play down or avoid the more traditional German name of Bismarck during and after the tensions of World War I, when Germany was the enemy. From cb31450 at gmail.com Thu Jul 30 13:43:08 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:43:08 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Young muscians' deaths Message-ID: <5c2e4d230907301243v36ea5b62sd88d73998e499c98@mail.gmail.com> Aaliyah This article is about the singer. For her self-titled album, see Aaliyah (album). Aaliyah Background information Birth name Aaliyah Dana Haughton Born January 16, 1979(1979-01-16) Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States Origin Detroit, Michigan, United States Died August 25, 2001 (aged 22) Marsh Harbour, Abaco Islands, The Bahamas Genre(s) R&B, pop, hip hop Occupation(s) Singer, dancer, actress, model Voice type(s) Soprano Years active 1991?2001 Label(s) Blackground, Jive, Atlantic, Virgin, Universal Website www.aaliyah.com Aaliyah Dana Haughton (January 16, 1979 ? August 25, 2001), who performed under the mononym Aaliyah (pronounced /??li??/), was an American recording artist, actress and model. She was born in Brooklyn, New York, and was raised in Detroit, Michigan. At an early age, she appeared on Star Search and performed in concert alongside Gladys Knight. At age 12, Aaliyah was signed to Jive Records and Blackground Records by her uncle, Barry Hankerson. He introduced her to R. Kelly, who became her mentor, as well as lead songwriter and producer of her debut album. Age Ain't Nothing But a Number sold two million copies in the United States and was certified double Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). After facing allegations of an illegal marriage with Kelly, Aaliyah ended her contract with Jive and signed to Atlantic Records. Aaliyah worked with record producers Timbaland and Missy Elliott for her second album, One in a Million, which sold two million copies in the United States and over eight million copies worldwide. In 2000, Aaliyah appeared in her first major film, Romeo Must Die. She also contributed to the film's soundtrack, where "Try Again" was released as a single. The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 solely on radio airplay, making Aaliyah the first artist in Billboard history to achieve this feat. "Try Again" earned Aaliyah a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female R&B Vocalist. After filming Romeo Must Die, Aaliyah filmed her part in Queen of the Damned. She released her third and final album, Aaliyah, in 2001. On August 25, 2001, Aaliyah and eight others were killed in an airplane crash in The Bahamas after filming the music video for the single "Rock the Boat". The pilot, Luis Morales III, was unlicensed at the time of the accident and had traces of cocaine and alcohol in his system. Aaliyah's family later filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Blackhawk International Airways, which was settled out of court. Since then, Aaliyah has achieved commercial success with several posthumous releases. Selling over 24 million records worldwide, she has been credited for helping redefine R&B and hip hop and has been named the "Queen of Urban Pop". Contents [hide] 1 Life and career 1.1 1979?1991: Early life 1.2 1992?1995: Age Ain't Nothing But a Number 1.3 1996?1999: One in a Million 1.4 2000?2001: Romeo Must Die and eponymous album 1.4.1 Plane crash, death and wrongful death lawsuit 1.5 2001?2005: Posthumous career 2 Musical style and image 3 Legacy 4 Discography 4.1 Studio albums 4.2 Compilations 5 Filmography 6 See also 7 Notes 8 References 9 External links Life and career 1979?1991: Early life Aaliyah Dana Haughton was born on January 16, 1979, in Brooklyn, New York City, New York.[1] Born of African American and Native American descent,[2][3] she was the second and youngest child of Diane and Michael Haughton.[4] At a young age, Aaliyah was enrolled in voice lessons by her mother.[1] When she was five years old, her family moved to Detroit, Michigan, where she was raised along with her older brother, Rashad.[5][6] She attended a Catholic school, Gesu Elementary, where she received a part in the stage play Annie in first grade; from then on, she was determined to be an entertainer.[7] Aaliyah's mother was a vocalist, and her uncle, Barry Hankerson, was an entertainment lawyer who was previously married to Gladys Knight.[6] As a child, Aaliyah traveled with Knight and worked with an agent in New York to audition for commercials and television programs, including Family Matters; she went on to appear appeared on Star Search at the age of nine.[1][8] She then auditioned for several record labels and appeared in concert alongside Knight at age 11.[6][9] 1992?1995: Age Ain't Nothing But a Number After Barry Hankerson signed a distribution deal with Jive Records, he signed Aaliyah to his Blackground Records label at the age of 12.[10][11] Hankerson then introduced her to recording artist and producer R. Kelly.[9] He became Aaliyah's mentor, as well as lead songwriter and producer of the album.[12][13] They began recording her debut album, Age Ain't Nothing But a Number, when she was 14.[11] Released in June 1994, the album peaked at number 18 on the Billboard 200 and sold over two million copies in the United States.[14][15] Aaliyah's debut single, "Back & Forth", topped the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart for three weeks and was certified Gold by the RIAA.[16][17] The second single, a cover of The Isley Brothers' "At Your Best (You Are Love)", peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100 and was also certified Gold by the RIAA.[16][17] The title track, "Age Ain't Nothing But a Number", peaked at number 75 on the Hot 100.[16] With the release of Age Ain't Nothing But a Number, rumors began to circulate of a relationship between Aaliyah and Kelly.[9][18] Shortly after, rumors of a secret marriage began with the release of "Age Ain't Nothing But a Number" and the adult content that Kelly had written for Aaliyah.[19] Vibe magazine later revealed a marriage certificate that listed the couple, where they were allegedly married on August 31, 1994, in Sheraton Gateway Suites in Rosemont, Illinois.[9][19] Aaliyah, who was 15 at the time, was listed as 18 on the certificate; the illegal marriage was reportedly annulled by her parents.[12][19] The pair continued to deny marriage allegations, stating that neither was married.[18] 1996?1999: One in a Million "If Your Girl Only Knew" (1996) In her second album, Aaliyah was noted for having "smoother, more seductive, and stronger" singing.[20] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Problems listening to this file? See media help. In 1996, Aaliyah left Jive Records and signed to Atlantic Records.[9] She worked with record producers Timbaland and Missy Elliott, who contributed to her second studio album, One in a Million.[6] The album yielded "If Your Girl Only Knew", which topped the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs for two weeks.[16] It also generated the singles "Hot like Fire" and "4 Page Letter"; the following year, Aaliyah was featured on Timbaland & Magoo's debut single, "Up Jumps da Boogie".[21] One in a Million peaked at number 18 on the Billboard 200,[14] selling over two million copies in the United States and over eight million copies worldwide.[22][23] Aaliyah attended the Detroit High School for the Performing Arts, where she majored in drama and graduated in 1997 with a 4.0 grade point average.[9][24][25] Aaliyah began her acting career that same year; she played herself in the police drama television series New York Undercover.[26] She then released "The Thing I Like" from the soundtrack of A Low Down Dirty Shame;[27] it peaked at number 33 on the UK Singles Chart.[28] Aaliyah appeared on the soundtrack album for the Fox Animation Studios animated feature Anastasia, performing a cover version of "Journey to the Past".[27] The song was nominated for an Academy Award, where she performed the song at the 1998 Academy Awards ceremony, becoming the youngest singer to perform at the ceremony.[29][30] 2000?2001: Romeo Must Die and eponymous album In 2000, Aaliyah landed her first major movie role in Romeo Must Die. A loose adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Aaliyah starred opposite martial artist Jet Li, playing a couple who fall in love amid their warring families. It grossed $18.6 million in its first weekend, ranking number two at the box office.[31] In addition to acting, Aaliyah served as an executive producer of the film soundtrack, where she contributed four songs.[32] "Try Again" was released as a single from the soundtrack; the song topped the Billboard Hot 100, making Aaliyah the first artist to top the chart based solely on radio airplay; this led the song to be released in a 12" vinyl and 7" single.[16][33] The video for the song earned Aaliyah Best Female Video and Best Video from a Film at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards.[34] It also earned her a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female R&B Vocalist.[35] The soundtrack went on to sell 1.5 million copies in the United States.[36] After Romeo Must Die, Aaliyah began to film for her second film, Queen of the Damned. She had the role of an ancient vampire, Queen Akasha, which she described as a "manipulative, crazy, sexual being".[11] She was scheduled to film for the sequels of The Matrix as the character Zee.[9][37] Aaliyah went on to release her eponymous album, Aaliyah, in July 2001. Produced primarily by Timbaland,[1] the album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 187,000 copies in its first week.[38] The first single from the album, "We Need a Resolution", peaked at number 59 on the Billboard Hot 100.[16] Plane crash, death and wrongful death lawsuit On August 25, 2001, at 6:45 pm (EST), Aaliyah and various members of her record company boarded a twin engine Cessna 402B (N8097W) at Marsh Harbour, Abaco Islands, The Bahamas, to travel to an airport in Opa-locka, Florida, after they completed filming the music video for "Rock the Boat".[39] The crew had a flight scheduled the following day, but Aaliyah and her entourage were eager to return to the United States due to the filming finishing early, so they demanded that their heavy equipment be loaded on the plane rather than left behind. It resulted in the aircraft being well beyond the standard weight and balance tolerance provided by Cessna.[40] The plane crashed shortly after takeoff, about 200 feet (60 m) from the runway.[39] Aaliyah, pilot Luis Morales III, hair stylist Eric Forman, Anthony Dodd, security guard Scott Gallin, video producer Douglas Kratz, stylist Christopher Maldonado, and Blackground Records employees Keith Wallace and Gina Smith were killed.[41] According to findings from an inquest conducted by the coroner's office in The Bahamas, Aaliyah suffered from "severe burns and a blow to the head", in addition to severe shock. The coroner theorized that, even if Aaliyah had survived the crash, her recovery would have been virtually impossible given the severity of her injuries.[42] The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report stated that "the airplane was seen lifting off the runway, and then nose down, impacting in a marsh on the south side of the departure end of runway 27."[43] It also indicated that the pilot was not approved to pilot the plane he was attempting to fly. Morales falsely obtained his Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) license by showing hundreds of hours never flown, and he may also have falsified how many hours he had flown in order to get a job with his employer, Blackhawk International Airways.[44] Additionally, an autopsy performed on Morales revealed traces of cocaine and alcohol in his system.[45] The entrance to Ferncliff Cemetery, where Aaliyah was buriedFurther investigations determined the plane was over its total gross weight by 700 pounds and was loaded with one more passenger than it was allowed to carry.[46] John Frank of the Cessna Pilots Association stated that the plane was "definitely overloaded".[47] The NTSB reported that the total gross weight of the place was "substantially exceeded", which caused the center of gravity to be pushed too far aft.[43] Aaliyah's funeral was held on August 31, 2001, at the Saint Ignatius Loyola Church in New York, which was attended by over 800 mourners.[12][48] After service, 22 white doves were released to symbolize each year of her life.[49] Aaliyah was buried at the Ferncliff Cemetery.[50] The day of the crash was Morales' first official day with Blackhawk International Airways, an FAA Part 135 single-pilot operation. In addition, Morales was not registered with the FAA to fly for Blackhawk. As a result of the accident, a wrongful death lawsuit was filed by Aaliyah's parents and was later settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.[51] Barry & Sons, Inc., a corporation formed in 1992 to develop, promote and capitalize Aaliyah and to oversee the production and distribution of her records and music videos, brought an unsuccessful lawsuit in the New York Supreme Court against Instinct Productions LLC, the company that was hired in August 2001 to produce the music video for "Rock the Boat". The case was dismissed due to New York's wrongful death statute only permitting certain people to recover damages for wrongful death.[52][53] 2001?2005: Posthumous career The week after Aaliyah's death, her third studio album, Aaliyah, rose from number 19 to number one on the Billboard 200.[54] "Rock the Boat" became a posthumous single, peaking at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number two on Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.[55] The song was also included on the Now That's What I Call Music! 8 compilation series; a portion of the album's profits were donated to the Aaliyah Memorial Fund.[56] The following two singles from Aaliyah, "More than a Woman" and "I Care 4 U", peaked within the top 25 of the Billboard Hot 100.[55] The album was certified double Platinum by the RIAA and sold 2.5 million copies in the United States.[17][57] She went on to win two posthumous awards at the American Music Awards of 2002; Favorite Female R&B Artist and Favorite R&B/Soul Album for Aaliyah.[58] Her second and final film, Queen of the Damned, was released in February 2002. Before its release, Aaliyah's brother, Rashad, re-dubbed part of her lines during post-production.[59][60] It grossed $15.2 million in its first weekend, ranking number one at the box office.[61] In December 2002, a collection of previously unreleased material was released as Aaliyah's first posthumous album, I Care 4 U. A portion of proceeds was donated to the Aaliyah Memorial Fund, a program that benefits the Revlon UCLA Women Cancer Research Program and Harlem's Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.[62] It debuted at number three on the Billboard 200, selling 280,000 copies in its first week.[57] The album's lead single, "Miss You", peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.[55] In August of the following year, clothing retailer Christian Dior donated profits from sales in honor of Aaliyah.[63] Aaliyah was signed to appear in future films, including Honey (recast to Jessica Alba);[64] Some Kind of Blue and a Whitney Houston-produced remake of the 1976 film Sparkle were cancelled due to Aaliyah's death.[2][65] Before her death, Aaliyah had filmed part of her role in The Matrix Reloaded and was scheduled to appear in The Matrix Revolutions as Zee.[21] The role was later recast to Nona Gaye.[37] With the release of the Matrix Ultimate Collection series, clips of Aaliyah were included in the tribute section.[66] In 2005, Aaliyah's second compilation album, Ultimate Aaliyah was released in the UK by Blackground Records.[67] Ultimate Aaliyah is a three disc set which comprises a greatest hits audio CD, a second audio CD which includes music from the Romeo Must Die soundtrack and songs by other artists on which Aaliyah is featured, and a DVD.[67] Andy Kellman of Allmusic remarked "Ultimate Aaliyah adequately represents the shortened career of a tremendous talent who benefited from some of the best songwriting and production work by Timbaland, Missy Elliott, and R. Kelly."[67] Musical style and image "More Than a Woman" (2001) As her albums progressed, music critics felt that Aaliyah had matured, noting a "near-flawless declaration of strength and independence".[68] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Problems listening to this file? See media help. Aaliyah had a vocal range of a soprano.[9] With the release of her debut single "Back & Forth", Dimitri Ehrlich of Entertainment Weekly expressed that Aaliyah's "silky vocals are more agile than those of self-proclaimed queen of hip-hop soul Mary J. Blige."[69] Aaliyah described her sound as "street but sweet", which featured her "gentle" vocals over a "hard" beat.[70] Though Aaliyah did not write any of her own material,[9] her lyrics were described to be in-depth.[71][72] She incorporated R&B, pop and hip hop into her music. Her songs were often uptempo and melancholy, revolving around matters of the heart.[73][68] Her songs have been said to have "crisp production" and "staccato arrangements" that "extend genre boundaries" while containing "old-school" soul music. When experimenting with other genres, such as Latin pop and heavy metal, writers panned the attempt.[73] As her albums progressed, writers felt that Aaliyah matured, calling her progress a "declaration of strength and independence".[72][68] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic described her eponymous album, Aaliyah, as "a statement of maturity and a stunning artistic leap forward" and called it one of the strongest urban soul records of its time.[72] She portrayed "unfamiliar sounds, styles and emotions", but managed to please critics with the contemporary sound it contained.[72] Ernest Hardy of Rolling Stone felt that Aaliyah reflected a stronger technique, where she gave her best vocal performance.[68] Others felt that she was "satisfying rather than extraordinary", stating that she added little to modern R&B.[74][75] As an artist, Aaliyah often voiced that she was inspired by a number of performers. These include Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Sade, En Vogue, Nine Inch Nails, 'N Sync, Korn, Britney Spears, The Notorious B.I.G., Prince, Naughty by Nature, Johnny Mathis and Janet Jackson.[76] Aaliyah expressed that Michael Jackson's Thriller was her "favorite album" and that "[n]othing will ever top Thriller."[76] She stated that she admired Sade because "she stays true to her style no matter what... she's an amazing artist, an amazing performer... and I absolutely love her."[76] Aaliyah expressed Janet Jackson?whom she had drawn frequent comparison to over the course of her career?was someone she had always desired to work with, stating "I admire her a great deal. She's a total performer... I'd love to do a duet with Janet Jackson."[76][77][78][79] Jackson reciprocated Aaliyah's affections, commenting "I've loved her from the beginning because she always comes out and does something different, musically." Jackson also stated she would have enjoyed collaborating with Aaliyah.[76] Since the beginning of her career, Aaliyah focused on her public image. She often wore baggy clothes and sunglasses, stating that she "wanted to be me".[80] She described her image as being "important? to differentiate yourself from the rest of the pack".[81] She often wore black clothing, which led women in the United States and Japan to utilize her look.[9][82] Aaliyah participated in fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger's All America Tour and was featured in Tommy Jean ads, which depicted her in boxer shorts, baggy jeans and a tube top. Hilfiger's brother, Andy, called it "a whole new look" that was "classy but sexy".[82] When she changed her hairstyle, Aaliyah took her mother's advice to cover her left eye, much like Veronica Lake.[83] In 1998, Aaliyah hired a personal trainer to keep in shape. She exercised five days a week and ate diet foods.[84] Aaliyah was praised for her "clean-cut image" and "moral values".[85] Legacy Aaliyah has been credited for helping redefine R&B and hip hop in the 1990s, "leaving an indelible imprint on the music industry as a whole."[86][87] Steve Huey of Allmusic wrote Aaliyah ranks among the "elite" artists of the R&B genre, as she "played a major role in popularizing the stuttering, futuristic production style that consumed hip-hop and urban soul in the late '90s."[88] Described as one of "R&B's most important artists" during the 1990s,[89] her second studio album, One in a Million, became one of the most influential R&B albums of the decade.[90] According to Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine, Aaliyah provided a "missing link between hip-hop and electronica".[91] Having sold 8.1 million albums in the United States and over 24 million records worldwide,[92][93] Aaliyah has been named the "Queen of Urban Pop"[94] and "prove[d] she was a muse in her own right".[95] Ernest Hardy of Rolling Stone dubbed her as the "undisputed queen of the midtempo come-on".[68] Aaliyah was honored at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards by Janet Jackson, Missy Elliott, Timbaland, Ginuwine and her brother, Rashad, who all paid tribute to her.[96] In the same year, the United States Social Security Administration ranked the name Aaliyah one of the 100 most popular names for newborn girls.[97] Aaliyah was ranked as one of "The Top 40 Women of the Video Era" and "100 Sexiest Artists" in VH1's 2003 The Greatest series.[98][99] She was also ranked at number 18 on BET's "Top 25 Dancers of All Time".[100] In memory of Aaliyah, the Entertainment Industry Foundation created the Aaliyah Memorial Fund to donate money raised to charities she supported.[101][102] Discography Main article: Aaliyah discography Studio albums Age Ain't Nothing But a Number (1994) One in a Million (1996) Aaliyah (2001) Compilations I Care 4 U (2002) Hits & Unreleased: The Ultimate Collection (2002) Ultimate Aaliyah (2005) From dogangoecmen at aol.com Fri Jul 31 01:33:57 2009 From: dogangoecmen at aol.com (=?utf-8?Q?DG=C3=B6=C3=A7men?=) Date: Fri, 31 Jul 2009 03:33:57 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] The Nature and Paradoxes of Freedom Message-ID: <8CBDFC865FE03EA-BB0-201D@WEBMAIL-MZ12.sysops.aol.com> Dear All, a draft paper of mine and ?smail ?iriner is available now. Comments are always welcome... -------- "The Nature and Paradoxes of Freedom Freedom is a powerful Idea. As a concept, combined with equality and fraternity, it was the forceful ideal drive for a series of revolutions in Europe and throughout the world since the middle of the 17th century. As well as ruling and oppressed and subordinated classes, imperialist states and colonised and suppressed people referred and refer to it either to defend their socioeconomic and political domination or justify their fight for emancipation and self determination. Therefore, it is not surprising that it is a hot-combated concept. It includes the freedom of conscience, thought and speech, will and action of individuals and collective agents. This whole scope of the concept may be summed up by subsuming them under the terms of external and internal freedom. These two aspects of freedom must be taken in their dialectical unity as inseparable and accomplishing aspects of one and the same concept. In contemporary debates, it still continues to be a core concept and is pointed to as the main motivation by Marxist scholars for fundamental social and political changes as explored within the framework of the concept of (human) emancipation. By contrast, paradoxical enough, neo-liberals and conservatives, too, use the concept of freedom to justify their social- Darwinist socio-political proposals. This is a paradox as well as an intriguing commonness and provokes for further tho ught, investigation and qualification. The aim of the paper is to address this paradox." Read more at: http://dogangocmen.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/freedom_nature_and_paradoxes.pdf D.G??men http://dogangocmen.wordpress.com/ From farmelantj at juno.com Fri Jul 31 11:31:43 2009 From: farmelantj at juno.com (farmelantj at juno.com) Date: Fri, 31 Jul 2009 17:31:43 GMT Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] [Marxism] The Nature and Paradoxes of Freedom Message-ID: <20090731.133143.4445.0@webmail15.vgs.untd.com> Dogan's comments on Hayek remind me a bit of what the Canadian political philosopher C.B. Macpherson had to say about Milton Friedman. Milton Friedman in his 1962 book, *Capitalism and Freedom*, famously argued that a free market capitalist economy was a necessary requirement if political freedom and democracy were to flourish. He admitted that not all capitalist societies were democratic and that not all them safeguarded political freedom but he argued that as an empirical matter, there were no ?free? societies around that not also capitalist. He also made the argument that a free market economy was necessary to provide checks against the ambitions of the state, and so in that way acted as a necessary basis for the preservation of political freedom and democracy. That?s also how, years later, he could justify his giving economic advice to the Pinochet government, which clearly was hostile to both democracy and political freedom, since while Pinochet himself might have been a fascist thug, his economic policies, so Friedman argued, were conducive to the eventual expansion of liberty and democracy. There are, however, several problems with Friedman?s arguments. First of all the claimed correlation between economic freedom and political freedom is not as simple as Friedman made out. Friedman claimed that ?democratic socialism? was an oxymoron. A ?democratic socialist? society, in his view, would either in time become undemocratic or it would revert back to capitalism. However, his argument does not take into account that though most of the West, the expansion of political freedom coincided with the spread of social democracy. The Scandinavian countries, for instance, back in the 1960s and 1970s managed to develop quite extensive welfare states at the very same time that these societies were also exapnding the range of personal and political freedoms that they were willing to protect, Back in 1968 the Canadian political philosopher C.B. Macpherson wrote, what I believe to be one of the most effective demolition of Friedman?s arguments in his essay, ?Elegant Tombstones: A Note on Friedman?s Freedom,? which first appeared in the journal, Canadian Journal of Political Science in March of that year. The following paragraphs should give the reader some of the flavor of Machpherson?s critique of Friedman. Here, Macpherson takes on Friedman?s contention that free market capitalism is noncoercive in nature. That contention is one of the basic premises that underly Friedman?s argument that capitalism is a necessary presupposition for the existence of political freedom. ????????????? ?Professor Friedman?s demonstration [in _Capitalism and Freedom] that the capitalist market economy can coordinate economic activities without coercion rests on an elementary conceptual error. His argument runs as follows. He shows first that in a simple market model, where each individual or household controls resources enabling it to produce goods and services either directly for itself or for exchange, there will be production for exchange because of the increased product made possible by specialization. But since the household always has the alternative of producing directly for itself, it need not enter into any exchange unless it benefits from it. Hence no exchange will take place unless both parties do benefit from it. Cooperation is thereby achieved without coercion? So far, so good. It is indeed clear that in this simple exchange model, assuming rational maximizing behavior by all hands, every exchange will benefit both parties, and that no act of coercion is involved in the decision to produce for exchange or in any act of exchange. Professor Friedman then moves on to our actual complex economy, or rather to his own curious model of it: As in [the] simple exchange model, so in the complex enterprise and money-exchange economy, cooperation is strictly individual and voluntary *provided*: (a) that enterprises are private, so that the ultimate contracting parties are individuals and (b) that individuals are effectively free to enter or not to enter into any particular exchange so that every exchange is strictly voluntary Proviso (b) is ?that individuals are effectively free to enter or not to enter into any particular exchange?, and it is held that with this proviso ?every exchange is strictly voluntary?. A moment?s thought will show that this is not so. The proviso that is required to make every transaction strictly volunatry is not freedom not to enter into any *particular* exchange, but freedom not to enter into any exchange *at all*. This, and only this, was the proviso that proved the simple model to be voluntary and noncoercive; and nothing less than this would prove the complex model to voluntary and noncoercive. But Professor Friedman is clearly claiming that freedom not to enter into any *particular* exchange is enough: ?The consumer is protected from coercion by the seller because of the presence of other sellers with whom he can deal The employee is protected from coercion by the employer because of other employers for whom he can work ? One almost despairs of logic, and of the use of models. It is easy to see what Professor Friedman has done, but it is less easy to excuse it. He has moved from the simple economy of exchange between independent producers, to the capitalist economy,without mentioning the most important thing that distinguishes them. He mentions money instead of barter, and ?enterprises which are intermediaries between individuals in their capacities as suppliers of services and as purchasers of goods? as if money and merchants were what distinguished a capitalist economy from an economy of independent producers. What distinguishes the capitalist economy from the simple exchange economy is the separation of labor and capital, that is, the existence of a labor force without its own sufficient capital and therefore without a choice as to whether to put its labor in the market or not. Professor Friedman would agree that where there is no choice there is coercion. His attempted demonstration that capitalism coordinates without coercion therefore fails.? ---------------- Concerning the concepts of negative freedom that were embraced by both Hayek and Isaiah Berlin, Dogan is quite correct that for both men, the embracing of negative liberty (and the rejection of positive liberty) was very much motivated by their desire to defend capitalism. Where the two men differed, is that Berlin's embrace of negative liberty was in the context of his "pluralism." By pluralism, Berlin meant a "value pluralism" or a pluralism of values (not unlike Max Weber's conception) in which there are a plurality of ideals, which may all be equally valid, but which are not entirely compatible with one another. For Berlin, while negative liberty was a valid social ideal, it was not the only one. Berlin recognized as valid, the social ideals of equality and solidarity. Therefore, for Berlin, unlike Hayek, the good society while embracing negative liberty also might embrace other ideals like equality or solidarity. Therefore, Berlin was able to rationalize the emergence of the welfare state in the UK and the New Deal in the US. In this way, as Dogan suggests, Berlin's pluralism of values was closely tied to the pluralism of classes under capitalism, and so Berlin like a good social democratic liberal attempted to mediate between the interests of capitalists and workers under capitalism. Jim F. ---------- Original Message ---------- From: Dogan Gocmen To: farmelantj at juno.com Subject: [Marxism] The Nature and Paradoxes of Freedom Date: Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:37:33 +0300 Dear All, a draft paper by ??smail ??iriner and me is available now. Comments are always welcome... -------- "The Nature and Paradoxes of Freedom ____________________________________________________________ Click to get free auto insurance quotes from top companies. http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/BLSrjpTImHYsxS1zpPYm1SoENOdVHvGqOpftd0EoYgIRXqjAbTQp1ZsUpry/ From dogangoecmen at aol.com Fri Jul 31 13:21:34 2009 From: dogangoecmen at aol.com (=?utf-8?Q?DG=C3=B6=C3=A7men?=) Date: Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:21:34 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] [Marxism] The Nature and Paradoxes of Freedom In-Reply-To: <20090731.133143.4445.0@webmail15.vgs.untd.com> References: <20090731.133143.4445.0@webmail15.vgs.untd.com> Message-ID: <8CBE02B40A521A8-DA0-3E4@WEBMAIL-MB04.sysops.aol.com> Hi Jim, thank you very much for your encouraging comments and very useful references. I notice that you point to the difference between Berlin and Hayek, which is very important for political tactial matters. More general point I emphesise is the shift from the positive concept freedom to negative concept of freedom in liberal thought from classical liberalism to neoliberalism.I am very much aware that classical liberal thought is full of contradictions. They usually formulate and employ a concept of positive freedom in their more theoretical works but when they come to apply it to questions of pratical philosophy they normally justify a concept of negative freedom.Despite this they normally tried to combine both concepts. In neoliberal thought however the concept of positive freedom is either silently discarted or attacked openly. If we take in good Marxist tradition that theories mirror their time, then, for political theorist/philosophers it is important to investigate the reason for this shift. Rosa Luxemburg writes somewhere in her book Social Reform or Revolution? that liberalism was death because finans capital controls and dominates almost everything. This change in the structure of capital in particular and capitalism in general must be taken into account when we think about current political developments. Thanks a lot again and best wishes, D.G??men http://dogangocmen.wordpress.com/ -----Original Message----- From: farmelantj at juno.com To: marxism at lists.econ.utah.edu; marxism-thaxis @lists.econ.utah.edu Sent: Fri, Jul 31, 2009 8:31 pm Subject: Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] [Marxism] The Nature and Paradoxes of Freedom Dogan's comments on Hayek remind me a bit of what the Canadian political philosopher C.B. Macpherson had to say about Milton Friedman. Milton Friedman in his 1962 book, *Capitalism and Freedom*, famously argued that a free market capitalist economy was a necessary requirement if political freedom and democracy were to flourish. He admitted that not all capitalist societies were democratic and that not all them safeguarded political freedom but he argued that as an empirical matter, there were no ?free? societies around that not also capitalist. He also made the argument that a free market economy was necessary to provide checks against the ambitions of the state, and so in that way acted as a necessary basis for the preservation of political freedom and democracy. That?s also how, years later, he could justify his giving economic advice to the Pinochet government, which clearly was hostile to both democracy and political freedom, since while Pinochet himself might have been a fascist thug, his economic policies, so Friedman argued, were conducive to the eventual expansion of liberty and democracy. There are, however, several problems with Friedman?s arguments. First of all the claimed correlation between economic freedom and political freedom is not as simple as Friedman made out. Friedman claimed that ?democratic soci alism? was an oxymoron. A ?democratic socialist? society, in his view, would either in time become undemocratic or it would revert back to capitalism. However, his argument does not take into account that though most of the West, the expansion of political freedom coincided with the spread of social democracy. The Scandinavian countries, for instance, back in the 1960s and 1970s managed to develop quite extensive welfare states at the very same time that these societies were also exapnding the range of personal and political freedoms that they were willing to protect, Back in 1968 the Canadian political philosopher C.B. Macpherson wrote, what I believe to be one of the most effective demolition of Friedman?s arguments in his essay, ?Elegant Tombstones: A Note on Friedman?s Freedom,? which first appeared in the journal, Canadian Journal of Political Science in March of that year. The following paragraphs should give the reader some of the flavor of Machpherson?s critique of Friedman. Here, Macpherson takes on Friedman?s contention that free market capitalism is noncoercive in nature. That contention is one of the basic premises that underly Friedman?s argument that capitalism is a necessary presupposition for the existence of political freedom. ????????????? ?Professor Friedman?s demonstration [in _Capitalism and Freedom] that the capitalist market econ omy can coordinate economic activities without coercion rests on an elementary conceptual error. His argument runs as follows. He shows first that in a simple market model, where each individual or household controls resources enabling it to produce goods and services either directly for itself or for exchange, there will be production for exchange because of the increased product made possible by specialization. But since the household always has the alternative of producing directly for itself, it need not enter into any exchange unless it benefits from it. Hence no exchange will take place unless both parties do benefit from it. Cooperation is thereby achieved without coercion??So far, so good. It is indeed clear that in this simple exchange model, assuming rational maximizing behavior by all hands, every exchange will benefit both parties, and that no act of coercion is involved in the decision to produce for exchange or in any act of exchange. Professor Friedman then moves on to our actual complex economy, or rather to his own curious model of it: As in [the] simple exchange model, so in the complex enterprise and money-exchange economy, cooperation is strictly individual and voluntary *provided*: (a) that enterprises are private, so that the ultimate contracting parties are individuals and (b) that individuals are effectively free to enter or not to enter into any particular exchange so that every exchange is strictly voluntary? ?Proviso (b) is ? that individuals are effectively free to enter or not to enter into any particular exchange?, and it is held that with this proviso ?every exchange is strictly voluntary?. A moment?s thought will show that this is not so. The proviso that is required to make every transaction strictly volunatry is not freedom not to enter into any *particular* exchange, but freedom not to enter into any exchange *at all*. This, and only this, was the proviso that proved the simple model to be voluntary and noncoercive; and nothing less than this would prove the complex model to voluntary and noncoercive. But Professor Friedman is clearly claiming that freedom not to enter into any *particular* exchange is enough: ?The consumer is protected from coercion by the seller because of the presence of other sellers with whom he can deal?The employee is protected from coercion by the employer because of other employers for whom he can work?? One almost despairs of logic, and of the use of models. It is easy to see what Professor Friedman has done, but it is less easy to excuse it. He has moved from the simple economy of exchange between independent producers, to the capitalist economy,without mentioning the most important thing that distinguishes them. He mentions money instead of barter, and ?enterprises which are intermediaries between individuals in their capacities as suppliers of services and as purchasers of goods??as if money a nd merchants were what distinguished a capitalist economy from an economy of independent producers. What distinguishes the capitalist economy from the simple exchange economy is the separation of labor and capital, that is, the existence of a labor force without its own sufficient capital and therefore without a choice as to whether to put its labor in the market or not. Professor Friedman would agree that where there is no choice there is coercion. His attempted demonstration that capitalism coordinates without coercion therefore fails.? ---------------- Concerning the concepts of negative freedom that were embraced by both Hayek and Isaiah Berlin, Dogan is quite correct that for both men, the embracing of negative liberty (and the rejection of positive liberty) was very much motivated by their desire to defend capitalism. Where the two men differed, is that Berlin's embrace of negative liberty was in the context of his "pluralism." By pluralism, Berlin meant a "value pluralism" or a pluralism of values (not unlike Max Weber's conception) in which there are a plurality of ideals, which may all be equally valid, but which are not entirely compatible with one another. For Berlin, while negative liberty was a valid social ideal, it was not the only one. Berlin recognized as valid, the social ideals of equality and solidarity. Therefore, for Berlin, unlike Hayek, the good society while embracing negative liberty also might embrace other ideals like equality or solidarity. Therefore, Berlin was able to rationalize the emergence of the welfare state in the UK and the New Deal in the US. In this way, as Dogan suggests, Berlin's pluralism of values was closely tied to the pluralism of classes under capitalism, and so Berlin like a good social democratic liberal attempted to mediate between the interests of capitalists and workers under capitalism. Jim F. ---------- Original Message ---------- From: Dogan Gocmen To: farmelantj at juno.com Subject: [Marxism] The Nature and Paradoxes of Freedom Date: Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:37:33 +0300 Dear All, a draft paper by ??smail ??iriner and me is available now. Comments are always welcome... -------- "The Nature and Paradoxes of Freedom ____________________________________________________________ Click to get free auto insurance quotes from top companies. http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/BLSrjpTImHYsxS1zpPYm1SoENOdVHvGqOpftd0EoYgIRXqjAbTQp1ZsUpry/ _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis From bogus@does.not.exist.com Mon Jul 6 09:31:04 2009 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:31:04 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: Detroit is worse than other places, the difference is due mainly to racism against a city with an 85% population, the largest percentage of any city but DC From bogus@does.not.exist.com Mon Jul 6 09:31:04 2009 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:31:04 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: t=20 is worse than other places, the difference is due mainly to racism agains= t=20 a city with an 85% population, the largest percentage of any city but DC= =20 << =20 Comment=20 The long term capital flight from every major city in the American Midwes= t=20 by definition takes place at the hands of "white controlled corporations.= "=20 Every communist and Marxists of my generation understands this elementary= =20 reasoning. It is this white control - without quotes, that created the=20 color factor as an economic, social and political index in American and = world=20 history. This "white control" snakes its way back through history and is= the=20 outer appearance of the primitive accumulation of capital dating back to= =20 the 14 th century. The "white" provided the ideological basis for the=20 genocide of the Indian and slavery. It's all "white."=20 =20 I thought this was understood and at the basis of all assumptions about = =20 America.=20 More than white control is involved in "control" because we are speaking= =20 of economic relations and things like jobs, schools, public assistance,= =20 falling wage rates and ones neighborhood. Communists speak of control as= =20 property relations and how this control evolves and that shape. We are de= aling=20 with capitalist institutions.=20 If AIG's actions were exclusive to Detroit a charge of racism against AIG= ,=20 would make sense. AIG will be specifically spoken to in part 4. Rather,= =20 what we are dealing with is structured finance or the brave new world of= =20 non-banking financial institutions, as this form of capital/wealth creati= on=20 writes the agenda for the world total capital. For instance the "housing= =20 collapse" was hardly due to racism, although the reactionary white chauvi= nists=20 screamed to the high heavens that loans to minorities caused this moment= of=20 capital crisis. Predatory lending was only one small aspect of the housin= g=20 collapse and the world wide economic crisis. Nor was this crisis impact= =20 primarily racists or driven by the color factor in our history.=20 In the historical and structural sense the current crisis and its impact= =20 on political jurisdictions nationwide, is the intensifying crisis of=20 capitalism or the free market economy. This crisis of capital reproduction= is =20 exacerbated by the ousting of ever larger segments of labor from the produ= ction =20 commodities and the cheapening of labor power. The temporary worker segmen= t=20 of the labor market is going to reach 50% of the American working class= in=20 a very short time. Wages are being pushed down nationwide, not just in=20 Detroit.=20 =20 The workers in Detroit are better understood as part of a general logic = =20 affecting the American working class. The city of Detroit is better unders= tood=20 as part of the state of Michigan and the state of Michigan's budget crisi= s=20 is part of the general economic crisis from California to Florida.=20 =20 During periods of crisis unemployment in Detroit has always run after than= =20 the national average. This was true in the 1920's, 30's and 1950's or =20 before the city was majority African American.=20 I.=20 =20 My comment meant no one can blame white peoples as white peoples for the= =20 above or 2). for the composition of the Detroit City Council: 3). the =20 composition of the top 18 candidates in the recent primary election; 4).= the =20 election of Dave Bing - an industrialist thinker, as Mayor of Detroit or= 5). the=20 distinct lack of vision of the black intelligentsia in Detroit. Nor can= =20 white people - the Anglo population in America, be blamed for the cause= of=20 Detroit=E2=80=99s decline as an industrial center.=20 Here is what was written: =20 "Because Detroit is so black real living issues are polarized to the=20 extreme as class with very little to zero racially charged literature. =20 "Can't blame white people" for shit . . . here.=20 "The meaning of society moving in class antagonism, rather than just =E2= =80=9Cthe=20 class struggle=E2=80=9D is visible to everyone as composition of the vari= ous=20 neighborhoods. <<=20 Real living issues like the economic decline of neighborhoods polarized= as=20 class stratification and the growing crime infested proletarian slums,=20 cannot be blamed on white people. The flight of the black middle class to= the=20 suburbs and the upper layer of industrial workers who are black, cannot= be=20 blamed on white peoples. This flight is that of an economic strata and=20 takes place in all the old industrial areas without regard to the color= of the=20 eyes of those fleeing.=20 Capitalism - the bourgeois property relation, and the impact of the=20 revolution in the material power of the productive forces is the problem,= rather=20 than white people. Economic stratification or the distinction between=20 various economic layers of the working class, expressed as the compositio= n of=20 distinct neighborhoods, will continue to exist and worsen no matter what= the=20 color of the eyes of the residents of the city.=20 Detroit's economic decline and social decay is not because the executors= =20 of capital are white. Economic decline is the result of capitalism and a= =20 large section of our working class is now speaking of socialism as a solu= tion=20 to poverty. Let's look at a small example of this economic decline. =20 Between 1979 and 1989 the Detroit area lost 50,000 Chrysler workers jobs,= =20 due to Chrysler's defeat in the market place. Chrysler went belly up in= the=20 third quarter of 1979 and this meant closing plants like McGraw Glass, =20 Chrysler Import and Export, Outer Drive Stamping, Eight Mile Stamping, Mac= k =20 Stamping, Dodge Main, Detroit Universal, Hubert Foundry, Eldon, Winfield= =20 Foundry, Lynch Road Assembly and a couple of other plants memory does not= allow =20 me to recall. This loss of jobs meant a reduced tax base for Detroit and= in=20 the case of Detroit Universal Gear and Axle, a loss for the city of=20 Dearborn. In as much as these jobs went nowhere else but registered as ab= solute=20 loss, the resulting economic ruin has always been understood as the=20 operations of the laws of capitalism rather than a manifestation of racis= m.=20 Chrysler's defeat in the market, under the stewardship of Ricardo and Lyn= n=20 Townsend, did not grow out of race hatred of blacks. Rather, capitalist= =20 competition and response of Ricardo and Townsend to this competition made= =20 Chrysler the market loser. The fact that the heads of General Motors and= Ford=20 - (Chrysler's historic and primary competitors), are also white, would=20 seems to indicate that the loss of 50,000 jobs by Chrysler cannot be=20 attributed to racism. Chrysler had older plants than its competitors and= tailored=20 its production and distribution system to projected sales rather than a= "just=20 in time system." Everyone in my generation of workers understood that=20 Chrysler cars tended not to start if it was raining and no one can forget= the=20 "crying starters" and jerking motion of shifting gears, because Chrysler= =20 refused to nickel plate its "gear yokes." Chrysler lost its status of=20 engineering excellence a very long time ago as it sought the fast buck.= Perhaps,=20 there was a racist motive behind seeking the fast buck but I am not aware= of=20 it.=20 Nor, am I of the opinion that because many of the workers losing jobs wer= e=20 black, this is proof of racist actions or inaction by white control=20 corporations. Rather, what is proven is the decay of capital and needed= changes=20 in the system.=20 I am of the opinion that are several intertwining factors constituting th= e=20 historical and structural cause of the decay of cities like Detroit. The= =20 decline of the old industrial cities throughout the entire area of the Mi= d=20 West of the United States is pretty well documented. The flight of capita= l=20 from the Mid West (North of America) to the South and then to Mexico and= =20 then the impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is not= the=20 result of racism. =20 There is pretty of old fashion racism left in the city's relationship wit= h=20 various other political jurisdictions and with the state of Michigan in= =20 its legislative-judicial features. However, the economic, social and =20 political plight of Detroit's workers - their class differentiation and= class=20 stratification cannot be blamed on =E2=80=9Cwhite people.=E2=80=9D=20 II. =20 As a baby boomer my life has spanned changes in the organization of=20 capital/money and production process. =20 The post-World War II years saw a boom in the auto, appliance, and =20 furniture industries which grew along with the housing boom which had been= made =20 possible by the G.I. Bill. With every cyclical crisis of overproduction in= the=20 1960s and 1970s, new labor-saving devices were introduced into production= .=20 Electronic production with robots and computers was made possible by the= =20 semiconductor and microchip that began to be introduced into production=20 after World War II. =20 The 1980s marked a rapid increase in the use of labor-saving devices, with= =20 devastating social effects. One of the first concessions resulting from=20 this period was that welfare recipients in the 1980s did not receive an= annual=20 increase in their welfare grants. There were massive plant closures acros= s=20 Michigan. Housing, neighborhoods, hospitals, clinics, and local grocery= =20 stores were destroyed. There was a wholesale rise of homelessness, and a= =20 flight of employees from the state of Michigan and not just Detroit. =20 As the crisis deepened in the 1990's, due to structured finance ourside th= e=20 production of material values; more automation and the use of robotics,= =20 and as a globalize labor market developed, it became clear that the state= =20 government would not provide social programs for workers when the capital= ists=20 no longer needed them. During the cyclical crisis of auto in the 60's and= =20 70's (a 36 month cycle) the state government provided public assistance= to=20 the laid off workers to hold its trained workforce in place. Michigan was= =20 one of the very few states in America where single able body men could ge= t=20 public assistance.=20 =20 The government of Michigan responded to the growing poverty of the 1990's= =20 with the elimination of the General Assistance program, throwing thousands= =20 of people into the streets, and closing mental health facilities and othe= r =20 state-sponsored services. This destroyed entire cities and not just Detroi= t.=20 Further, these actions lowered the threshold beyond which the wages of=20 those working could be pushed down.=20 =20 The welfare reform program of Michigan - enacted by Engler, acted as a =20 model for passing the national welfare reform program under President Bill= =20 Clinton. This signaled the beginning of the end of government responsibili= ty to=20 the poor. The Michigan program laid the foundation for eliminating safety= =20 net programs (such as the ineffective =E2=80=9CWork First=E2=80=9D progra= m). The average=20 person on the program was forced deeper into poverty. The majority of the= =20 recipients became part of the permanent army of the unemployed. They ende= d up=20 without medical care and with their utilities shut off. They were afraid= =20 to go into the welfare department to request emergency help because their= =20 children could be taken by Protective Services. As the number of people= =20 thrown off welfare increased, more and more children joined the foster ca= re and=20 adoption rolls. =20 Since the year 2000, the state of Michigan has lost 313,600 more jobs, of= =20 which 234,400 were in manufacturing, an employment drop of 26 percent=20 (against 18 percent nationally). The state will lost thousands more in 20= 05 and=20 2006 and was again hit hard in 2008. Michigan still remains the leading= =20 auto-producing state, building 2.5 million automobiles last year, but wit= h only=20 a fraction of the work force of previous years. Unemployment in Michigan= =20 is the highest in the nation. In Detroit and Flint unemployment is higher= as=20 a direct expression of the crisis of the automobile industry rather than= =20 the color of the eyes of the workers. =20 =20 The state is over $1 billion in debt. Its revenue sharing from the federal= =20 government has been reduced from 27 percent in 1980 to six percent in 2005= .=20 Schools are closing and programs are being slashed at universities. When= =20 the means of production change, so go the social programs and the=20 infrastructure that rest on that production and protect it.=20 =20 Chains Detroit Business reported April 29, 2009:=20 =20 "Michigan's economic woes are pushing down tax revenues, releasing a tide= =20 of red ink that could reach $1.3 billion or more by the time the budget ye= ar=20 ends Sept. 30. =20 Legislative leaders and Gov. Jennifer Granholm pegged the deficit at $785= =20 million just two weeks ago. But Granholm spokeswoman Liz Boyd said Wednesd= ay=20 that the shortfall could climb to $1.3 billion."=20 =20 _http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20090429/FREE/904299964_=20 (http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20090429/FREE/904299964) # =20 III. "Can't blame white people" for shit . . . here. The ignorance of the Detroit City Council, its lack of vision as a=20 political institution and the shenanigans of K. Kilpatrick, Martha Reeve= s and=20 Monica Conyers, indirectly expresses the lack of political consciousness= of=20 the citizens of Detroit. The workers are just beginning to be prepared fo= r=20 class concepts of the social struggle. This cannot be blamed on racism or= =20 white people.The actions of "Motown's" Martha Reeves (of Martha and the= =20 Vandella's "Dancing in the Street Fame) and her embarrassing stupidity ca= n only=20 be blamed on the citizens of Detroit, who did not return her to office.= =20 =20 Part of the issue is a lack of vision expressing the lack of class =20 consciousness of the workers.=20 =20 Former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick - the Hip Hop Mayor first elected at age 31,= =20 brought nothing but national shame and disgrace to the City of Detroit and= =20 its citizens. No one cares about his womanizing which is actually a=20 positive attribute in the city's culture, but rather, his genuflecting to= the=20 "political machine," and his representing McNamara. His political organiz= ations=20 with two bit players being charged with accepting a meaningless $5,000=20 bribe means his immaturity and arrogance is absolutely unacceptable. =20 Let's back up a moment and look at things for what they are.=20 Former Mayor Kilpatrick is part of the state's political machine as it wa= s=20 dominated by McNamara.=20 "Edward H. McNamara [1] served as Wayne County, Michigan County Executive= =20 from 1987-2002, and also served as mayor of Livonia, Michigan, from=20 1970-1986, and as a member of Livonia City Council from 1962 to 1970. He= is=20 probably best known for overseeing the $1.6 billion expansion of Detroit= =20 Metropolitan Wayne County Airport; including two new runways and the new= Edward H.=20 McNamara Terminal.=20 McNamara was mentor to many leading Democrats, including Gov. Jennifer=20 Granholm, who was Wayne County corporation Counsel under McNamara, prior= to=20 becoming Michigan Attorney General and later being elected as Michigan=20 Governor. McNamara also played a key role helping the election campaign= of Kwame=20 Kilpatrick for mayor of Detroit in 2001, whose father, Bernard Kilpatrick= ,=20 was McNamara's Chief of Staff while county executive.=20 McNamara died on February 19, 2006." =20 Retrieved from "_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_H._McNamara_=20 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_H._McNamara) " McNamara was being investigated for corruption and the only reason the=20 charges were dropped was because he died. All the branches of the McNamar= a=20 tree were poised for the "big hit" by the feds. His entire political mach= ine=20 is corrupt down to Kwame Kilpatrick, who should have been jailed for long= er=20 than a measly 90 days. Surely, his arrogance, corruption and the dead gir= l=20 at his party cannot be blamed on racism. Kwame Kilpatrick was a branch on the McNamara political tree. Kwame=20 Kilpatrick corruption and contempt for the working class of Detroit; his= =20 indifference to the plight of the lowest sector of the city's proletariat= cannot be=20 blamed on white people or covered up by screaming racism. =20 On the most elementary level Kwame Kilpatrick was an arrogant fool whose= =20 political organization and staff did not attain the level of discipline = and=20 organization of the most common street hustler - dough boyz, and =20 consequently when the Feds swept in, they produced tons of recorded conve= rsations=20 between Kwame Kilpatrick and his "crew" sustaining charges of corruption.= =20 =20 I am saying grow the fuck up and stop talking on the telephone. I am sayin= g=20 a higher level of organization is needed just go get into and exist in th= e=20 political sphere. See . . . Detroit as a city deals with many billion=20 dollars contracts and consulting fees, which is why so many of the folks= =20 running for office - City Council, were attorneys. I oppose no one "getti= ng=20 paid."=20 =20 My thang is hard ball and old school. Anyone opening up everyone to assaul= t=20 by the Feds - who have better things to do, is a damn fool. Let's =20 understand what is being said. These ignorant mutherrfuckers were not clev= er =20 enough to know how to make a freaking phone call without being tracked. Th= is =20 arrogance of the second generation black politician and petty bourgeois ca= nnot =20 win the respect and loyalty of even the street hustler. Get a track phone= =20 . . . bitch.=20 =20 Now if things go our way we are going to take us some power. Not to change= =20 the system from capitalism to communism which is impossible on the basis= of=20 a city election but to fight for the interest of the proletariat from the= =20 lens of its most destitute section. If we go to jail it will not be for= =20 talking on the phone.=20 =20 Now the reason my brother ran for office was because he knows politics and= =20 he called me up because we are not goddamn fools. My interest in the =20 election was the door to door campaign and discovering where the workers= =20 consciousness lies and what they are talking about in real time. Plus, we= long ago=20 leant how to evade the political police and approach all issues from the= =20 standpoint of the working class. =20 =20 Kwame Kilpatrick and Monica Conyers were petty, immature and outside the= =20 political history and logic of the city history as proletarian. Now Monica= =20 is married to John Conyers of the judicial committee and one of the most= =20 senior Senators in America. She bought shame to John and the city of Detr= oit,=20 because she is ignorant. She is not stupid but ignorant.=20 =20 We analyzed the results of the past election and Detroit is ready for a = =20 leap in its politics. Crying about racism as primary factor is dead. Someo= ne=20 is to blame for the plight of Detroit. I charge capital and the second=20 generation politicians in Detroit who live off of their parents names and= =20 connections. We are dealing with a political class, not racism.=20 =20 Oh . . . KK was part of the white political structure as the McNamara =20 political tree. Dave Bing is worse.=20 =20 "Can't blame white people" for shit=20 WL. =20 From bogus@does.not.exist.com Mon Jul 6 09:31:04 2009 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:31:04 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: t is worse than other places, the difference is due mainly to racism agains= t a city with an 85% population, the largest percentage of any city but DC.= << Comment AIG insuring of Detroit city bonds was not motivated by race hate or racis= m but profit motive. The first question is "why did the leaders of Detroit= go to AIG in the first place?" I am not aware of any evidence that Detroi= t seeking insurance from AIG was racially motivated. AIG=E2=80=99s pricing= of insurance or financial products was the motivation for Detroit entering= into this market relation. Perhaps, Detroit was "redlined" by AIG, which would be pretty consistent= with most insurers. However, this is not what is being discussed. Did Detroit's bond rating fall faster and lower than a comparable city doing= business with AIG or in a way different from crisis situations over the past 100= years? Charging AIG with racism rather than being a non-banking financial institution contributing nothing socially useful to society, teaches the= workers nothing. Minimally, calling for nationalization of the banks and dismantli= ng the non-banking international financial institutions opens the door to a= new dialogue on the issue of the free market economy. There is much that can be said and has been written about AIG domestically= and AIG Financial Products (AIGFP). Based in London where the regulatory= regime was less restrictive, AIGFP, took advantage of AIG statue categorization as an insurance company and therefore not subject to the= same rules on capital reserves as real banks. AIG would not need to set aside anything but a tiny sliver of capital if= it would insure the super-senior risk tranches of CDOs in its holdings. In= other words AIG collected money from companies and institutions promising= insurance in the event of default, knowing good and well that in the even= t of crisis, it did not have the means to honor its obligations. For the buyer of such insurance, city's like Detroit and other municipalities, the cost is insignificant for the critical benefit, which= is a good credit rating. The buyer of insurance receives a good credit rating not = because the instruments - bonds and insurance, are "safe" but only because= the risk was insured by AIGFP. You get good credit rating because all your loans are insured. A good credit rating means the ability to borrow more money from more suckers at a lower interest rate. Detroit went to AIG for the same reasons= everyone else did; a good credit rating based on imaginary assets (value)= of an insurance company. The intellectual prostitutes of capital claimed AIG wa= s safe and to big and smart to fail. The political leaders of Detroit sought out AIG and its insurance schemes= as a way to improve the city's credit trust worthiness. AIG did not fuck= up Detroit. Detroit was already fucked up and the reason is the free market= system. The workers need to know what happened. Racism is not the answer.= AIG collected money from businesses and governments institutions charging a= ridiculous tiny amount for insurance, say 0.02 cents per dollar multiplie= d a few hundred billion times. This ridiculously tiny amount of capital/money= adds up to an appreciable income stream, particularly if no reserves are= required to cover the supposedly non-existent risk. Regulators were told= a way had been found to remove all credit risk from their CDO deals, swaps, insurance, reinsurance and all the fancy named new "financial products."= "Financial products!" The workers basic common sense logic asks, "what is= a financial product?" A financial product is a scheme sold to separate the= suckers from their money by promising a dream - return on investment, no= one can guarantee. Common sense tells one that if risk can be eliminated there is no need for= insurance in the first place. Financial manipulation is the form of the current crisis of capitalism. The crisis Detroit faces grows out of the private ownership of the means= of production; the institutions of capital seeking ever greater returns on= investments and the capitalist nature of financial institutions. Capital flees from the production of real commodities into financial markets because the potential rate of return on investment is much higher.= Over and over the auto workers are told that Detroit cannot make money, due to= stiff competition, lower wages paid by their competitors and the high cos= t of modern new means of production. Plants are closed permanently, with some relocating and the tax base of = local government falls. The city seeks credit to fund government and publi= c programs. Financial institutions are "scared" to loan money fearing local= governments cannot repay their debt. Local government buys insurance to ca= lm the nerves of the lender. AIG steps in as the "man." AIG says, "I am the= man and will pay off the loan in the event of local government going bankrupt." All this pretending is a lie. Insurance does not eliminate risk but is based on expected failure that is smaller than the total intake of money= from insuring. AIG claimed that through new financial products risk was eliminated by transferring it to a larger pool. In this larger pool risk= becomes invisible statistically. More important and directly related to Detroit is that "regulatory risks"= were defined by credit ratings, and credit worthiness is based on how much= insurance one has and the assets on the books of the insurance companies.= This financial scheming - extending credit, and statistically hiding risk= is just another Ponzi scheme. In nutshell here is what is taking place: 1) AIG is big man on the block because on its books is a large income stream owed by those who bought insurance. The value - measured worth, of= AIG is based on its books. In other words the more money you are owed the better= your books look in our brave new world of financial manipulation. 2). Detroit needed money - a loan, to pay its bills. Such loans are given= in return for an IOU. The IOU is written as a piece of paper called a bond= . "I will repay you over a period of time." Then Detroit goes to an insuran= ce company to insure the loan - bond. AIG says, "I will pay Detroit=E2=80=99= s loan - bonds, if it goes bankrupt." Then AIG goes bankrupt. 3. People always default on mortgages but the default rate jumps up becaus= e the masses are "tapped out" and had borrowed money based on being able to= work overtime, two family incomes or being able resale their house for mo= re money. Money - income, of the workers goes into "more house" notes rather= than the movie theater, or eating out, or new cars and layoff begins. Tho= se laid off cannot pay their mortgage and defaults increase causing default= throughout the system. This is no more than a periodic crisis of capital= ism that for the past 170 years have periodically driven the workers into poverty, destitution, blood, crime and misery. 4. This periodic crisis of capital is more extreme today because the free= market system has reached its limit of expansion and a revolution in the= productive forces is lowering the value of labor. If AIG were a black run company and insured Detroit bonds, would its failure been an act of racism towards Detroit because the workers in the= city are predominately black? Or rather, because the political leaders are blac= k? Was the impact of the failure of AIG on the city of Detroit racist, becaus= e it caused Detroit issued bonds to have a lower credit rating? ***** >> From a structural and historical perspective,+ , to the extent that Detroit is worse than other places, the difference is due mainly to racism= against a city with an 85% population, the largest percentage of any city= but DC.<< Comment "(T)o the extent that Detroit is worse than other places, the difference= is due mainly to racism against a city with an 85% (black) population," doesn't sound right. There is plenty of "racism" to go around, but Detroi= t has always suffered worse in downturns because of the relationship of the cit= y - historically and structurally, to automotive production. Let=E2=80=99s not forget the historical and structural 36 month lay-off cy= cle peculiar to Detroit. I was hired at Chrysler in 1971 and retired after 30= years from the plant I hired into in 1972. I was laid off in 1974, 76, 78 and then 1980. Went Back from the January 1980 layoff four years later: Janua= ry 1984. My next layoff was 1989, although workers with lower seniority were= laid off between 1984 and 1989. The truck boom hit in 1992 and new hires= came into the plant in 1993. In 1993 I had 22 years seniority and worked witho= ut layoff until retirement in October 2001. Between 1992 and 2001 there were= layoff in the system corresponding to the 36 month cycle. During my life, every 36 months you could count on being thrown into the= streets as the production capacity of Detroit outran the consuming capacit= y of the market. The white guys with the same seniority, I worked next to= for a life time got laid off along with me. This historical and structural relationship, that is Detroit and automotiv= e production is not driven by or the result of racism or corporations being= controlled by whites. Overproduction is a law of capitalism. This laws say= s that due to competition for the workers wages - getting people to buy you= r product rather than that of the other guy, there will be losers and winners in the market place. Buying a care means the guy selling pizza ca= nnot get the same money the car makers get. Buying pizza means Mcdonald=E2=80=99s= cannot get the same money and so on. Capitalist competition drives periodic cris= is of overproduction. The reason so many blacks went to Detroit in the 1940s, 50=E2=80=99s and= 60=E2=80=99s is the same reason everyone went to Detroit: jobs. When the system tanks it= is not an act of racism. Detroiters are hit hard first and for the longest= due to the nature of automotive production under capitalism and the historica= l and structural place of Detroit within our system of production. The racism blacks in Detroit faced was within auto, the union and within gove= rnment. High unemployment in Detroit, since 1910 has been driven by the ups and= downs of automotive production. Allow me to suggest some basic material= on the economic logic and data concerning why Detroit is hit "harder." >> The Detroit area is accustomed to the economic cycles of the auto industry.[90] A rise in automated manufacturing using robot technology, = inexpensive labor in other parts of the world, and increased competition= have led to a steady transformation of certain types of manufacturing jobs in the= region. Local complications for the city include higher taxes than the nea= rby suburbs, with many unable to afford the levies on property.[91] During the= recession, in April 2009, metropolitan Detroit's unemployment rate had ris= en to 13.6%.[92] In the city, as of April 2009, the unemployment rate rose= to 22.8%.[93] Parts of the city have vacant buildings. Though the city has= struggled with finances, it issued bonds in 2008 to provide funding to demolish blighted properties.[49]<< _http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit= _ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit) WL. (http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm) From bogus@does.not.exist.com Mon Jul 6 09:31:04 2009 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:31:04 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: remained there until late 1963, just before the company went bankrupt. The recordings made during this period are widely considered by fans and jazz historians to be Montgomery's best and most influential. Two sessions in January 1960 yielded The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery, which was recorded as a quartet with pianist Tommy Flanagan, bassist Percy Heath and drummer Albert "Tootie" Heath. The album featured two of Montgomery's most well-known compositions, "Four on Six" and "West Coast Blues." Almost all of Montgomery's output on Riverside featured the guitarist in a small group setting, usually a trio (and always with his organist from his Indianapolis days, Melvin Rhyne), a quartet, or a quintet, playing a mixture of hard-swinging uptempo jazz numbers and quiet ballads. The lone exception, Fusion, telegraphed his post-Riverside career: it was his first recording with a string ensemble. One of the more memorable sets involved a co-leadership collaboration with vibraphone virtuoso and Modern Jazz Quartet mainstay Milt Jackson, whom producer Orrin Keepnews has said insisted on a collaboration with Montgomery as a condition for signing a solo recording deal with Riverside. In 1964 Montgomery moved to Verve Records for two years. His stay at Verve yielded a number of albums where he was featured with an orchestra---brass-dominated (Movin' Wes), string-oriented (Bumpin', Tequila), or a mix of both (Goin' Out of My Head, California Dreamin').[1] But he never abandoned jazz entirely in the Verve years, whether with a few selections on most of the Verve albums, or by such sets as 1965s Smokin' at the Half Note (showcasing two memorable appearances at the famous New York City club with the Wynton Kelly Trio) or a pair of albums he made with jazz organ titan Jimmy Smith, The Dynamic Duo and The Further Adventures of Jimmy and Wes). He continued to play outstanding live jazz guitar, as evidenced by surviving audio and video recordings from his 1965 tour of Europe. As a considered founder of the Smooth Jazz school the album "Bumpin'" (1965) represents a model from which many modern recording are derived: as the liner notes to the CD remaster issue note, after being unable to produce the desired results by the guitarist and orchestra playing together, arranger Don Sebesky suggested Montgomery record the chosen music with his chosen small group, after which Sebesky would write the orchestral charts based on what Montgomery's group had produced. Longer clips from all of the tracks on "Bumpin'" and other Wes Montgomery albums are found on Verve Records website. By the time Montgomery released his first album for A&M Records, he had seemingly abandoned jazz entirely for the more lucrative pop market, though as in his Verve period he played his customary jazz in small group settings in live appearances. The three albums released during his A&M period (1967-68) feature orchestral renditions of famous pop songs ("Scarborough Fair," "I Say a Little Prayer for You," "Eleanor Rigby," etc.) with Montgomery reciting the melody with his guitar. These records were the most commercially successful of his career, but featured the least jazz improvisation.[citation needed] He didn't have very long to live to enjoy his commercial success, however; in 1968, he woke one morning, remarked to his wife that he "Didn't feel very well," and minutes later collapsed, dying of a heart attack within minutes. Montgomery's home town of Indianapolis has named a park in his honor. He is the grandfather of actor Anthony Montgomery.[1] Wes and Buddy, along with Richard Crabtree and Benny Barth, formed "The Mastersounds", and recorded "Jazz Showcase Introducing The Mastersounds" and a jazz version of "The King and I", both released by World Pacific Records. They first played together at Seattle, particularly working up the set for "The King and I", at a club called Dave's Fifth Avenue. The composers were so impressed by the jazz version of "The King & I" that they pre-released the score of "Flower Drum Song" to the quartet to allow simultaneous release with the sound track album. [edit] Discography Wes Montgomery "Tear It Down" (1965) Sample from Wes Montgomery's "Tear It Down," from the album Bumpin' ---------------------------------------------------------------------------= ----- Problems listening to this file? See media help. [edit] Riverside ( 1959-1963 ) Wes' recordings for Riverside/Milestone Records, including those made with The Montgomery Brothers are on the 12CD Box The Complete Riverside Recordings.[3] 1958: Fingerpickin' 1958: Far Wes 1959: The Wes Montgomery Trio 1959: Yesterdays 1959: Pretty Blue 1960: The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery 1960: Cannonball Adderley and the Poll-Winners 1960: Movin' Along 1961: So Much Guitar! 1961: Wes and Friends 1961: Bags Meets Wes! (with Milt Jackson) 1962: Full House 1963: Fusion!: Wes Montgomery with Strings (strings arranged by Jimmy Jones= ) 1963: Boss Guitar 1963: Guitar On The Go 1963: Portrait of Wes 1963: The Alternative Wes Montgomery (alternate takes for previously issued albums) [edit] Verve ( 1964-1966 ) 1964: Movin' Wes 1965: Bumpin' (arranged and conducted by Don Sebesky) 1965: Smokin' at the Half Note 1965: Goin' Out of My Head (arranged and conducted by Oliver Nelson) 1965: Willow Weep for Me (unused takes from the Smokin' at the Half Note session; overdubbed woodwinds and brass arranged and conducted by Claus Ogerman) 1966: California Dreaming (arranged and conducted by Don Sebesky) 1966: Further Adventures of Jimmy and Wes (with Jimmy Smith) 1966: Tequila (arranged and conducted by Claus Ogerman) 1966: Jimmy & Wes: The Dynamic Duo (with Jimmy Smith) 1970: Eulogy [edit] A&M ( 1967-1968 ) 1967: A Day in the Life (arranged and conducted by Don Sebesky) (A&M Records/CTI Records) 1968: Down Here on the Ground (arranged and conducted by Don Sebesky) (A&M/= CTI) 1968: Road Song (arranged and conducted by Don Sebesky) (A&M/CTI) [edit] References ^ a b c d e f Allmusic Biography ^ Wes Montgomery Biography ^ Allmusic overview [edit] External links Wes Montgomery Unedited Wes Montgomery transcriptions Wes Montgomery discography Biography at Allmusic Wes Montgomery guitar tabs Wes Montgomery Park (Indianapolis) Biography and tribute by grandson Anthony Montgomery Wes Montgomery tribute The Work of Claus Ogerman - extensive pictorial discography includes album scans, liner notes and more regarding Claus Ogerman's involvement in two Wes Montgomery albums. Find-A-Grave profile for Wes Montgomery Discography Discography [hide]v =95 d =95 eMontgomery Brothers Wes Montgomery =B7 Buddy Montgomery =B7 Monk Montgomery Albums Almost Forgotten (1955) =B7 The Montgomery Brothers Plus Five Others (1957) =B7 Montgomeryland (1958) =B7 Groove Yard =B7 (1961)The Montgomery Brothers (1961) =B7 The Montgomery Brothers in Canada (1961) =B7 Love Walked In (1961) =B7 Wes, Buddy and Monk Montgomery (1961) =B7 Wes solo The Wes Montgomery Trio =B7 The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery =B7 Bags Meets Wes! =B7 Full House =B7 Bumpin' =B7 Smokin' at th= e Half Note =B7 Monk solo It's Never Too Late (1969) =B7 Bass Odyssey (1971) =B7 Reality (= 1974) Buddy solo Swinging with the Mastersounds =B7 A Date with the Mastersounds =B7 The King And I =B7 The Two-Sided Album =B7 This Rather Than That =B7 Ties =B7 Of Love =B7 Ties of Love =B7 So Why Not? =B7 Li= ve at Maybeck Recital Hall =B7 Here Again =B7 Icebreaker (2001) =B7 A Love Affair in Paris (2001) =B7 A Day in the Life (2006 =B7 Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wes_Montgomery" Categories: 1925 births | 1968 deaths | African American guitarists | American jazz guitarists | Contemporary jazz guitarists | Mainstream jazz guitarists | Jazz-pop guitarists | Crossover jazz guitarists | Hard-bop guitarists | Musicians from Indiana | People from Indianapolis, Indiana | Grammy Award winners | Soul-jazz guitarists | Riverside Records artists Hidden categories: All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements from August 2007 From bogus@does.not.exist.com Mon Jul 6 09:31:04 2009 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:31:04 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: *# 6.* If any one steal the property of a temple or of the court, he shall be put to death, and also the one who receives the stolen thing from him shall be put to death. *# 7.* If any one buy from the son or the slave of another man, without witnesses or a contract, silver or gold, a male or female slave, an ox or a sheep, an ass or anything, or if he take it in charge, he is considered a thief and shall be put to death. *# 8.* If any one steal cattle or sheep, or an ass, or a pig or a goat, if it belong to a god or to the court, the thief shall pay thirtyfold therefor= ; if they belonged to a freed man of the king he shall pay tenfold; if the thief has nothing with which to pay he shall be put to death. Similarly from the =93prophet=94 Moses 10 Commandments: *Deuteronomy 9* "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor=92s house, thou shalt n= ot covet thy neighbor=92s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maid-servant, nor = his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor=92s.... *15.* "Thou shalt not steal. The Torah's "Thou shalt not steal" is stated in the Qu'ran chapter 5 verses 38-9: "As for the thief, male or female, cut off his or her hands, but thos= e who repent. After a crime and reform shall be forgiven by God for God is forgiving and kind." Thus the Code of Hammurabi and the Law of Moses presuppose societies comprised of property-owners and non-owners, rich and poor, patriarchal families, and classes =96 poor peasants, and rich landed aristocrats, slave= s and slave owners, and so on. Thus, those laws were written in the economic interests of the rich against the poor, of men against the women, of slave-owners against the slaves, and so on. Moreover, the court system in class society is a class court. By attributin= g the laws that defend the economic interests of the economic dominant classe= s to the =93will of god,=94 the priests and prophets articulate and give divi= ne sanction to the laws, and its penalties for breaking these laws. Political religious authorities represent class power, whether that authority be sacred texts or ordained priests. The politicization of religion in the early political societies, Mesopotami= a and Egypt occurred 6,000 years ago, a thousand years before Moses and two thousand before St. Paul. With St. Paul the political function of religion is systemic and complete. In the 13th chapter of Paul's Epistle to the Romans he states: *1:* Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no powe= r but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. *2:* Whosoever therefor= e resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. *3:* For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: *4:* For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God= , a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. *5:* Wherefore ye mus= t needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. *6:* Fo= r for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. *7:* Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour. To the Ephesians, in the 6th chapter Paul wrote: *5:* Slaves, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ= ; *6:* Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; *7:* With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men: In his instruction to his disciple Titus, in chapter 2, Paul wrote that as part of his ministry, preaching to servants and slaves, Titus should: *9.*Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again; *10:* Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. The Quran condones slavery as well: 23:5-6 "And who guard their modesty - Save from their wives or the (slaves) that their righ= t hands possess." 24:31 "And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and be modest, and to display of their adornment only that which is apparent, and to draw their veils over their bosoms, and not to reveal their adornment save to their own husbands or fathers or husbands' fathers, or their sons or their husbands' sons, or their brothers or their brothers' sons or sisters' sons, or their women, or their slaves." 24:58 "O ye who believe! Let your slaves, and those of you who have not come to puberty, as= k leave of you at three times (before they come into your presence)." 33:25-26 "Allah repulsed the disbelievers in their wrath; they gained no good. Allah averte= d their attack from the believers. Allah is ever Strong, Mighty. And He brought those of the People of the Scripture who supported them down from their strongholds, and cast panic into their hearts. Some ye slew, and ye made captive some. 33:50 "O Prophet! Lo! We have made lawful unto thee thy wives unto whom thou hast paid their dowries, and those whom thy right hand possesseth of those whom Allah hath given thee as spoils of war." The political function of religious priests and doctrines serves the interests of the wealthy classes, the property owners and slave owners, landlords and capitalists and slaves are told to be obedient and go an extr= a mile of servitude with gladness of heart, rather than motivation by fear of punishment. This includes obeying the laws of the state, to regard the police and the courts and jailers as agents of god, and thus acknowledging their power to imprison or/and execute =93criminals=94 as ordained of god, = doing god's will. The presupposition of the materialist critiques, on the contrary, by coming into play when there is a sociopolitical schism that undermines the authority of priests and rulers, represent the new, rising class forces in challenging that authority, therefore the gods and their laws. (Lil Joe @ http://laborpartypraxis.org/PhilRelPol.html ) Thus it is evident that the presentation by the Nation of Islam of politica= l power and its justification by religious authority is universal in every religion and philosophy based on the class power of the owning classes appropriating the labor of the propertyless working classes and toiling masses. Elijah Muhammad taught workers and share croppers in the nation of Islam to submit to the just acts of those in authority in public or private life, provided these do not conflict with their religious beliefs it is understoo= d that slavery didn't conflict with the Quran, and neither did serfdom or doe= s wage slavery of the proletariat. It means therefore that the wage workers must not just those in authority in public - that is the police and the courts - but in the private economy, the capitalist's who hired them. The State - the political power of bureaucratic-military representatives of the material interests of the most powerful, economically dominate classes as correspondingly the most powerful, politically dominate class - always have used metaphysical language and Idealist concepts, religious or philosophical makes no difference because these ideas of the dominant class politics are conjured by priests, philosophers, politicians and lawyers to justify the necessity of bureaucratic-military State power and its brutalit= y as necessary for "peace and stability in society". It is ironic that the Ministers of the Nation of Islam denounce the Souther= n Christian Leadership Council as slavish uncle Toms, when it is these 'Muslims' who preach obedience to the State, its laws including unjust racial laws, whereas it is those Christian preachers in SCLC are the one's disturbing the 'peace and stability' in the racially oppressive society. In jail, and criticized by fellow Christian ministers as well as the Nation of Islam for breaking the laws by civil disobedience, Martin Luther King Jr wrote in defense of civil disobedience: You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern. Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court's decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, at first glance it may seem rather paradoxical for us consciously to break laws. One may well ask: "How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?" The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeyin= g just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that "an unjust law is no law at all." Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man made code that squares with th= e moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority. Segregation, to use the terminology of the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, substitutes an "I it" relationship for an "I thou" relationship and ends up relegating persons to the status of things. Hence segregation is not only politically, economically and sociologically unsound, it is morally wrong and sinful. Paul Tillich has said that sin is separation. Is not segregation an existential expression of man's tragic separation, his awful estrangement, his terrible sinfulness? Thus it is tha= t I can urge men to obey the 1954 decision of the Supreme Court, for it is morally right; and I can urge them to disobey segregation ordinances, for they are morally wrong. http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html I am not advocating for Christianity or Islam and I don't base my arguments on Saint Agustine and Thomas Aquinas, both of whom were ideological representatives of the ruling classes of their day. I only show that wherea= s the Muhammad, James 3X and Malcolm X used the conservative side of Judeo-Christian teachings of Saint Paul on the State and advocate obedience to those in authority to get on the good side of the police, that Martin Luther King Jr. associated the radical and rebellious behavior of Jesus who declared man was not made to serve the law: Jesus overturning the money changers tables and whipping them out the Temple was a rebellious act of civil disobedience and he was a week later arrested and tried, executed by the Roman State for sedition. Elijah Muhammad, James 3X and Malcolm X claim they object to the picture of 'Jesus' painted by European artists into European features, but perhaps what they really objected to was his radical and rebellious behavior? Certainly they objected to the civil disobedience of King and the civil rights movement. But, the issue raised by Malcolm X that is more important from an historica= l point of view is what is a revolution. It is a straw man where Malcolm X projected unto King that the civil rights rebellion was a 'revolution'. Kin= g had studied the English Revolution, the French Revolution, the peasant wars in Germany, Hegel, Marx, Lenin and Trotsky, and the Chinese Revolution and the Cuban as well as the Indian independence movement, so he know the difference between revolution and reform. He pointed out that a revolution is a class war, that is the majority rise up and win the military rank and file to their ranks, the destruction of the State power by armed uprisings "Occasionally Negroes contend that the 1965 Watts riot and the other riots in various cities represented effective civil rights action. But those who express this view always end up with stumbling words when asked what concrete gains have been won as a result. At best, the riots have produced = a little additional antipoverty money allotted by frightened government officials, and a few water-sprinklers to cool the children of the ghettos. It is something like improving the food in the prison while the people remain securely incarcerated behind bars. Nowhere have the riots won any concrete improvement such as have the organized protest demonstrations. Whe= n one tries to pin down advocates of violence as to what acts would be effective, the answers are blatantly illogical. Sometimes they talk of overthrowing racist state and local governments and they talk about guerrilla warfare. They fail to see that no internal revolution has ever succeeded in overthrowing a government by violence unless the government ha= d already lost the allegiance and effective control of its armed forces. Anyone in his right mind knows that this will not happen in the United States. In a violent racial situation, the power structure has the local police, the state troopers, the National Guard and, finally, the Army to call on all of which are predominantly white. Furthermore, few if any violent revolutions have been successful unless the violent minority had th= e sympathy and support of the nonresistant majority. Castro may have had only a few Cubans actually fighting with him up in the hills, but he could never have overthrown the Batista regime unless he had the sympathy of the vast majority of Cuban people." http://www.indiana.edu/~ivieweb/mlkwhere.html In other words, King knew that the objectives of the civil rights movement on the part of an isolated and relatively powerless racial minority could fight and win reforms, to mobilize their positives, as workers and consumers, to boycott, demonstrate, protest and stage mass political rallie= s with allies in the working class, and through mass civil disobedience to wi= n concrete legal reforms within the system of capitalism, whereas the advocates of 'black revolution' didn't know what revolution was or is, and in their actual demands and gains were at best also reforms in the prison system of capitalism. Revolution is neither defined nor is it necessarily determined by the use o= f violence but by the economic the objective of social class politics: A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another. Revolutions and revolutionary wars are inevitable in class society, and without them it is impossible to accomplish any leap in social development and to overthrow the reactionary ruling classes and therefore impossible fo= r the people to win political power. "On Contradiction" (August1937), Selecte= d Works, Vol. I, p. 344.* http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/works/red-book/ch05.htm Mao did advocated insurrectionary violence as means of achieving 'revolution', but this is defined not by violence but the historical political context's engendendered determination to achieve the class objective of expropriation. "The peasants' revolt disturbed the gentry's sweet dreams. ... To overthro= w these feudal forces is the real objective of the national revolution. In a few months the peasants have accomplished what Dr. Sun Yat-sen wanted, but failed, to accomplish in the forty years he devoted to the national revolution. ... If your revolutionary viewpoint is firmly established and i= f you have been to the villages and looked around, you will undoubtedly feel thrilled as never before. Countless thousands of the enslaved--the peasants--are striking down the enemies who battened on their flesh. What the peasants are doing is absolutely right, what they are doing is fine! "It's fine!" is the theory of the peasants and of all other revolutionaries= . Every revolutionary comrade should know that the national revolution requires a great change in the countryside. True, the peasants are in a sense "unruly" in the countryside. Supreme in authority, the peasant association allows the landlord no say and sweeps away his prestige. This amounts to striking the landlord down to the dust and keeping him there. The peasants threaten, "We will put you in the other register!" They fine the local tyrants and evil gentry, they demand contributions from them, and they smash their sedan-chairs. People swarm into the houses of local tyrants and evil gentry who are against the peasan= t association, slaughter their pigs and consume their grain. They even loll for a minute or two on the ivory-inlaid beds belonging to the young ladies in the households of the local tyrants and evil gentry. At the slightest provocation they make arrests, crown the arrested with tall paper hats, and parade them through the villages, saying, "You dirty landlords, now you kno= w who we are!" Doing whatever they like and turning everything upside down, they have created a kind of terror in the countryside. This is what some people call "going too far", or "exceeding the proper limits in righting a wrong", or "really too much". Such talk may seem plausible, but in fact it is wrong. First, the local tyrants, evil gentry and lawless landlords have themselves driven the peasants to this. For ages they have used their power to tyrannize over the peasants and trample them underfoot; that is why the peasants have reacted so strongly. The most violent revolts and the most serious disorders have invariably occurred in places where the local tyrants, evil gentry and lawless landlords perpetrated the worst outrages. The peasants are clear-sighted. Who is bad and who is not, who is the worst and who is not quite so vicious, who deserves severe punishment and who deserves to be let off lightly--the peasants keep clear accounts, and very seldom has the punishment exceeded the crime. Secondly, a revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing embroidery; it cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous. A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another. A rural revolution is a revolution by which the peasantry overthrows the power of the feudal landlord class. Without using the greatest force, the peasants cannot possibly overthrow the deep-rooted authority of the landlords which has lasted for thousands of years. The rural areas need a mighty revolutionary upsurge, for it alone can rouse the people in their millions to become a powerful force. All the actions mentioned here which have been labeled as "going too far" flow from the power of the peasants, which has been called forth by the mighty revolutionary upsurge in the countryside. It was highly necessary for such things to be done in the second period of the peasant movement, the period of revolutionary action. In this period it was necessary to establish the absolute authority of the peasants. http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-1/mswv1= _2.htm Although Malcolm contrasted the reform objectives civil rights movement and its politics of civil disobedience as non-revolutionary to his rhetoric of violent black revolution, and tried to appropriate the legacy of "Mao" and the Chinese Revolution - Malcolm always carefully evaded associating with the Chinese Communist Party and the Peasants based People's Liberation Army as institutions, he never quoted Mao's Statement that 'every Communist must grapse the truth, that political power grows out of the barrel of a gun' in class warfare. It was not Mao tse-Tung and the Chinese Communist Party which embraced Malcolm X and Nation of Islam but was the Ku Klux Klan= , and the American Nazi Party which embraced them. For all the rhetoric about 'black revolution', Malcolm X never advocated th= e expropriation of the productive forces from the capitalist class by the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat. Malcolm X wan't talking abou= t the creative revolutionary solidarity of American workers "striking down th= e enemies" - capitalists, landlords, bankers, &c. - "who fattened on their flesh" or the "overthrow of the deep-rooted authority" of the capitalists, the landlords, the banks, the courts and the police. Rather the opposite, the Nation of Islam was teaching working class blacks to be respectful of their authority and obedient to their power, to be refined, courteous and obedient in order that individual members of 'the nation' become members of the capitalist class, or a black petty bourgeois at any rate. In advocating 'violence' as 'revolution based', Malcolm X was not talking about revolution but violence as a principle. Mao concept of revolutionary violence was not a principle but a *method* by which peasants and workers undertook the siezing of the productive forces and this class violenced the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat and the peasantry establishing themselves as ruling class, the State. This wasn't what Malcolm X advocated, but retaliatory personal fights of individuals against individuals with no revolutionary class content objectives whatsoever. In this connection Malcolm didn't even address expropriations or State power in the speech, and when he did adress it elsewhere it wasn't to advocate proletarian expropriations and smashing the bourgeois bureaucratic-military State by workers militias, but that black individuals become capitalists with their own proletarians to exploit, and that that Muslims submit to the existing capitalist State and its authority= , obey its laws and thus he denounced civil rights civil disobedience. On the other hand, although it was by the strategy of non-violent civil disobedience to win civil rights reform and not an advocacy of proletarian revolution, the civil rights movement was a social movement with social objectives and it was supported by Mao tse-Tung: Statement Supporting the American Negroes In Their Just Struggle Against Racial Discrimination by U.S. Imperialism (August 8, 1963) Mao Tse-tung [Note: We reprint this statement in commemoration of the third anniversary of the day Chairman Mao made it. =97*Peking Review Ed.*] An American Negro leader now taking refuge in Cuba, Mr. Robert Williams, th= e former President of the Monroe, North Carolina, Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, has twice this year asked me for a statement in support of the American Negroes=92 struggle against racial discrimination. On behalf of the Chinese people, I wish to take this opportunity to express our resolute support for the American Negroes in their struggle against racial discrimination and for freedom and equal rights. There are more than 19 million Negroes in the United States, or about 11 pe= r cent of the total population. They are enslaved, oppressed and discriminate= d against =97 such is their position in society. The overwhelming majority ar= e deprived of their right to vote. In general, only the most backbreaking and despised jobs are open to them. Their average wages are barely a third or a half those of the white people. The proportion of unemployment among the Negroes is the highest. In many states they are forbidden to go to the same school, eat at the same table, or travel in the same section of a bus or train as the white people. Negroes are often arrested, beaten up or murdere= d at will by the U.S. authorities at various levels and by members of the Ku Klux Klan and other racists. About half the American Negroes are concentrated in eleven southern states, where the discrimination and persecution they suffer are especially shocking. The American Negroes are awakening and their resistance is growing stronger and stronger. Recent years have witnessed a continuous expansion of their mass struggle against racial discrimination and for freedom and equal rights. In 1957 the Negro people in Little Rock, Arkansas, waged a fierce struggle against the barring of their children from public schools. The authorities used armed force against them, creating the Little Rock incident which shocked the world. In 1960 Negroes in more than twenty states held =93sit-in=94 demonstrations protesting against racial segregation in local restaurants, shops and other public places. In 1961 the Negroes launched the =93freedom riders=94 campaign to oppose ra= cial segregation in public transportation, a campaign which rapidly spread to many states. In 1962 the Negroes in Mississippi fought for the equal right to enrol in colleges and met with bloody suppression by the authorities. This year, the American Negroes-started their struggle early in April in Birmingham, Alabama. Unarmed and bare-handed Negro people were arrested en masse and most barbarously suppressed merely for holding meetings and parades against racial discrimination. On June 12 Mr. Medgar Evers, a leade= r of the Negro people in Mississippi, was murdered in cold blood. Defying brutality and violence, the indignant Negro masses waged their struggle eve= n more heroically and quickly won the support of Negroes and other people of various strata throughout the United States. A gigantic and vigorous nationwide struggle is going on in nearly every city and state, and the struggle is mounting. American Negro organizations have decided to start a =93freedom march=94 on Washington on August 28, in which 250,000 people wil= l take part. The speedy development of the struggle of the American Negroes is a manifestation of sharpening class struggle and sharpening national struggle within the United States; it has been causing increasing anxiety among U.S. ruling circles. The Kennedy Administration is insidiously using dual tactics. On the one hand, it continues to connive at and take part in discrimination against Negroes and their persecution, and it even sends troops to suppress them. On the other hand, in the attempt to numb the fighting will of the Negro people and deceive the masses of the country, th= e Kennedy Administration is parading as an advocate of =93the defence of huma= n rights=94 and =93the protection of the civil rights of Negroes,=94 calling = upon the Negro people to exercise =93restraint=94 and proposing the =93civil rig= hts legislation=94 to Congress. But more and more Negroes are seeing through th= ese tactics of the Kennedy Administration. The fascist atrocities of the U.S. imperialists against the Negro people have exposed the true nature of so-called American democracy and freedom and revealed the inner link betwee= n the reactionary policies pursued by the U.S. Government at home and its policies of aggression abroad. I call on the workers, peasants, revolutionary intellectuals, enlightened elements of the bourgeoisie and other enlightened persons of all colours in the world, whether white, black, yellow or brown, to unite to oppose the racial discrimination practised by U.S. imperialism and support the America= n Negroes in their struggle against racial discrimination. In the final analysis, national struggle is a matter of class struggle. Among the whites in the United States, it is only the reactionary ruling circles who oppress the Negro people. They can in no way represent the workers, farmers, revolutionary intellectuals and other enlightened persons who comprise the overwhelming majority of the white people. At present, it is the handful of imperialists headed by the United Slates, and their supporters, the reactionaries in different countries, who are oppressing, committing aggression against and menacing the overwhelming majority of the nations an= d peoples of the world. We are in the majority and they are in the minority. At most, they make up less than 10 per cent of the 3,000 million population of the world. I am firmly convinced that, with the support of more than 90 per cent of the people of the world, the American Negroes will be victoriou= s in their just struggle. The evil system of colonialism and imperialism aros= e and throve with the enslavement of Negroes and the trade in Negroes, and it will surely come to its end with the complete emancipation of the black people. http://www.marxists.org/subject/china/peking-review/1966/PR1966-33h.htm Notice that Mao tse-Tung: who certainly knew the difference between reform and revolution and of the nature of violence in class warfare, violent revolution - "warfare is politics with bloodshed, politics is warfare without bloodshed" - knew the reformist objectives of the civil rights movement, to end racial discrimination, integrate schools, buses, public accomodations, and State as well as racist violence, voting rights and protections, and so on, and he and the entire Chinese Communist Party and government supported both those objectives and the civil rights movement's political strategy of civil disobedience -"politics is warfare without bloodshed". Malcolm X didn't know what he was talking about when he said: Not allowed by John Imani the self-proclaimed 'anarchist' in opposition to critical consciousness of independent thinkers: Revolutionary Posturing, Rhetoric and Actuality of Reactionary Policy [Part #1] concluded @ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laborpartypraxis/message/23823 From bogus@does.not.exist.com Mon Jul 6 09:31:04 2009 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:31:04 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: Criticism of Progress from the point of view of the Past, Communist Manifes= to Petty-Bourgeois Criticism of Capitalism, Communist Manifesto Restoration Writers, On the Polish Question French Literature Abb=E9 Pr=E9vost from Dialectics of Nature Chateaubriand 1. Marx To Engels. 26 October 1854 2. Marx To Engels. 30 November 1873 Alexandre Dumas. Marx To Engels. 23 February 1851 Lamartine 1. Marx To Engels. 18 March 1848 2. Neue Rheinische Zeitung. 22 October 1848 3. Democratic Panslavism, Engels 1849 Victor Hugo 1. Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, Preface 2. Engels To Lafargue. 5 December 1892 3. Engels To Marx. 13 September 1870 4. Notes on the War, Pall Mall Gazette, 13 October 1870 Eug=E8ne Sue, Continental Movements, Engels From bogus@does.not.exist.com Mon Jul 6 09:31:04 2009 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:31:04 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: 1. The Holy Family 2. The Holy Family 3. The Holy Family Balzac 1. Capital, Volume I 2. Capital, Volume III 3. Engels To Laura Lafargue. 13 December 1883 4. Engels To Marx. 4 October 1852 5. Marx To Engels. 25 February 1867 Pierre Dupont, Capital, Volume I Arthur Ranc, Engels To Marx. 22 October 1869 Renan 1. Marx To Engels. 20 January 1864 2. Engels To Victor Adler. 19 August 1892 Zola. Engels To Laura Lafargue. 15 June 1887 Maupassant. Engels To Laura Lafargue. 2 February 1887 English and Irish Literature Daniel Defoe 1. Engels To Karl Kautsky. 20 September 1884 2. Capital, Volume I Swift. Manuscripts on the History of England and Ireland, Engels 1870 Pope, Herr Vogt, Marx 1860 Shelley and Byron, Edward Aveling and Eleanor Marx-Aveling, Neue Zeit, 1888 Walter Scott. Origins of the Family, Chapter 1, Engels 1884 William Cobett=92s Social Writings. Marx, New-York Tribune, 22 July 1853 English Working-Class Poet Mead. Condition of the Working Class, Engels Thomas Carlyle 1. The Condition of England, Engels 1844 2. Latter-Day Pamphlets edited by Thomas Carlyle, Marx and Engels English Realists of the Mid-Nineteenth Century, The English Middle Class, Marx. New-York Tribune, 1 August 1854 Carleton. Marx To Engels. 14 August 1879 Bernard Shaw. Engels To Kautsky. 4 September 1892 Aveling 1. Engels To Paul Lafargue. 17 May 1889 2. Engels To Konrad Schmidt. 9 December 1889 William Morris. Engels To Laura Lafargue. 23 November 1884 German Literature German Culture from the Mid-17th to the Early 19th Century 1. Notes on Germany, Engels 2. The State of Germany, Engels in Northern Star, 25 October 1845 Schiller. Shortcomings of His Poetry, from Ludwig Feuerbach, Chapter 2, 188= 6 Goethe 1. Ludwig Feuerbach, Chapter 1, 1886 2. Anti-D=FChring, 1877 3. Ludwig Feuerbach, Chapter 1, 1886 4. The Condition of England, Engels 5. Engels To Marx. 15 January 1847 6. Karl Gr=FCn, German Socialism in Verse and Prose, Engels 1847 Heine 1. Ludwig Feuerbach, Chapter 1, 1886 2. Rapid Progress of Communism in Germany, Engels 1844 3. Capital, Volume III, Supplement 4. Marx Heinrich Heine. 12 January 1845 5. Marx Heinrich Heine. 5 April 1846 6. Engels To Marx. 14 January 1848 =93Young Germany.=94 Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Germany, 1852 Alexander Jung. =93Lectures on Modern German Literature=94, Engels 1842 German, or =93True,=94 Socialism 1. The Communist Manifesto 2. The German Ideology Karl Beck, the Poetry of True Socialism 1. German Socialism in Verse and Prose 2. German Socialism in Verse and Prose 3. German Socialism in Verse and Prose 4. German Socialism in Verse and Prose Gottfried Kinkel 1. Heroes of the Exile 2. Heroes of the Exile Freiligrath 1. Reappearance of Neue Rheinische Zeitung 2. The True Socialists, Engels 1847 3. Marx To Ferdinand Freiligrath. 27 December 1851 4. Marx To Joseph Weydemeyer. 16 January 1852 5. Engels To Jenny Marx. 22 December 1859 6. Marx To Engels. 17 July 1869 7. Marx To Engels. 22 August 1870 8. Marx To Engels. 2 September 1870 9. Marx To Sigfrid Meyer. 21 January 1871 Weerth. =93Song of the Apprentices=94, Engels 1883 Johann Philipp Becker 1. Engels to Bebel. 8 October 1886 2. Johann Philipp Becker, Engels 1886 3. Marx To Johann Philipp Becker. 9 April 1860 Henryk Ibsen. Engels To Paul Ernst Russian Literature The Russian Language 1. Marx To Sigfrid Meyer. 21 January 1871 2. Refugee Literature, Engels 1874 3. Engels To Vera Zasulich. 6 March 1884 The Lay of Igor=92s Host: Marx To Engels. 5 March 1856 Lomonosov. Slavic Languages and Philology. Notes on Lomonsov, Engels Derzhavin. The War on the Danube. Engels in New-York Tribune, 25 July 1854 Pushkin. Engels To Nikolai Danielson. 29-31 October 1891 Chernyshevsky and Dobrolyubov 1. Refugee Literature, Engels 1874 2. Engels To Eugenie Papritz. 26 June 1884 3. Marx To Nikolai Danielson. 9 November 1871 Chernyshevsky as a Scholar and Critic. Capital Afterword to 2nd German Edit= ion Chernyshevsky and the Russian Village Commune 1. Marx to the Editorial Board of Otechestvenniye Zapiski 2. Afterword to On Social Relations in Russia, Engels Chernyshevsky as a Revolutionary 1. The Alliance of Socialist Democracy and the International, 1872 2. Marx To Engels. 5 July 1870 3. Marx To Nikolai Danielson. 12 December 1872 4. Marx To Nikolai Danielson. 18 January 1873 5. Engels To Nikolai Danielson. 10 June 1890 Shchedrin. Engels To Nikolai Danielson. 19 February 1887 Flerovsky. Marx To Engels. 10 February 1870 Revolutionary and Satirical Folk Poetry of the Past Herr Tidmann. Engels To Marx. 27 January 1865 =93Herr Tidmann=94. Old Danish Folk Song. Engels 1864 Conspectus of Kostomarov=92s Revolt of Stekna Razin, Marx The Vicar of Bray, Engels August 1882 German Revolutionary Songs. Engels To Hermann Schl=FCter. 15 May 1885 Weavers=92 Song. Marginal Notes on =93The King of Prussia.=94, Marx Songs of the German Revolution of 1848 1. The Role of Force in History, Engels 1887 2. Campaign for the Imperial Constitution, Engels 1850 Satirical Folk Song Against Bonaparte. Engels To Marx. 7 February 1856 Confessions of Marx and Engels Karl Marx. Confessions Frederick Engels. Confessions From bogus@does.not.exist.com Mon Jul 6 09:31:04 2009 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:31:04 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: From bogus@does.not.exist.com Mon Jul 6 09:31:04 2009 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:31:04 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: Paul Lafargue 1. Literature 2. Novels 3. Family Eleanor Marx-Aveling. Karl Marx Franzisca Kugelmann. Small Traits of Marx=92s Great Character Anselmo Lorenzo. Reminiscences of the First International From bogus@does.not.exist.com Mon Jul 6 09:31:04 2009 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:31:04 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: N. S. Rusanov. My Acquaintance with Engels Fanni Kravchinskaya. Reminiscences Critical Articles by Jenny Marx 1. From London=92s Theatre World 2. The London Season 3. Shakespearean Studies in England 4. Shakespeare=92s Richard III in London=92s Lyceum Theatre 5. From the London Theatre ---------------------------------------------------------------------------= ----- Early Literary Experiments of Marx and Engels Abstracts not included in Collected Works Marxist Literary Criticism | Marx/Engels Subject Archive