tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-101843792024-03-07T03:49:45.123-05:00The Lair of the OkapiCyrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08793279039656646748noreply@blogger.comBlogger208125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10184379.post-631858161583403182015-01-01T19:50:00.002-05:002015-01-01T19:54:29.983-05:002014 - Loss and Gratitude<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: cyan;">2013 was a tough act to follow, and I knew that going into it. I had just hoped it would be a good year, having to follow 2013, which was <i>the best</i> year. Taking a look back, it's hard to really just call it a good year, or a bad year. It was definitely a year of challenges and hard losses. A constant barrage of grim news stories and tragic headlines made a lot of us worry about the future of this country and the world. And, 2014 might be remembered as the year that too many funny people left us, just when we need them most: Robin Williams, Joan Rivers, Sid Caeser, David Brenner, John Pinette, and Jan Hooks. And I lost a remarkable number of role models and favorites from my era: Frankie Knuckles, Ann B. Davis, Alexander Shulgin, Rik Mayall, and Mark Bell from LFO. I also lost two every day heroes, my father-in-law, and a mentor from my lost youth days. <br /><br />Still, with all of the challenges and heartbreaking losses, I leave this year with a thankful heart; thankful for every minute I got to spend and every smile I shared with the love of my life, Tony. And, I'm so thankful for every giggle, squeal, and snuggle from our little guy. And I'm thankful for long walks among the trees. These are the only things that could possibly make the rest bearable. <br /><br />In the first week of the year, a polar vortex brought the coldest temperatures in over 50 years; down to 5 degrees here in "Hotlanta." Of course, mid-month took me to toasty warm Chicago in January for my annual work conference. And, when I got back home, we got a forecast for an inch of snow across metro Atlanta, which led to an amazingly uncoordinated effort to close all schools and businesses at the same time, which led to a million car traffic jam across three counties, which led to thousands of drivers stranded in frozen gridlock, which led to me sitting in my car in traffic for NINETEEN mother f*&#ing HOURS. So, yeah, January wasn't my favorite month ever. </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: cyan;">February
started off with a great show at The Fox, "Book of Mormon," and a
beautifully foggy morning hike up Stone Mountain. And, then Atlanta
was hit with another polar vortex, a shards of ice storm, and then an
earthquake in Augusta. Certainly it was the end times coming, so Tony
and I made a quick work-sponsored trip to Chattanooga and Knoxville.
Miraculously, spring did start to prepare its entrance around mid-month,
and a few beautiful Stone Mountain hikes made everything okay. </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: cyan;">Spring marched on and brought some normalcy and a quick work trip to Memphis and a beautiful sunset over the Mississippi </span><span style="color: cyan;">River. </span></b></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">The </span><span style="color: cyan;">month
began with the passing of hatemonger Fred Phelps and ended with the
passing of a man who spread love all around the world, Frankie
Knuckles. </span></span></span></span>Tony and I hiked up Kennesaw Mountain for the first time, you know, because we'</span><span style="color: cyan;">re unpredictable</span><span style="color: cyan;">, and the little guy made his first hike up Stone Mountain. </span></b></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">And, we were warned to beware the ides of March, as we might fall victim to a Cuteness Attack.</span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: cyan;">April was packed full of fun stuff: a Saturday night comedy night at The Village Theatre, "Tennessee Queer" at the Plaza Theatre, a work trip to Nashville, a quick visit from my former work wife, and a much, much needed family trip to Savannah and Tybee Island. <br /> </span></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>May brought some big work changes for me with a new role, because apparently I made the mistake of telling the Universe that I wanted a new challenge. May also brought marriage equality to my home state of Pennsylvania, and, on a completely opposite note, brought Tony and I to Blue Ridge for a weekend getaway in the North Georgia mountains. </b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>I
survived another June. I have this "thing" of having tumultuous
Junes. So much so, that Stimpy and I have been joking about the
terrors of June for nearly 14 years now. This June started off with
the little guy's first birthday party and it was perfect, and no
personal tragedies befell me. But I did watch icons of my personal era slip
into history with the passings of Ann B. Davis, Rik Mayall, Alexander
Shulgin, Casey Kasim, and Lucky. </b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>I spent way too much of July in bed with back muscle spasms, but some awesome hikes with my guy at Raven Cliff Falls and Cloudland Canyon cured me. </b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>August
came quietly, and on the 9th of August, my Tony lost his dad. And
everyone who knew him lost some magic in their lives. </b></span></span><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>In
his 97 years on this planet he became the king of invention, the master
of joke-telling, and the captain of charm. He showed us all how this
life was meant to be lived, and the was the best father, grandfather,
and father-in-law I've ever known. I will miss that smile, always.</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>I look
forward to every Labor Day weekend in Atlanta, mainly because of House
In The Park, and this year, we brought the whole family, including
little Boo Boo, which was, of course, one of the highlights of my life. </b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>After a
long summer of work stress and career anxiety, I had my first good
month, work wise, in September, along with some particularly beautiful Stone
Mountain hikes, some outdoor yoga with Molly, and a nice visit from my
most favorite mother-in-law. </b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>October
brought a visit from Brian, which included a nice hike in Cloudland
Canyon and a bone-chilling ride on the new monster Ferris wheel
downtown. An extended family visit to a local corn maze and
pumpkin farm was a perfect way to spend a beautifully chilly fall evening. </b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>November was kinda awesome. Tony and I had a fantastic weekend in St. Augustine with a couple of spectacular walks on the beach and a nice sidetrack visit to the Okefenokee on the way back home. We celebrated our nine year anniversary at Mali and a few days later we marked my 44th big day with a hike up Stone Mountain. And, the little guy sang "Happy Birthday" to me, which was the best birthday gift I've ever had. </b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>December
was a whirlwind of work, holiday parties, and, of course, some good
hikes. One of the real highlights for me was a night of deep house
music and DJ Pierre at The Music Room. We took Boo Boo to see Santa,
which was hilarious (for us, not him), and we spent Christmas Eve
together, as a modern <i>modern</i> family. Tony and I had a downtown
day on the last day of the year, with a visit to the new Center for
Civil and Human Rights, then brought in the New Year with the extended
modern <i>modern </i>family. </b></span></span><br />
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Cyrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08793279039656646748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10184379.post-2229375089504048882014-12-23T22:48:00.000-05:002014-12-23T22:48:20.796-05:00The 2014 Okapi Sampler! <div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: cyan;">"The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been." - Madeleine L'Engle. </span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: cyan;">I was born in 1970, exactly in the middle of Generation X, the life era of those of us defined by "The Breakfast Club," new wave, and Atari. We remember public payphones, the fall of the wall, and when MTV played music videos. We knew Madonna when she was provocative and the New Kids on the Block when they were kids. Our youth was spent at the mall. </span></b></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: cyan;">And it was spent living in the shadow of the Baby Boomer generation. We were labelled, dismissed, and marketed to as the generation of angst loving slackers, while nearly all of America's cultural space continued to be occupied by the Baby Boomers' reminiscences of their youth. They reminded us through just about every possible cultural medium how they fought segregation and war and blind allegiance to tradition, and how we wouldn't even fight for the right to party. They told us we were just a "filler" generation, between them and the wizards of tech. And, to quite an extent, we believed them, despite our generational accomplishments and our contributions to culture and history. <br /><br />But, we're all older now. And with age comes new understandings of past experiences. And the current generation of music creators is helping all of us to re-understand the music of my era so we can all move forward again. Certainly some of the interest in 80s and 90s music is due to a desire to escape the current headlines, bu they aren't just imitating my generation's new wave, acid house, grunge, and rave music by churning out rehashed "retro" sounds...they are picking up where we left off when we gave in to the labels placed upon us. Much of the best of 2014 reached back to take us forward. <br /><br />So, here's a very biased look at the top 10 of the year....</span></b></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/ESZbKOf6xvs?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: cyan;"> </span></b></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: cyan;"># 10 Eskuche & Nu Sky - "Acid Jump"</span></b></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">Acid house. It's the perfect music history legend...a few kids with some homemade music exploded out of Chicago in the late '80s and created a global movement. This year, a few kids, who weren't even born when the genre was invented, took a fresh look at squelchy acid trax. Eskuche & Nu Sky from New York City's underground released "Acid Jump" over the summer and used the tools of today to take us back to summers ago with Jack and Fierce Ruling Diva. If you gotta believe in something, why not believe in acid? </span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: cyan;"> # 9 Ariel Pink - "Lipstick"</span></b></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: cyan;"><br /></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">Ariel Pink has been piquing my interest for a few years now, and this track is the perfect example of why. It's one part mid-'80s Echo & The Bunnymen, one part Animal Collective, and one part original Scooby-Doo mystery. It's reaches into a few decades for eccentricities and still perfectly captures 2014's most hipster of sounds.</span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/OaKVy-FlaUA?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"># 8 TV On The Radio - "Happy Idiot"</span></span></span></span></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: cyan;"><br /></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">TVOTR = indie rock bliss. They've been making really solid indie rock since 2001, and this year they released their fifth album, <i>Seeds</i>; the first since the 2011 death of their bassist, Gerard Smith. It's hard not to hear the early '80s REM and early 90s Sonic Youth influences (and they really remind me of Wire at their best), but it's perfectly relevant today. With "Happy Idiot" they do what they do best...walk that beautiful line at the intersection of painfully urgent and indulgently atmospheric. </span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: cyan;"> </span></b></span></span></span></span></span><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">#7 Hercules and Love Affair feat. John Grant - " I Try To Talk To You"</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">Yes, Hercules and Love Affair made it to my year end top ten, again. Well, it's my top ten, so I can include whatever I please. Besides, this track featuring alt-folk singer John Grant, is fucking amazing. Hercules and Love Affair came to be out of a need to take another look at early '90s heyday House. That's the House that saved lives on the dance floor in the midst of a terrifying plague. John Grant's almost goth voice sharing the experience of finding out he'd become HIV positive laid down over a life-saving House beat allows us to re-understand that time from the relative safety of 2014. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"># 6 Jamie xx - "All Under One Roof Raving" </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">Jamie xx, from the English group The xx, gave us this tribute to the UK rave scene of a couple of decades ago by overlaying a story of rave day conversations on top of a very current post-dubstep track. Oh, did I mention the steel drum? Yes, please. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"># 5 Kiesza - "Hideaway"</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">Around the same time that Kiesza was learning to walk, Robin S and Ce Ce Peniston were filling dancefloors around the world with deep house infused dance pop. Those of us who remember the days of "Finally" thought there'd never be that kind of synth bass catchy hook again. We were wrong. "Hideaway" gives Rick Astley's biggest hits a run for their money on catchiness...but let's be clear...it's all kinds of good. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/Sm4bEFLkBdc?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">#4 Kim Ann Foxman - "Steal My Secrets"</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Kim Ann Foxman knows House. She knows where it came from and why. As a Hercules and Love Affair affiliate that's not too surprising. What is surprising is the degree to which "Steal My Secrets" sounds like a long lost record from a San Francisco full moon rave in 1992. It isn't influenced by that special place and time. It <i>is</i> that place and time. And that was a damned good era </span></span><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/3LesJtqP-x0?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"># 3 Neneh Cherry - "Blank Project"</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">Neneh Cherry's 1988 smash, "Buffalo Stance" made it to # 50 on VH1's top 100 one hit wonders. And, while there's nothing wrong with being a one hit wonder (the vast majority of us are NO hit wonders), Neneh Cherry is much, much more than that. She left New York City when when she 16 to join the just emerging punk scene and played in The Slits. She's created punk, rap, house, and more recently, experimental jazz. And this year she released this intensely personal piece as an expression of her coping with the death of her mother. This is what art sounds like. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/IMwgcRByA8Y?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"># 2 Caribou - "Our Love"</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">Beautiful. Provocative. Straddling the sacred line between joy and yearning. This track is, to me, perfection. With flourishes of strings, oddly placed bleeps, and a chunky 1991 techno rhythm line, well just damn. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/bbHZUS5zLhE?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"># 1 Shamir - "Sometimes A Man"</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">The Godfather of House, Frankie Knuckles, passed away in March of this year. It was hard to understand how a man who invented and created a music movement so based on the energies of youth could have left us and passed into history. It's such a cliche, but it's also true that his music will live and influence and inspire for generations to come. Shamir, born in the suburbs of Las Vegas in 1994, has no first hand experience of what happened in Chicago in the 1980s, but his House is directly from Frankie<b>, </b>and his talent is startling. His EP, <i>Northtown, </i>is downright exciting in scope, from Chicago house, to R&B influenced electronica, to an authentic bluegrass ballad. Sometimes a man is more than he says he is. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">So, there it is. The Lair of the Okapi's Top 10 Songs of 2014! It was a hard one this year, and here are some more excellent tracks that I just couldn't fit in to the top 10...<br /><br />Foster The People - "Best Friend"<br />Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings - "Stranger To My Happiness"<br />Sam Smith feat. Mary J. Blige - "Stay With Me"</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">Sinkane - "New Name"</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">Basement Jaxx - "Power To The People"</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">Craft Spells - "Breaking The Angle Against The Tide"</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">Hozier - "Take Me To Church"</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">and, of course, Pharrel - "Happy"</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></div>
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Cyrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08793279039656646748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10184379.post-11402959930077990762014-01-01T12:31:00.003-05:002014-01-02T16:40:43.473-05:00The 2013 Okapi Sampler!<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">Soul music. Music from the soul, from the very core of being. Soul music came to us from the joy and pain and love and yearning of African-Americans who used the tools given to them by jazz, blues, and gospel music to create a heavenly sound for us here on Earth. Of course, the music has adapted and evolved over the years from Southern soul, to the Motown sound, to early '70s Philly soul. It seemed for a long while that soul music had been picked apart and watered down so much by disco, and hip hop, and house, that it became just another historical genre with little relevance today. <br /><br />But, 2013 showed us that our souls still yearn to connect and understand and share. While technology has put the world in our phones, soul music has re-emerged as a real way to connect to the most human aspects of existence, beyond what social media can provide. Today's soul makers are using technology to reacquaint us with our core selves. The best music of 2012 seemed to reach out to the world, while this past year, it seems we reached within. <br /><br />And, here are the Lair of the Okapi's favorite songs of 2013....</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">#10 - The Juan Maclean - "You Are My Destiny"</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">#9 - Sophie - "Bipp"</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">#8 - Burial - "Hiders"</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">#7 - Justin Timberlake (feat. Jay-Z) - "Suit & Tie</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">#6 - James Blake - "Retrograde"</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"># 5 - Laura Mvula - "Green Garden"</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"># 4 - Disclosure (feat. Sam Smith) - "Latch"</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"># 3 - FKA Twigs - "Water Me"</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"># 2 - Daft Punk (feat. Pharrell) - "Get Lucky"</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">#1 - Rhye - "Open" </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">There was a lot of good music this year, and it was tough to narrow it down to just ten. Here are some more great tracks that touched my soul this year. <br /><br />Classixx (feat. Nancy Whang) - "All You're Waiting For"</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">Lorde - "Royals"</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">!!! - "Slyd" </span></span></div>
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Cyrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08793279039656646748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10184379.post-39282227643951786962013-12-31T22:23:00.000-05:002014-01-02T22:25:58.563-05:002013 - The Circle Is Now Complete<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">For most of my adult life, I've referred to 1992 as the best year of my life. And it was. And I thought it always would be. I've had more than my fair share of fun and wonder since then, but 1992 was just so pivotal and so, well, <i>hyperreal</i>. It was a year defined by a feeling of being in the exact right place at the exact right time...a feeling of the Universe lining up to define my life. 1992 saved me, gave me hope, and put me on a beautiful life journey.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">And 2013 came and gave me the most beautiful gifts the Universe has to offer - purpose, meaning, wholeness, and love. The circle is now complete. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">Tony and I started off the year in Tybee Island. The Tybee Island New Year's crowd was a little rowdy for what we were hoping for, but a morning beach walk was the perfect way to start a wonderful year.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnKHG6RVmFSKTupEl8OYn1j1Qm5_7ktV3lEwVzVB5TaxoTTaI1cqGpui7_0YPoQPxEDIdSFVPqXXrTTb9Uh089BnGJ4jvLb4F4NTST9ohnc0WJhOoCptDKbOnAy40JzBlPTLn9Aw/s1600/January+2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnKHG6RVmFSKTupEl8OYn1j1Qm5_7ktV3lEwVzVB5TaxoTTaI1cqGpui7_0YPoQPxEDIdSFVPqXXrTTb9Uh089BnGJ4jvLb4F4NTST9ohnc0WJhOoCptDKbOnAy40JzBlPTLn9Aw/s320/January+2013.jpg" width="278" /> </a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">In February, we hiked up Stone Mountain (a lot). We enjoyed some sketch comedy at Sketchworks, and saw "Bike America" at the Hertz Theatre, both of which were pretty groovy and reminded us of reason # 467 that we LOVE living in Atlanta - so much awesome local theatre. The end of the month gave us a quick work-sponsored trip to Nashville, where we got to see the Nashville family (reason # 6 that we LOVE living in Atlanta...close proximity to the Nashville family). </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">In March, the Supreme Court heard arguments regarding DOMA, and a sense of hope spread across the country and a sea of red equality signs spread across Facebook. The end of the month gave us a wonderful visit from Jenny and Sean and a beautiful view from the Sun Dial. </span></span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxhXZtCBcvlkB0oaRez5ebP3O8grN7G5WOMw_xtwNZ7fBT0ayJwXuPyF3T47rAaMf5KN18ZMliHVZkOn0wxoNlSQVCBUuIx_CWWD8uU7uUGNtmPuurIVAj2ecLnqUg9xQ6orIMcg/s1600/March+2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxhXZtCBcvlkB0oaRez5ebP3O8grN7G5WOMw_xtwNZ7fBT0ayJwXuPyF3T47rAaMf5KN18ZMliHVZkOn0wxoNlSQVCBUuIx_CWWD8uU7uUGNtmPuurIVAj2ecLnqUg9xQ6orIMcg/s320/March+2013.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">April was just swell! We took a nice long Atlanta Beltline walk on a remarkably beautiful day. We had another work-sponsored trip - this time to St. Augustine and Jacksonville, and on the drive back we decided to take a "short detour" through the Okefenokee Swamp, and it was spectacular! Alligators, herons, big pines...it was very much like the Everglades, but close to home. Really one of my highlights for the year. A couple of weekends later, we decided to check out the Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge, and stumbled across the setting of "Fried Green Tomatoes" in Juliette, GA. A few more Stone Mountain hikes, and a quick work trip to Huntsville rounded out a great month. </span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">And, on May 18th, I proved that sometimes stories about little boys with really rough starts have beautiful happy endings. After over 7 years together, Tony and I were legally married in Syracuse, New York in front of nearly all of our most beloved family and friends. And, I came to understand that this man, this moment, all of <i>this</i>, is the meaning of life. <br /> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">After our wedding, we spend a night in Niagara Falls, four days in Toronto, and along and wonderful road trip across Ontario, down through Detroit, Cincinnati, Kentucky, and Knoxville, Tennessee. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">When we got back home, we had just two weeks to wait before I was able to hold the most beautiful thing I've ever laid my eyes and heart upon.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">After the life shifting events of May and June, the rest of the year sort of pales, but there was still lots of fun to be had and lots of quieter moments of savoring the new roles of "husband" and "papa," and the unexpected joys of creating our new modern, modern family. And, of course, there were still lots of hikes to be taken, like the one Tony and I took at Sweetwater Creek. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">All I can really remember about August is rain. Like monsoon-style rains. In fact, it rained for weeks on end all through the summer, but by August I just couldn't take it anymore. Buckets and buckets of rain. Oh, and bugs. Lots of bugs. Luckily, Michelle and Mark were getting married in Syracuse, so that called for another road trip. We picked up Mike and Margie in Nashville, spent a night in Pittsburgh, and showed them the view from Mt. Washington. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We were still in Syracuse for the first of September, and I got a taste of what "camp" is all about. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">When we got back to Atlanta, I got to see Depeche Mode for the first time since the "Violator" tour in 1990, and Tony was able to sing along to several of the songs. My heart was filled with pride. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">For Tony's birthday, I took him to see Barry Manilow's new musical, "Harmony," which was phenomenal. I couldn't sing along with any songs, but I think Tony is a little proud of my new-found appreciation for musical theater. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">October was full of fun stuff. A visit from bestie-in-law, Lauren. The Pine Lake Festival, a visit to ART Station. And an amazing Blue Ridge Mountains getaway with our new Brady Bunch family. Blue Ridge Parkway, Gatlinburg, Cherokee. Such an awesome time. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We made a first time visit to the Horizon Theatre in L5P, and saw "Third Country," a play based on the refugee experience in Clarkston, and we were blown away. Just wonderful.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In November, I returned to the scene of the crime...to Panama City Beach, which is where my first memories were made. I don't miss living in Florida, but I still love a nice walk on the beach. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After a few days next to the ocean, we returned just in time for peak autumn (which means soul-crushing piles and piles and piles of leaves). On the 18th, we celebrated our 8 year anniversary, and then headed to Franklin, Tennessee for some Thanksgiving family time and our annual walk around the old Carnton Plantation. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">December started with nice dinner with Gwen, an old-time friend from Pittsburgh, and a weekend visit from my sister and family (which ended with a stray cat in our garage). And, we were able to catch John Waters' one-man Christmas show at the Variety. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We ended the month and the year with an overly ambitious "Holiday Magic Tour" driving from Atlanta to Pittsburgh for a few days, then to Syracuse, for Christmas. From Syracuse, we headed to Richmond via an ill-planned lunch "detour" through Philadelphia. After Richmond, we took advantage of a drive through Raleigh to say hello to some wonderful, wonderful friends (and their soon-to-be-here baby!). All in all, we our road trip allowed visits with 28.8% of my Facebook friends.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After our 2,000 mile road trip, we decided to saw goodbye to the best year of my life (so far) by cozying up on the sofa watching "Hairspray." And the circle is now complete. </span></span></div>
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Cyrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08793279039656646748noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10184379.post-57874279015322649362013-01-02T22:44:00.002-05:002013-01-08T21:45:00.604-05:002012 - The Year The World Didn't End<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">2012. The year the world didn't end. Well, for me, in some ways, the world, as I knew it, did end in 2012. <br /> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">I'm a pretty chipper guy. And, I'm so, so grateful for the love and the life that I have. But, this past year was marked by some pretty big shifts in life perspectives made from real and hard losses. There were lots of smiles, Stone Mountain hikes, and good theater too, though...</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">In January, Tony and I hiked up Stone Mountain (a lot), made some new friends at East Side Pride's "<a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/231277100285087/"><span style="color: orange;">Eat Your Art Out</span></a>" event, and had a pretty life-changing dinner date with the MarSmithalls at El Jinete. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">In February, spring came early, and daffodils were blooming by the first of the month. Tony and I saw "<a href="http://broadwaytour.net/memphis-atlanta-fox-theatre"><span style="color: orange;">Memphis</span></a>" at the Fox Theatre, and what a great show! I volunteered some at Zoo Atlanta, and organized an East Side Pride "<a href="http://eastsidepridenews.blogspot.com/2012/02/east-side-pride-jc-penney-buy-cott.html"><span style="color: orange;">Shopping for Equality</span></a>" day at JCPenney at Northlake Mall as a thank you for the company's decision to stand by Ellen as their spokesperson. And, one lucky Friday evening, I happened to run into my celebrity crush, Sanjay Gupta, on a Stone Mountain hike. Of course, I turned in to a crazed paparazzo...</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">March was busy, busy, busy. There was a "Dunaire Dines Out" at Mi Casa and and an East Side Pride bowling night at Stars and Strikes. Tony and I saw "<a href="http://broadwaytour.net/billy-elliot-atlanta-fox-theatre"><span style="color: orange;">Billy Elliot</span></a>" at the Fox, which was overwhelmingly meh. I made a long hard drive to Pittsburgh to visit Ruth, and had some nice quality time with her. The next week, Linda and Nicole came to visit us in Atlanta, which was awesome! Tony and I went on my work-sponsored "Dirty South Tour," hitting Birmingham, Tupelo, Memphis, and Nashville along the way. And, we got caught in the in a soul-cleansing rain shower on Stone Mountain....</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">In April, we celebrated our three year Atlanta anniversary. Tony and I had a romantic-type date night full of jazz, fondue, and live alligators at Dante's Down The Hatch, and we had a nice visit from Karen and Ken and an all-too-quick hello from bestie-in-law, Lauren,. We saw "<a href="http://broadwaytour.net/les-miserables-atlanta-fox-theatre"><span style="color: orange;">Les Miserables</span></a>" at the Fox and I came to understand how thoroughly genius live theater can be. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">I started off May with a work trip to Huntsville, Alabama - which I found out is much less awful than I assumed it would be. President Obama made history, and made me cry, by coming out in support of marriage equality. Shawn came to visit from Wi-Cheetah, and I really loved seeing him again, and I fell even more madly in love with Atlanta over Memorial Day weekend with <a href="http://www.mondohomo.com/"><span style="color: orange;">Mondo Homo</span></a> and the <a href="http://atlantafestivals.com/our-history/2010-official-artist-profile/"><span style="color: orange;">Atlanta Jazz Festival</span></a>! </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">June was hard. It started with a heartbreaking call from Andrea, who had just lost her best friend. Felix was so smart, so charming, so inspiring, and so ridiculously funny. He is gone way too soon. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">June went out with a oppressively hot bang with record breaking heat, and the highest temperature ever recorded in Atlanta...106 degrees. But, of course, climate change is a Liberal conspiracy. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">July brought some much needed laughs and friend time with a fun night at <a href="http://www.sketchworkscomedy.com/"><span style="color: orange;">SketchWorks</span></a> improv theatre, a visit from long-lost Strudel from Germany, and a "Big Chill" weekend with the MarSmithalls & Company in a mountain house in Asheville, North Carolina! </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">On August 25th, 2012, the only mother I ever knew passed. I gave the eulogy. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: cyan;">My mother, Ruth Bentley, was born in September 1918, just a
few minutes from here in Wilson. She
was the third of William and Sadie’s four children, and by all family accounts,
she was a real pistol from the get-go. Her sister, Gladys, used to tell stories about
her rebellious little sister’s adventures of cutting school and getting in
trouble. We loved hearing Ruth’s stories
of when she was a race car driver and about the job she had as a truck driver,
long before women were allowed to do those things. She was born at a time when most women
weren’t allowed to have opinions. Women
weren’t even allowed to vote in 1918, but Ruth never allowed anyone to tell he<span style="font-size: small;">r
wha</span>t she was not allowed to do.</span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: cyan;">I think a lot of sons speak of recently departed mothers
using words like gentle, quiet, and soft.
Well, my mother was wasn’t any of those things. My mother was strong and independent, loud
and opinionated. My mother was a
hard-worker, a real fighter, and she loved having a good time too. As she would say, she had a mind of her own.
She hung out in, and worked in, bars
and honky-tonks and she smoked and
cussed with the best of them. She met
Ed in a bar in West Elizabeth and I never saw her have a better time than those
long nights of playing guitars and singing
along with Ed and Peg and Ben until the wee hours. Yes,
there were no Ladies’ Auxillary luncheons on Ruth Bentley’s schedule.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: cyan;">But, it’s important to remember that she was also the type
of woman who worked hard to provide for her only daughter in times when single
mothers weren’t spoken of. It’s
important to remember that she was the type of woman who, at 55 years old,
would take in a 3 year old boy with nowhere to go, give him a home, and raise
him through his teenage years when other women her age were retiring enjoying a
slower pace of life. She was the type
of woman who loved her grandchildren beyond measure, and the type of woman
whose last smile came from holding her new great-grandson. </span></span></div>
</blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: cyan;">
</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: cyan;">Ruth Bentley was a truly extraordinary woman, and I am so
proud of her strength and independence,
and it truly warms my heart to see that she passed these characteristics
on to her daughter and her grandchildren, and I am sure they will gift their
children with these traits. <span style="font-size: small;">What a
wonderful legacy my mother has left in her passing. </span></span></span></div>
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<![endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">She was such a vibrant personality, it will be hard
for me to understand a world without her.
I will miss her always, and be forever grateful for the life that she
provided me. </span></span></span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: cyan;"></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: cyan;"></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Thank the Universe, September <span style="font-size: small;">came with some much needed <span style="font-size: small;">House Music medicine for the soul<span style="font-size: small;"> at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/House-In-The-Park-Atlanta/152735609016"><span style="color: orange;">House In The Park</span></a><span style="font-size: small;">. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dw6zrCep2SpnQF2wVIaUBTPMzrA28kNzBks9B_hJ_JxJExTh8fxa5uBGJcpCu6zJEh65z7VRjqpUMo' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> <br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">I took Tony on the </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">Big Apple / Big 5-</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">0 Birthday Trip</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">. We spent four fun-packed days in New </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">York City, and saw Betty, Kell</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">y, and </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">The Poodle, and had a fantastic </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">mini-reunion with Tony's </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">much cherished friends from his college days</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"> at Albany State. We had a really great time w</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">ith </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">Betty at the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnkB5MoDSx4"><span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-size: small;">Jackie Bea<span style="font-size: small;">t</span></span></span></a> show, we saw "The Lion King</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">," and visited th</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">e MOMA</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">. </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">Oh, and I happ</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">ened to have packed one of my </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">favorite shirts, which I've had since the early '90s (so?) and did a little </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">"then and now" </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">photo</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: cyan;">...1996 to 2012.</span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">After a<span style="font-size: small;"> fun, but exhausting, N<span style="font-size: small;">YC romp, we took the train to Syracuse for <span style="font-size: small;">a 5 day visit with family and a qu<span style="font-size: small;">ick day trip to Roche<span style="font-size: small;">ster<span style="font-size: small;">, </span>which is <span style="font-size: small;">super underrated<span style="font-size: small;"> (it has a f&*%ing waterfall in the middle of downtown!). </span> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZBAT723kDW13-eOLB4TKj771eLaBRZS4pAutPOk2hEqqJyQzlavWFWm-ppvWMOvFf6NXrq-2zOH0jD1JWVRpcQTp3qdIoHZSVF3fDuKMea0Z6jvjmtsPOhLWhLL7mURJELLz-BA/s1600/Rochester.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZBAT723kDW13-eOLB4TKj771eLaBRZS4pAutPOk2hEqqJyQzlavWFWm-ppvWMOvFf6NXrq-2zOH0jD1JWVRpcQTp3qdIoHZSVF3fDuKMea0Z6jvjmtsPOhLWhLL7mURJELLz-BA/s320/Rochester.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">After <span style="font-size: small;">getting back home to the A<span style="font-size: small;">TL<span style="font-size: small;">, we were treated to a<span style="font-size: small;">n AMAZING production of <a href="http://broadwaytour.net/war-horse-atlanta-fox-theatre"><span style="color: orange;">War Ho</span></a><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://broadwaytour.net/war-horse-atlanta-fox-theatre"><span style="color: orange;">rse</span></a> at the Fox<span style="font-size: small;">, and then treated even more to a visit from Dawn and Karina<span style="font-size: small;"> so we could all head over to Piper's wedding in Alabama<span style="font-size: small;"> (<span style="font-size: small;">w<span style="font-size: small;">hich, <span style="font-size: small;"><i>of course</i>, culminated in a<span style="font-size: small;"> near altercation in an Alabama<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="font-size: small;">McDonald's parking lot over my Obama bum<span style="font-size: small;">per s<span style="font-size: small;">ticker). <span style="font-size: small;">And, I took the coolest photo ever, of Louie <span style="font-size: small;">greeting a late night visitor.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Brian came to visit in October<span style="font-size: small;"> for Atlanta Ga<span style="font-size: small;">y Pride</span></span>, and <span style="font-size: small;">we took <span style="font-size: small;">him on </span>a day trip to Chattanooga<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">to </span>satisfy <span style="font-size: small;">my unrelenting</span> hunger for kit<span style="font-size: small;">schy roadside tourist attractions<span style="font-size: small;">. Rock City and Ruby Falls d<span style="font-size: small;">efi<span style="font-size: small;">n<span style="font-size: small;">it<span style="font-size: small;">ely did not disappoint<span style="font-size: small;"> and the Fairytale Ca<span style="font-size: small;">ve<span style="font-size: small;">rn at Rock City w<span style="font-size: small;">as</span> just over-th<span style="font-size: small;">e-to<span style="font-size: small;">p gloriously creepy gnome p<span style="font-size: small;">sychedelia. Loved it. The MarSmithalls had some <span style="font-size: small;">profoundly wonderful news<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">, and <span style="font-size: small;">we had a nice afternoon <span style="font-size: small;">o<span style="font-size: small;">f punkin carving<span style="font-size: small;"> at the MarSmithall comp<span style="font-size: small;">ound with Ryan and Stimpy. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: cyan;">November was exceedingly beautiful and started out right with a nice autumn hike with Ann, and a second term for President Obama! Tony and I celebrated our 7th anniversary at our favorite special occasion type restaurant, Cafe Alsace, and we made our annual trip to Nashville for some Thanksgiving warmth and family. We brought Tony's parents back to Atlanta with us for a not-long-enough visit and we took them to the Sun Dial. </span></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioh7chx8dXxX1xa0xsBLivXsSpnzSKDlyMYM_03kniEIs2dHgZqhdYM_lAocmzI41eTIAI2-o2HCpJaVCf5DzkBEuaEAQk0XKFKXW1HgUbEpJ4Ehq49Y4g7EidPT6wzqzLEBCK-Q/s1600/Ro+and+Joe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioh7chx8dXxX1xa0xsBLivXsSpnzSKDlyMYM_03kniEIs2dHgZqhdYM_lAocmzI41eTIAI2-o2HCpJaVCf5DzkBEuaEAQk0XKFKXW1HgUbEpJ4Ehq49Y4g7EidPT6wzqzLEBCK-Q/s320/Ro+and+Joe.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Just before <span style="font-size: small;">Ro<span style="font-size: small;"> and Joe left, I was <span style="font-size: small;">stricken by a deadly p<span style="font-size: small;">lague that kep<span style="font-size: small;">t me laid up for most of December<span style="font-size: small;">. Probably the longest and most recurring sickness I've ever had<span style="font-size: small;">. <span style="font-size: small;">Yeah, <span style="font-size: small;">December wa<span style="font-size: small;">s a blast. The world did not end, as predicted by the Mayans, and Tony and I <span style="font-size: small;">had </span>a <span style="font-size: small;">particularly </span>nice <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">deep winter</span> </span>evening in front of the firep<span style="font-size: small;">lace</span> on the So<span style="font-size: small;">lstice, and we saw <span style="font-size: small;">"Les Miserable<span style="font-size: small;">s" a<span style="font-size: small;">t the movie<span style="font-size: small;">s with Lou and Kin<span style="font-size: small;"> on Christmas<span style="font-size: small;"> Day. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">We said goodbye to 2012 with a trip to Savannah and watched the year end and the sun set while sitting on a swing, on Tybee Island Beach. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">A<span style="font-size: small;">nd the world didn't end. Sort<span style="font-size: small;"> of.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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Cyrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08793279039656646748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10184379.post-49067593337619294002012-12-24T12:49:00.002-05:002012-12-26T16:46:56.591-05:00The 2012 Okapi Sampler! <br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">We hear a lot these days about how globalization has made the world small. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">Societies and economies have become vastly more interconnected, interdependent, and multicultural</span></span>. Thanks to a thousand new technologies, the planet is now fully digitized, wired, and Google-mapped, and people from around the globe can cross national and cultural boundaries in just a few clicks or through social media apps on mobile smart phones. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">Has globalization brought the utopian world that many of us who remember when the Wall fell had hoped for? Yeah, um, pretty much not. But, it has brought a sharing of ideas, experiences, and cultures in a way that's never been seen before, and the way we create, share, and experience music has shifted along with it. The boundaries between musical genres are becoming as porous and blurry as the boundaries between cultures, and this year has really shown us all how big music can get when the world gets smaller. In past decades, the American pop charts would allow a "world music" novelty here and there and we'd all dread the next play of "The Macarena," and wonder why <i>exactly </i>a dutchie should be passed on the left hand side. Now, these cross-cultural musical phenomena aren't novelties, they're the new reality. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">Pop music in 2012 was defined by a South Korean techno-pop sensation, a Filipino-Puerto Rican from Hawaii who gave us a new Motown sound, a Barbadian hip-pop princess, and an offbeat Belgian-Australian singer-songwriter who delivered one of the best break-up songs in music history. This is the year that cultures blended, genres fused, the world got smaller, and the music got bigger. And, these are the Lair of the Okapi's favorite tracks of the year...</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><b># 10 - Michael Kiwanuka - "Tell Me A Tale"</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">At first listen, "Tell Me A Tale" is a familiar vintage soul gem - maybe an under-appreciated Otis Redding b-side, or a lost masterpiece from a 1973 blaxploitation film. Nope. It's 24 year old Michael Kiwanuka's brand-new soul classic. Michael Kiwanuka grew up in London to Ugandan refugee parents, and his influences come from far and wide, but he's straight up American soul. "Tell Me A Tale" doesn't break new ground. Instead, it shows us that there was still at least one unturned stone from the 1970s, and there is something deeply satisfying in knowing that there might be even more to be turned over.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><b># 9 - Grimes - "Oblivion"</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">For a song called "Oblivion," that warns of the dangers of walking around on a dark night, it sure is <i>exuberant</i>. I get the feeling that </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">Vancouver-raised Québécois Grimes (Claire Boucher) hasn't just conjured '80s New Wave and early '90s Rave with some liberal pinches of Bjork eccentricity and Cocteau Twins dreaminess - she<i> is</i> the inevitable magic of those ingredients. "Oblivion" is bouncy, fresh and playful, but it's built on a solid, obviously smart (and slightly dark) foundation. It's hard not to hear this without thinking that Grimes<i> is </i>the future of music. And it's really hard to not click "replay."</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: cyan;"><b># 8 - Antony and the Johnsons - "Cut The World"</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">Antony Hegarty is nothing less than a savior for the marginalized, the abused, and the forgotten - a Renaissance being for the sensitive souls of our world. Antony was born in England, grew in San Francisco, and bloomed in New York City. With the voice of a transgendered angel, and the hurting but defiant spirit of Nina Simone, Antony's music and projects have been damned near impossible to categorize, and "Cut The World" hasn't made it easier. More a composition than a song, "Cut The World" is an incredibly intimate meditation on suffering the cruelties of this world - made big and beautiful by a collaboration with Danish National Chamber Orchestra. ***The composition is gorgeous. The video is disturbing, and if you're even a little squeamish, I'd advise you listen and not watch.***</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><b> </b></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-size: small;">#7</span>- A Place To Bury Strangers - "Onwards To The Wall"</span></span></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">A Place To Bury Strangers has done the truly impossible. They have successfully resurrected the darkly enchanting soul of Joy Division, and made music that is completely relevant today. Of course, in my opinion, Joy Division was, is, and will always be relevant to everything, ever. "Onwards To The Wall," thankfully, doesn't sound like a cover, or rip-off. It, somehow manages to actually take us back to that otherworld that Joy Division came from - with it's ethereal arrangements over an aggressive bass and slicing and melodic wall of sound guitars.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><b> </b></span></span><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-size: small;">#<span style="font-size: small;">6 </span></span>- Rhye - "The Fall"</span></span></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">"The Fall" is beautiful. It's just beautiful. Sensual, tender, intense, sexy, honest, driving, elegant, and beautiful. It's cool jazz, piano house, and the Quiet Storm. It's <i>everything</i>. As a kid, I imagined my adult life, in my New York City penthouse, with its sprawling city night view, with this song playing. The vocals sound a lot like Yvonne Elliman meets Roisin Murphy, but the voice is actually Mike Milosh, half of the all-male, half-Canadian, half-Danish duo, Rhye. "The Fall" is their first single, from their upcoming first album, due out in March. I cannot wait.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-size: small;">#<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">5</span> </span></span>- Gotye (featuring Kimbra) - "Somebody That I Used To Know"</span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">About once a year, there is a song that is so inarguably good that underground music snobs, like myself, are powerless against loving it despite its pop chart success. Last year, it was Adele's "Rolling In The Deep." I challenge you to find anyone in the world who didn't have at least a slight obsession with this one last spring. And, it's not a guilty pleasure, it's just a great song. Belgian-Australian Gotye, and New Zealander Kimbra, gave us all a authentic vessel to channel our past and present heartache, and a really catchy chorus. Go ahead. Click play, and sing along. You know you want to.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-size: small;">#<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">4</span> </span></span>- Tanlines - "All Of Me"</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">Tanlines exemplifies all that's good about Brooklyn's hipster scene - and there is a lot of good synth-pop goodness that comes with all of those bow ties and "ironic" mustaches. Since the electroclash hype of ten years ago faded, Brooklyn (and Berlin) have continued to push danceable retro-wave into the future, and with the amazingly infectious hooks, deep into our brains to be replayed over and over and over again. "All Of Me" has the urgency of a youthful crush on an hot summer day. Oh, and a great dance beat. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-size: small;">#<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">3</span> </span></span>- Santigold - "The Keepers"</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">Santi White, now known as Santigold, is the face and the voice of the new America. The country's "Leave It To Beaver" days are long gone, much to the November surprise of a whole lot of well-to-do white Republicans. Had they listened to "The Keepers" when it came out this summer, they would've been a lot less surprised, and maybe, just maybe they'd be a little more ready to walk away from their delusional American dream, and on board for America's bright future. Santigold has been putting out awesome genre-fusing music for a few years now, but "The Keepers" shows us that she's taking her creative brilliance to a whole new level. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">Django Django is a four-man outfit from Scotland, but I think it'd be impossible to listen to "Default" and not feel like you're on a dusty Route 66 road trip<b>. </b>Analog synthesizer sounds, 60's surf guitars, a driving bounce, and psychedelic-y vocals = one very happy listener. It seems a simple formula, but this default is anything but formulaic. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-size: small;">#<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">1</span> </span></span>- S O H N - "The Wheel"</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">I've spent the past two months trying not to be completely consumed by this song. It begins innocently enough, with a strikingly minimalist opening, and then I become submerged in its truth. It is a deeply personal message from the next realm about how to navigate this one. Subtly intricate in structure, and simply and deeply profound, this song is just mesmerizing, to "the very last breath." </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">So, there you have it. The completely and totally biased 2012 Lair of the Okapi Top Ten. I hope it's been fun. I'm going to try to have a few posts between now and December 2013, but until the next post, here are some great songs that I just couldn't fit into the Top 10...<br /><br />Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - "Baby"</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">John Talabot (featuring Pional) - "So Will Be Now..."<br />Pet Shop Boys - "Leaving"</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">Lana Del Rey - "Ride"</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">The Scissor Sisters - :"Let's Have A Kiki"</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">Kim Ann Forman - "Return It"</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">Jai Paul - "Jasmine"</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">Matthew Dear - "Her Fantasy" </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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Cyrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08793279039656646748noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10184379.post-68021421921962920512011-12-29T17:25:00.004-05:002011-12-31T12:52:55.005-05:00The 2011 Okapi Sampler!<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I didn't have a lot of friends when I was a kid. I didn't live in a nice subdivision or a neighborhood like all the kids at school did, and there wasn't anyone under 50 who lived anywhere near me. So, I had to find ways to keep myself out of the the constantly threatening boredom vortex. I explored the woods behind our house, and mapped out my discoveries. I collected animal safari cards and couldn't wait to be old enough to leave Pennsylvania for my destined life as a scientist-explorer deep in the Amazon. </span><br />
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<span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And, I obsessed about music. Mostly Disco, Funk, and then, New Wave music. I spent hours every Sunday morning listening to Casey Kasem count down the week's Top 40, and I would plot and graph and make predictions for next week. I could spout off pop music trivia and chart positions the way just some boys can recite number of hits and home runs in a season I did this for years, and the music nearly completely shielded me from my loneliness. Well, I am 41 years old now, and I still find refuge and inspiration in music, and I'm still enough of a nerd to want to organize my favorites in to the annual Lair of the Okapi Sampler - my 10 favorites tracks of the year. So, here it is...<br />
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Last year, I noted that the most notable music of the year seemed to address the tension between escapism and melancholy - well-suited to an era of conflicting feelings and opposing dreams. In 2011, indie music delved even deeper into murky overlap of joy and hopelessness. In a year of Tea Parties, Occupiers, and an Arab Spring, it just didn't feel right to have one feeling without the other. But, what is remarkable this year, compared with last, is the way in which women's voices came to the forefront. After over a decade of women nearly exclusively in the musical roles of novelty rappers, rock accessories, and artificially flavored pop tarts, it's so refreshing to see (and hear) women taking control of their perspectives, stories, and voices - and oh, what damned good voices there were this year. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So, without further ado, here is the 2011 Okapi Sampler! </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/YQ1LI-NTa2s?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b># 10 </b><b> tUnE-yArDs - "Bizness"</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">tUnE-yArDs is the musical creation of Merrill Garbus, a native New Englander with a truly global sense of rhythm. "Bizness" seems, at first listen, an odd tune to receive the critical acclaim that it did in 2011. East African beats, socially-conscious loops, and a roaring androgynous voice coming from a woman who isn't afraid to look anyone in the eye,</span><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> don't normally add up to a warm welcome in the United States. But, 2011 hasn't been a normal year, and the joyous rage and commitment to freedom in this track is just what the world needed - or maybe I've just been spending too much time in Ethiopian restaurants. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/Itl3BgEUNW0?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b># 9 </b><b> KING - "Hey"</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">You know how that first warm day feels after a long cold winter? That sweet joy is KING - a trio of beautiful electro-soul queens from Los Angeles who've come to save us from ugly music. "Hey" is smooth and sticky like honey - no artificial sweetness here. These ladies have, somehow, figured out how to deliver the best elements of classic soul without that "retro" feeling that sometimes feels a little empty. I'm not sure if this is the next step in neo-soul, or a new genre of future soul - but either way, I cannot wait to see where they take this soul train next. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://2.gvt0.com/vi/SuG6fXf33_I/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/SuG6fXf33_I&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/SuG6fXf33_I&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b># 8 Canyons - "See Blind Through"</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In the mid-80s, something magical happened in Chicago, and House Music was born <i>and from this groove came the groove of all grooves</i>. This duo from Perth, Australia understands House Music - <i>it's a spiritual thing, a soul thing</i>, and "See Blind Through" is like a walk down House Lane. There is a definite flirting with Hercules and Love Affair's 2007 hit, "Blind" that makes the <i>past and future painfully clear</i>, but with all of it's nods to 25 years of House landmarks, "See Blind Through" is still fresh enough to become a landmark of its own. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b> </b><b><br />
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</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/MVgEaDemxjc?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b># 7 James Blake - "The Wilhelm Scream"</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">James Blake bubbled up late last year from the British underground with <i>the</i> sound of the future. He's hard to categorize - Post-Dubstep? Glitch-Blues? Experimental Broken-Beat? Whatever it is, James Blake's music will be looked back upon by future music geeks as a turning point. It will influence much of what is to come - in the way that Joy Division did in the late 70s. "The Wilhelm Scream" sums it up nicely and wraps us in a murky haunting rainy-day dream that comforts in a way that no music has since Depeche Mode's masterpiece, "Violator" in 1990. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/vZYbEL06lEU?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b># 6 Lykke Li - "I Follow Rivers"</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Oh Lykke Li. Thank you for reminding us all of who we were when the whole adventure was in front of us, when passion and the thrill of life defined every thought and action. "I Follow Rivers" with its could-only-be-from-Sweden quirkiness finds the exact meeting point of The Cardigans and The Knife - then adds a quick pinch of Stevie Nicks. It's the sort of song that's so full of life, it makes you want to get out there and change the world, or at least fall in love again. And, I suspect a lot of folks have fallen in love with Lykke. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><br />
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</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://2.gvt0.com/vi/b0Q_JwOqko4/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/b0Q_JwOqko4&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/b0Q_JwOqko4&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b># 5 Neon Indian - "Polish Girl"</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">There's been a lot of talk about Dubstep as the current musical rage, but I'm predicting hipster history will more remember 2011 as the year that Chillwave was accepted as the sub-genre of choice. The new New Wave has been marinating for a few years now with Chromeo, Cut Copy, and Holy Ghost, and this year Neon Indian from Denton, Texas and Toro Y Moi from Columbia, South Carolina brought Chillwave out of their suburban bedrooms to the forefront of indie music. With dreamy synths and bouncing melodies, it's the perfect escape from a mad, mad world. And, who doesn't need a danceable escape once in a while? </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/kRn2DAggPEE?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b># 4 Goapele - "Play"</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After so many years of watered-down, commercial-ready, soul-less R&B, I'd almost given up hope. With Goapele, there is hope again. Goapele Mohlabane, from Oakland, California, was blessed with a voice so rich and smooth and seductive - it just cuts straight to the core of the human experience. Add to that, a slinky, writhing, arrangement, and it's impossible not to feel like she's taken you to a higher plane. And <i>that</i> is what soul music is supposed to do. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><br />
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</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/0Gqh4e1S6j0?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b># 3 Toro Y Moi - "Still Sound"</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Still Sound" conjures Polaroid Insta-Matic memories of windows rolled down on country roads, basking in the sunshine and the crisp early autumn air. It's music for a generation that needs to learn how to not be so serious all the time. Toro Y Moi, aka Chaz Bundick, makes music that would work as the soundtrack to your earliest adult years - free and promising, without a care in the world - far away from the teenage angst that has ruled the music scene for so long. But, to be clear, the Toro Y Moi sound isn't artificial fluff. It's a smart and insightful road trip going who knows where for who cares how long. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><br />
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</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://0.gvt0.com/vi/HO1OV5B_JDw/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/HO1OV5B_JDw&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/HO1OV5B_JDw&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b># 2 Lana Del Rey - "Video Games"</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Lana Del Rey was born Elizabeth Grant in Lake Placid, New York, and in 2011, she became this century's Patsy Cline. Her voice is just extraordinary, with a rare smokiness that makes hair stand up. There's a mystery and an intimacy that's impossibly alluring - like a Tarantino movie about a rich girl gone astray. "Video Games" is a timeless hopeless honky-tonk love story for the digital age. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/rYEDA3JcQqw?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b># 1 Adele - "Rolling In The Deep"</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Anyone who knows me, at all, would never expect a # 1 pop chart smash to be mentioned anywhere near my top ten of the year. Well, sometimes, even I have to shelf the musical snobbery and accept that absolutely <i>everyone </i>loved the best song of the year. There just can't be one person out there who didn't put their whole being into singing that chorus with Adele, in private, at a long stoplight. She summons the ghosts of bluegrass, gospel, and soul, and belts that shit out - it's startling and beautiful. And the best song of the year, hands down. </span><br />
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<span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">There was a lot of great music this year, and a lot of honorable mentions...</span><br />
<span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">M83 - "Midnight City"</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Florence and the Machine - "Shake It Out"</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Foster The People - "Pumped Up Kicks"</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Hercules and Love Affair - "My House"</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Destroyer - "Kaputt"</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Atlas Sound - "Te Amo"</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Clams Casino - "I'm God"</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ursula 1000 - "Mondo Beyondo"</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Burial - "Street Halo"</span></div><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
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</div>Cyrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08793279039656646748noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10184379.post-85236711546690373022011-11-07T08:45:00.004-05:002011-11-08T17:33:29.725-05:00Occupying Wall Street: A Guide For The Rest Of Us<p><div style="text-align: justify;"><object height="270" width="360"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/PD-SV0TsdII?version=3&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/PD-SV0TsdII?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="360" height="270" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">Cody ChesnuTT - "Where Is All The Money Going?"</span></b></div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
On September 17th, the national conversation took a sharp left turn. That morning, the Tea Party's obsession with dismantling the social safety net, busting labor unions, destroying environmental regulations, and giving even more tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy had been the only media game in town for over two years. Pundits and editors talked endlessly about the power of the Tea Party movement, and gave right-wingers 24 hours a day of exposure. That morning, the rest of us, the vast majority of Americans, had no voice, no power, and many of us had lost all hope of promised change. <br />
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But on September 17th, the rest of us, the 99%, found out we do, indeed, still have a voice.</div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Now, less than 7 weeks later, over 900 Occupy protests have taken place, spreading all over the world into a truly global movement. Tensions and altercations with police and city leaders have intensified, the City of Oakland was shut down by a massive general strike, and the media can't get enough of it. Television's political pundits and radio's talk show hosts are arguing non-stop about the pros and cons of massive income equality. Suddenly, everyone knows that "too big to fail" multi-national corporations nearly always pay a lower income tax rate than the average middle class worker, and that many pay nothing to the system that supports them. And the biggest banks abruptly backed away from their promise to institute monthly debit card fees, when the newly empowered American middle class and working class moved their money into small local banks and credit unions in droves. America has become Occupied, and the Koch Brothers astroturfed Tea Party is over. </div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">A few "dumb hippies" camping in a park really did change the world. And, now it's time for the rest of us to do our part. At this point, most Americans now support the general sentiment of the Occupiers. Most Americans are tired of unchecked corporate money and influence in our government. Most Americans want a system that benefits those who play by the rules, not those who are above the rules. But, the fact is, that most of us aren't able, or willing, to sleep in a park, or get tear-gassed, or get arrested for civil disobedience. </div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">The time has come for the rest of us to Occupy the system. The time has come to be conscious of the power of our daily spending and financial habits, and speak out by altering the ways we speak with our money. The Wall Street barons depend on Americans' continued acquiescence in the funneling of wealth out of our communities, and into their offshore bank accounts. They depend on us to continue to buy cheap foreign made products in big box corporate stores that kill local economies. They depend on Black Friday shoppers, all year long. We need to stop feeding their system, and start supporting our communities and our nation. </div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Here are a few suggestions for how to Occupy the system, from the comfort of your own neighborhood...</div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">1. <b>Move Your Money!</b> - The "too big to fail" banks relied on the American public for their very survival in 2008 and accepted billions of dollars in taxpayer bailout. Then, they turned around and gave jaw-dropping bonuses to the very executives who crashed the American economy, outsourced departments and laid off American workers by the thousands, and then began an aggressively arrogant campaign to nickel and dime their customers into 6.2 billion dollars in quarterly profits. They thought we would recognize their power and just accept more fees. Occupy the mega-banks by moving your money to a small local bank or credit union. By moving your money from a Wall Street mega-bank to a local bank or credit union, you'll be making your voice heard in the only way that matters on Wall Street, and you'll be supporting a local institution that contributes more to your local economy. For a little guidance on moving your money, check out <a href="http://moveyourmoneyproject.org/" style="color: orange;">MoveYourMoneyProject.org</a>. </div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">2. <b>Shop Independent and Local!</b> - Every time you make the choice to shop at a local "mom and pop" store, you are contributing to your local economy. <a href="http://www.bigboxtoolkit.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16&Itemid=52" style="color: orange;">Studies have shown</a> that for every $100 spent at an independent business, $68 stays in the local economy. For every $100 spent at a local corporately-owned national chain store, only $43 stays. Chain stores <i>funnel</i> money out of local economies and into usually far-away corporate headquarters. Independent stores are owned and operated by your neighbors. And, communities that support independent stores and restaurants enjoy a unique diversity of options, as opposed to generic big box warehouses of cheap stuff "made in China," and bland chain restaurants serving homogenous processed garbage. </div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">3. <b>Avoid Online Shopping!</b> - There is no more direct way to funnel your dollars out of your community than "shopping" online. You might save a dollar, or two, by shopping through an online retailer, and the convenience is definitely tempting, but you're sending your money to a "store" that doesn't hire local workers, doesn't pay local taxes, doesn't support local charities, and doesn't contribute in any way to the prosperity of your community. <br />
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4. <b>Buy American!</b> - Right-wingers love to wave their (Made in China) American flags and call themselves "real" patriots, then get into their gas-guzzling SUVs and head directly to Wal-Mart to fill their shopping carts full of cheap junk made in sweatshops in China, Pakistan, and Myanmar. Wall Street's multi-national corporations have no loyalty to the United States. Their only loyalty is to their shareholders. Be a real patriot and buy American-made products. In doing so, you're supporting American jobs, American safety standards, American labor practices, and American environmental standards. It can be difficult to find the American-made version of what you're looking for, but it's worth trying. Here's a place to start..<span style="color: orange;">.</span><a href="http://www.howtobuyamerican.com/content/db/b-db-american-union-made.shtml" style="color: orange;">How Americans Can Buy American</a>. </div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">5. <b>Educate Yourself!</b> - There is an entire industry built on supplying a steady stream of misinformation to the American people. It's hard to sift through all the inaccuracies and outright lies, but ultimately, it is your responsibility to educate yourself as to what is going on and how we got to where we are as a nation. Do a little research and make sure you understand one of the main points of protest - the 2010 Supreme Court decision on <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122805666" style="color: orange;">Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission</a>, and definitely know the big money players behind the corruption of our system...<a href="http://sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity" style="color: orange;">The Koch Brothers</a> and <a href="http://sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=ALEC" style="color: orange;">ALEC</a> (<a href="http://sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=SourceWatch" style="color: orange;">SourceWatch.org</a>, <a href="http://www.factcheck.org/" style="color: orange;">Factcheck.org</a> and <a href="http://www.politifact.com/" style="color: orange;">Politifact.com</a> are great resources for checking the facts). <br />
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<b>The time has come. </b> </div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div>Cyrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08793279039656646748noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10184379.post-28506853493252000282011-01-17T09:59:00.002-05:002011-01-17T09:59:42.646-05:00Thank You.<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/8176/775/1600/190169/MLK.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/8176/775/320/533616/MLK.jpg" border="0" /></a>Cyrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08793279039656646748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10184379.post-67641909634447774762010-12-19T00:52:00.006-05:002010-12-30T09:41:00.525-05:00The 2010 Okapi Sampler<p><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Hello? Is this thing still on?</div><br />
<div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">After over five years of constructing this online scrapbook, back in March, I got a bit sidetracked. Nothing bad. Thankfully, quite the opposite. I just got really busy with new projects and a new life here in Atlanta. At the same time, American culture and politics have kept spiraling to new vulgar lows, and I've made a purposeful effort to back away from it all. I don't want to know how violently ignorant the masses are anymore. Not to say that I don't still check in with Rachel Maddow and Jon Stewart, but I have detached myself from a lot of it. </div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">So, that said, I think a the 2010 Okapi Sampler is a good way to check-in here at the Lair, if only for a quick hello. </div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://nibbledbyanokapi.blogspot.com/2007/12/2007-okapi-sampler.html" style="color: orange;">Back in 2007</a>, I imagined that "in a few years, we'll look back on 2007 as a resurrection of forward-thinking and sophisticated, but fun, music." Now, three years later, and heading into 2011, I stand by my prediction - with a little more context. 2010 was another good year for the underground that 2007 launched. Some of the most important tracks of this year, were created by artists who've been bubbling under for a few years now, but there's a notable feeling of tension between escapism and melancholy in most of the tracks that I've picked as the best of the year. This is an era of conflicting feelings and opposing dreams, and I think a lot of the best songs of the year address the times well.<br />
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So, here are the top tracks of 2010*<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;">1. <b><i>Helicopter</i> - Deerhunter</b> - This Atlanta band has received a lot of indie buzz, and deservedly so. While most young people are content with lyrics that never venture beyond the level of a foul-mounted sixth-grader, Deerhunter are constructing songs like this one that tear the thinking heart apart in their tragic gorgeousness. Helicopter is, from the liner notes, inspired by the true story of a Russian boy, Dima, who left his home at age 14 with a dream to become a fashion designer - only to end up being sexually expolited, raped, sold, and eventually he disappeared (by one account, thrown out of a helicopter over the remote northern Russian forests). Not an easy tale to hear, but an important work of art nonetheless.</div><br />
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2. <b><i>Tightrope</i> - Janelle Monae (featuring Big Boi)</b> - The ATL has a lot going on musically - just look at Deerhunter and Janelle Monae. What could they possibly have in common, besides a common hometown? Authenticity. Janelle Monae might be written off as a female James Brown impersonator - but you from the minute this track takes off that there is a rare sincerity in her voice, in her energy, and in her vision. I can't take my eyes off of her, and play after play, I still cannot get enough of the raw funk of this jam. <br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">3. <b><i>Everything is New</i> - Antony and the Johnsons</b> - Antony Hegarty can do nothing less than magical. His voice, his arrangements - everything about his work gives the listener a deeper understanding of hope and pain and love. And, often in twenty words or less.<br />
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4. <b><i>Stick to My Side</i> - Pantha du Prince (featuring Panda)</b> - House music has been a central inspiration in my life for more than twenty years now, so it's not lightly that I declare Pantha du Prince is my favorite house producer of recent years. No one has done a better job of stepping into, gathering, and sharing that space in the human condition where longing and joy and solitude and hope all co-exist. Vocals by Panda, from Animal Collective, just make this journey even more beautiful.<br />
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5. <b><i>Ready to Start</i> - Arcade Fire</b> - Normally, I steer away from rock critic darlings. I hated The Strokes and Vampire Weekend, and I don't get the ultra-fascination with Radiohead. But, Arcade Fire is just really fucking good. There's a sincere understanding of John Hughes' '80s, without a hint of artificial "retro-ness." These verses and lyrics will be held on to for dear life by this generation of outsiders, for many years to come. <br />
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6. <b><i>Any Which Way</i> - Scissor Sisters</b> - With the constant media attention on Don't Ask, Don't Tell, the same-sex marriage "controversy," and Log Cabin Republicans - the Scissor Sisters reminded us that the gays can still be, well, fun. I had the opportunity to catch them in concert in August, and man, what a show! Sure, this track is like a big musical rainbow flag, but sometimes it's good to embrace your inner rainbow.<br />
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7. <b><i>Limit to Your Love</i> - James Blake</b> - The power of the Blues has always resided in minimalistic brilliance. This track is Blues for a new era, with each aching minimal note placed precisely to create maximum impact. With hints of Matthew Dear, late '90s Moby, and possibly even Burial, I can't wait to hear more from this 22 year old.<br />
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8. <b><i>Since We Last Met</i> - NDF</b> - There's something about this track that takes me back to the basics of late '80s Adonis house. It's not particularly ground-breaking, but there's a realness that's irresistible. And, of course, I give it a 10 for danceability.<br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">9. <b><i>Little People</i> - Matthew Dear</b> - Back in 2007, Matthew Dear was one of the artists that got me excited about music again. This year, his <i>Black City</i> album kept it going. It's a little less accessible than some of Matthew's earlier works, but that just means it takes a little more exploration through his slightly twisted musical mind.<br />
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10. <b><i>One Life Stand </i>- Hot Chip</b> - A little '80s, a pinch of rave, and a healthy serving of right now, Hot Chip keeps producing catchy synth-pop anthems, and I just keep falling in love with each and every one of them. This title track, and much of their most recent album, seems a little more mature than previous forays, and I'm starting to get the feeling that they may be around for a little while.<br />
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There you have it - my completely biased, totally subjective, top 10 of the year. Other honorable mentions include <b>"Heartbeat" by Nneka</b>, <b>"Say My Name" by Holy Ghost!</b>, <b>"Reckless" by Azari & Ill</b>, <b>"The Light" by Forest Swords</b>, <b>"Telephone" by Lady Gaga and Beyonce</b>, <b>"Night Air" by Jamie Woon</b>, and <b>"Coma Cat" by Tensnake</b>. <br />
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</div>Cyrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08793279039656646748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10184379.post-83115178237764699532010-03-21T11:34:00.008-04:002010-03-21T11:51:15.355-04:00All That's Old Is New Again<div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0SsVtIjC0bbqWgUostoVS45itSorMO1JkH8Ps-ehDOuqSIrAlBuIPEUTG242obKOBfoEPcS9dWWqijfomvcbQq5tQTm5d13TNeixuWYnpQJjR_Pt_dsY8_rJZIVyft9J0CQdcvQ/s1600-h/T+Party.JPEG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0SsVtIjC0bbqWgUostoVS45itSorMO1JkH8Ps-ehDOuqSIrAlBuIPEUTG242obKOBfoEPcS9dWWqijfomvcbQq5tQTm5d13TNeixuWYnpQJjR_Pt_dsY8_rJZIVyft9J0CQdcvQ/s400/T+Party.JPEG" vt="true" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We're almost to the political finish line. It looks like we will, after a hundred years of debate, finally, take a step towards real health care reform. It's been a spectacularly ugly journey over the past year, but we're almost there. Now, of course, it's not the reform that I was hoping for...but it's a step in the right direction. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And, because we are so close, the far-right has become so desperate that they're now completely incapable of hiding the true heart and soul of their "movement." Yesterday, while Democrats were scambling for votes to ensure that Americans have more access to affordable health care, the Tea Baggers gathered by the tens outside the Capitol to show their fury. They spent the early part of the day chanting "Kill the Bill" and "Stop the Spending!" But, as the day wore on, the hate in their hearts became impossible to hide. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">They carried signs with slogans reading "Vote No, I Don't Want to be a Government Slave," and signs with two black hands, that conveyed "Keep Your Black Hands Off My Health Care!" As Rep. Andre Carson and Rep. John Lewis, two African-American Congressmen, walked past the crowd and into the Capitol, the crowd's chant turned to "Nigger! Nigger! Nigger!" A protestor actually spit on Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (who is also African-American) as he walked towards the Capitol building. Yes, all that's old is new again. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">At one point, the crowd stormed the Longworth office building, looking for targets to unleash their righteous anger. At one point, Rep. Barney Frank, who is openly gay, rounded the corner and was met by a protestor who yelled, "Barney, you faggot!" The crowd laughed boisterously. All that's old is new again. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial;">At an anti-reform protest just a few days earlier, "patriotic" Tea Baggers showed their undying love for America by verbally abusing an old man with Parkinson's. It's hard to watch, like footage of the early Civil Rights movement was hard to watch for fair-minded, good-hearted people. But, unfortunately, all that's old is new again. </span></div><br />
<object height="308" width="420"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/6ik4f1dRbP8&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6ik4f1dRbP8&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="420" height="308"></embed></object>Cyrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08793279039656646748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10184379.post-18852319913501534442010-03-03T09:38:00.002-05:002010-03-03T20:43:46.173-05:00Global Peace Index<div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">The Institute for Economics and Peace has released the <a href="http://www.visionofhumanity.org/gpi/about-gpi/overview.php" style="color: orange;">2009 Global Peach Index</a>, which ranks nations in terms of peace and national harmony based on internal and external conflict and the presence of, or lack of, structures and institutions that help create and maintain peace. According to the 2009 overview...</div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">"<span style="color: lime;">The index is composed of 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators from respected sources, which combine internal and external factors ranging from a nation’s level of military expenditure to its relations with neighbouring countries and the level of respect for human rights. These indicators were selected by an international panel of experts including academics and leaders of peace institutions</span>." </div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">If only we, the people, cared about winning this competition as badly as we care about "our team" winning the Super Bowl each year.</div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzn_P-0Ehuu76nw94IhJamLtjaATdiUIFna8CTd7FK2IxD3Q-lVpnsFoYwtgLUwG4IYukAjjWGuO1QEBxOZzNivvvyOTe5Ec5fIBZiag6E1lhZ8VdX5tbPcAFSGup0U6JzprPxbQ/s1600-h/GPI-Map-2009-640x400.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzn_P-0Ehuu76nw94IhJamLtjaATdiUIFna8CTd7FK2IxD3Q-lVpnsFoYwtgLUwG4IYukAjjWGuO1QEBxOZzNivvvyOTe5Ec5fIBZiag6E1lhZ8VdX5tbPcAFSGup0U6JzprPxbQ/s400/GPI-Map-2009-640x400.gif" width="400" /></a></div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div>Cyrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08793279039656646748noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10184379.post-32167402025382385982010-02-25T15:37:00.000-05:002010-02-25T15:37:26.520-05:00Score One For The Planet<div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">The Hummer was created under contract for the U.S. Military, as vehicle of war. During the 90s, the Hummer became available for the gas-guzzling, atmosphere wrecking, road-hogging pleasure of all overpaid, undereducated, insecure, civilian dumbfucks across the nation. The combined effect of displaying one's socio-economic status while simultaneously displaying a complete disregard for the environment made the Hummer a hot seller - until a disproportionately large number of Hummer owners lost all of their money in the real estate collapse. </div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Today, it was announced that the Hummer brand has finally gone out of business. Score one for the planet. And score one for people who aren't jerks. </div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrKaveEsjp9WUK36uH7r6Me9tdaIr0_bmELcWdHh66YLav8tQZ6amM_5h7ijar4jr9rdupYXuVFCDWVnnTMV2vI_ZFX3XAm1m5al0sORhw6eYnFwyKuMTd-WcV75blsv3ih5pdhg/s1600-h/Hummer-H37.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrKaveEsjp9WUK36uH7r6Me9tdaIr0_bmELcWdHh66YLav8tQZ6amM_5h7ijar4jr9rdupYXuVFCDWVnnTMV2vI_ZFX3XAm1m5al0sORhw6eYnFwyKuMTd-WcV75blsv3ih5pdhg/s400/Hummer-H37.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div>Cyrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08793279039656646748noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10184379.post-81505595677820327502010-02-13T22:20:00.000-05:002010-02-13T22:20:42.838-05:00Welcome to Hotlanta, Y'all!<span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This was definitely not in the brochure...but no complaints. It was a stunningly beautiful morning. </span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk4awiocrT6T2mtaE-8MhDyUZTwRSzgOJGNPvfJNGGkfgCQ1IPfFPinwDmznLTzuxu-su3flIpx9Sg161QUsArS8308-qpSn8rbFYnK_95Cev24t2xmASdXgbmXrWK_LM_d7aQRQ/s1600-h/IMG_8722.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk4awiocrT6T2mtaE-8MhDyUZTwRSzgOJGNPvfJNGGkfgCQ1IPfFPinwDmznLTzuxu-su3flIpx9Sg161QUsArS8308-qpSn8rbFYnK_95Cev24t2xmASdXgbmXrWK_LM_d7aQRQ/s400/IMG_8722.JPG" width="400" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhazYZgsylOOEwfLmKihuMgxHDjmK0KyHGJnI0spFAFAVDB74VFfM4uj4VvXIGhs4G_ZS0WvJI3cKil-LBhf9ZILPL2FRcP5zDsNZ-KdmK2b4Ed7RS2T9xZmjFHrKJ4LnZaVs3FJA/s1600-h/IMG_8723.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhazYZgsylOOEwfLmKihuMgxHDjmK0KyHGJnI0spFAFAVDB74VFfM4uj4VvXIGhs4G_ZS0WvJI3cKil-LBhf9ZILPL2FRcP5zDsNZ-KdmK2b4Ed7RS2T9xZmjFHrKJ4LnZaVs3FJA/s400/IMG_8723.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoo84FjW7uliD_qO0oGEUWHj6UqJ5HWYsjXeYHncFqZzrI1exNFiWpAK8AKb-v0tBdxIQ8q3yGL29K8OTOHjfwtQS7wgeM7kMIqJwCi9SqgITBPkEuHvlYtwb9h9FH_I-Xm6wutQ/s1600-h/IMG_8720.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a> </div>Cyrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08793279039656646748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10184379.post-3095790608788272442010-01-27T10:21:00.001-05:002010-02-03T17:57:45.057-05:00How's That Worked Out For You?<span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">For those that haven't heard it before, this is what a Progressive Democrat sounds like....</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Congressman Alan Grayson, from Florida's 8th District in Orlando, is one of the very few in Washington who actually has the guts to say what so many of us are thinking. He's in a tight race for his seat in November, and can use our support. Please consider volunteering, or contributing to his campaign at <a href="http://www.graysonforcongress.com/"><span style="color: orange;">Alan Grayson for Congress</span></a>.</span> </div>Cyrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08793279039656646748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10184379.post-73419466073576909942010-01-14T22:28:00.001-05:002010-01-14T23:10:50.416-05:00Compassionate Conservatism in Action<div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">The images of the massive devastation and loss of life from the earthquake in Haiti are simply heartbreaking. I cannot imagine the fear and trauma and sadness that is flowing through the streets between the rubble. How will the people of Haiti recover from this? <br />
</div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">I lived in Miami for 16 years. I worked with many Haitian people, and lived not far from the neighborhood of Little Haiti. From my Haitian friends, I had the privilege of learning a little about Haitian culture - its stories and traditions. I learned to speak and understand very basic Haitian Kreyol, and I came to understand how so many Haitians center their lives around their faith in God. My Tony took part in a <a href="http://nibbledbyanokapi.blogspot.com/2007/04/starving-for-justice.html"><span style="color: orange;">hunger strike</span> </a>to bring attention to the detention of Haitian refugees.<br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Many Haitians hold very tightly to their faith in God, through the Catholic Church and traditional Vodou practices which survived the Middle Passage from Africa. Because I know how religious so many Haitians are, one of the deepest parts of the sadness that I feel is knowing that so many of them must think that God hates them. Year after year, the tiny nation is ravaged by hurricanes and tropical storms. Haiti, once one of the richest countries in the world, was stripped of its valuable resources by the colonial powers, and then stripped of its trees by desperate poverty. And now, one of the most powerful earthquakes of the past century hit 10 miles from the capitol. For people of faith, it really must feel that they have been forsaken by their Creator.<br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">And now, before they've even had time to start digging through the rubble...these poorest of the poor...are being attacked by some of America's most vile right wing leaders. The 700 Club's CEO and main profiteering prophet, Pat Robertson, had the fucking nerve to actually blame the Haitian people for the tragedy of this natural disaster. <br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Good ole' boy Pat said, on air, that the earthquake might actually be a "blessing in disguise." He then went on to blame the earthquake on a "pact with the Devil" that he says was made by the slave rebels who fought Napoleon and won freedom for the islands slave inhabitants. <br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Not long after the Christian Broadcasting Network aired Pat's digusting comments, Rush Limbugh was on the airwaves using this "opportunity" to attack President Obama for pledging immediate action and aid from the United States. In the minds of Rush and his followers, we've already given too much money to <i>those</i> people.<br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So, while the poorest people on the planet dig through collapsed buildings in search of their babies, and wander the streets dazed by trauma and looking for water, these obscenely rich, arrogant, soulless motherfucking merchants of the ignorance of the American right wing sit on their pampered asses surrounded by wealth and privilege and luxury - and they still can't help but to take shots at the world's most vulnerable people and those who want to help them. This is the new American right wing. Fucking worthless creatures. <br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Please donate to the Red Cross, Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders, or UNICEF.<br />
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And, please call or write to your cable company and ask them to drop the Christian Broadcasting Network which is just a front for Pat Robertson's hateful corporate empire (just so you know, Comcast is apparently giving a "small courtesy credit" on the bills of people who have written in to complain).<br />
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</div>Cyrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08793279039656646748noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10184379.post-55187829223594532952010-01-12T16:30:00.002-05:002010-01-12T16:30:49.368-05:00Atlanta Chronicled<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I haven't had much time to hang around the Lair lately, as I've been busy exploring and photographing my new city over at <a href="http://www.atlantachronicled.blogspot.com/" style="color: orange;">Atlanta Chronicled</a>. Go ahead...take a look. You know you want to.</span><br />
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</div>Cyrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08793279039656646748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10184379.post-7638133703462072502009-12-31T23:01:00.003-05:002010-01-13T10:02:28.445-05:00Welcome 2010!<div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">2010. It just <i>looks</i> futuristic. Just a few years ago (or what seems just a few years ago, but was actually 15 years ago), 2010 seemed so far away. And, now here we are - really entering the future. <br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">For me, personally, this was an amazing decade of growth and love and accomplishment. I came awfully close to becoming the person I always wanted to be, and that's a great feeling. <br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Ten years ago today, I was loving my life in South Beach, working at the Front Porch Cafe on Ocean Drive, and just hanging out a lot with Jason and Laura, and Shawn, Murphy, Phoenix and Jody. Stimpy had just found his way back to South Beach, Olga and Brandie were new friends, and I hadn't yet met a lot of people who have become such central characters in my story - Rodrigo, Pablo, Brian, Andrea - and, of course, Tony. A decade ago, I had not yet met my biological mother, and my adoptive father had just died. I had, still fairly recently, gotten my life on track after a few lost and dark years of meth addiction, and was opening my life up to the possibilities of the Universe at Miami-Dade Community College. I had no idea that I was capable of finishing a few years later with a Master's Degree thesis, and I had no idea I had the strength to become who I wanted to be. <br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Now, at the end of the decade, I'm in the fifth year of sharing my journey with <a href="http://cyruslovestony.blogspot.com/" style="color: orange;">Tony</a>, my beautiful and silly and smarter-than-average Prince Charming. We're living in Atlanta, I'm enjoying my work as an account manager, and hanging out a lot with Stimpy and Jody, Jamie and Ashley, Ryan, Alicia and Stacey. We just bought an awesome, Brady Bunch-esque house with a forest for a back yard, and we're adjusting to life in the inner 'burbs. I'm now closer to my adoptive family than I ever thought possible, and I've been able to sustain a lot of decades-old friendships. The 00s were unbelievably good to me. <br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Of course, historically speaking, we all know that this decade will go down as one of the worst in the history of this nation. Starting with the election meltdown in Florida, through September 11th, Afghanistan, Anthrax, Iraq, Guantanamo, Donald Rumsfeld, Britney's meltdown, Abu Ghraib, the rise of "reality" tv, Fox News, the 2004 Tsunami, melting polar ice caps, mass extinctions, Hurricane Katrina, the real estate bubble, the real estate collapse, Twittering, Bernie Madoff, auto-tuning, the Great Recession, and Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin and their Teabaggers - it's been a decade of war, disaster, fear, anger, ignorance, hate and bad, bad pop music. <br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">But, I am hopeful that 2010 will be the start of a much better era. There have been a lot of seeds planted this year that just might bloom in the new decade. I definitely want to avoid stepping into the shoes of those Hollywood "psychic" New Year's Eve prognosticators - so I won't make any "2010 predictions." But, I do think that much of the fear, anger, and ignorance crowd has eaten itself, and despite some missteps and massive criticism from every corner of the political spectrum, President Obama has moved our nation more than a few big steps in the right direction. <br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">And, possibly more importantly, Lady Gaga has single-handedly revived the idea of a creative, interesting, thoughtful, cutting edge pop star. And, that definitely bodes well for the future that's now here.<br />
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</div>Cyrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08793279039656646748noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10184379.post-78172670942146082862009-11-27T15:10:00.007-05:002009-11-28T09:55:32.060-05:00The Reason For The Season<div align="justify"><span style="color: #ff6600; font-family: arial;">'Tis the season for re-posting my annual updated anti-Black Friday post.....</span><br />
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<div align="justify"><span style="color: #ff6600; font-family: arial;">Malls across the country began decking the halls 2 months ago, and had Santa's train installed just as the last back to school sales were ending. I know it's cliche at this point to feel nostalgic for the days when the holy season of giving gently revealed itself shortly after Thanksgiving. Today, a 5am scuffle in the line outside of Best Buy on Black Friday merely marks the halfway point in the season of stress and artifice. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAb98mNX60uExlkxcX3lBcyCyVeT5xsVgDl0F7XeAIoAG5PXAGiB61fS6DDZrRioCMHALLo7tPcwUOUhNF6u5REOhhspRG4QE4Pn36t8sF_vPtchNsyOrcnS-LPvsfkONQBM02dw/s1600-h/xmastree1.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273702026867692658" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAb98mNX60uExlkxcX3lBcyCyVeT5xsVgDl0F7XeAIoAG5PXAGiB61fS6DDZrRioCMHALLo7tPcwUOUhNF6u5REOhhspRG4QE4Pn36t8sF_vPtchNsyOrcnS-LPvsfkONQBM02dw/s400/xmastree1.jpg" style="display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 267px;" /> </a><br />
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<span style="color: #ff6600; font-family: arial;">Again, this year, I'm committing to honoring the reason for the season - </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">the winter solstice </span></a><span style="color: #ff6600; font-family: arial;">- and celebrating this beautiful time of year by spending quality time with the people that I love, and sharing meaningful socially-conscious gifts instead of spending time fighting the crowds, so I can check people off my list with cheap plastic crap from Walmart and <s>iPod</s> iPhone accessories.</span><br />
<br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="color: #ff6600; font-family: arial;">Of course, this year, there will most likely be less in the way of shopping hordes, thanks to the collapse of the trickle-down economy, and that only means that every dollar you spend will have more power to bring about a better world. This season, each holiday gift that you purchase, <i>will</i> have an impact. Amidst all of the news of frozen credit and layoffs and golden parachutes, is the opportunity to help build our communities, bring about more peace, and protect the world around us, just by putting a little thought and a little heart into where we place our dollar power. </span><br />
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</div><div align="justify"><span style="color: #ff6600; font-family: arial;">So, for the like minded, here are a few ideas...</span><br />
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</div><div align="justify"><span style="color: #ff6600; font-family: Arial;"><b>ENVIRONMENT</b></span><br />
</div><a href="http://www.worldwildlife.org/involved/join.cfm"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: Arial;">World Wildlife Fund</span><span style="color: #33ccff;"></span></a><br />
<a href="https://usa.greenpeace.org/donate/"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">Greenpeace</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.abundantearth.com/?AID=1171963&PID=955653&SID=care2shop"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">Abundant Earth</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.care2.com/shopping/shopping_categories.html#green"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">Care2: Shop and Help the Planet</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.defenders.org/"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">Defenders of Wildlife</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.sierraclub.org/"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">The Sierra Club</span></a><br />
<a href="http://nature.org/"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">The Nature Conservancy</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www263.pair.com/ehouseco/beta_stuff/current-beta/ehouse_splash_index.html"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">E-House Eco-Friendly Gifts</span></a><br />
<a href="http://commerce.janegoodall.org/store/customer/home.php?cat=3"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">The Jane Goodall Institute Store</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.zappos.com/ecofriendly.htm"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">Zappos Eco-Friendly and Vegetarian Shoes</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.shopequita.com/"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">Equita Essentials for Ethical Living</span></a><br />
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<span style="color: #ff6600; font-family: arial;"><b>GAY COMMUNITY AND CULTURE</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 0pt;"></span><a href="http://www.thetaskforce.org/"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force</span></a><br />
<a href="http://hrccornerstore.myimagefirst.com/store/dept.asp?id=268&mscssid=N2RH3D323CB68HJ4QUJX2U5K9GFB9AU2"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">The Human Rights Campaign Fund - Designer Tees</span></a><br />
<a href="https://www.soulforce.org/store"><span style="color: #33ccff;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span style="font-size: 0pt;"></span></b>Soulforce</span></span> </a><br />
<a href="http://www.unitedchurchpress.com/class_smy.taf?search_id=486&site_uid1=11&hallway_uid1=350&search_id=&catalog_uid1=&link_type_uid1=&person_id=&u_currency_id=0&_UserReference=9D797A5524AE726441B2ACE0"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">The United Church of Christ</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.glccsf.org/"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;"></span></a><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;"><a href="http://www.atlantapride.org/donate/" style="color: cyan;">Atlanta Pride</a></span><br />
<a href="http://www.savedade.org/"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">SAVE Dade</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.persadcenter.org/"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">Persad Center</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.aliforneycenter.org/"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">The Ali Forney Center</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.immigrationequality.org/"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">Immigration Equality</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.outspokenclothing.com/gaymarriagetshirtsg.html"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">Outspoken Clothing</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.mglff.com/"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.margaretcho.com/shop/shop.htm"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">Margaret Cho Shop</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.kathygriffinonline.com/"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">Kathy Griffin</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.ellenshop.com/"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">Ellen Shop</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.righteousbabe.com/store/newitems.asp"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">Ani DiFranco</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.arigold.com/store"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">Ari Gold</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.outwritebooks.com/NASApp/store/IndexJsp"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">Outwrite Books</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.tlavideo.com/home/2-0_gay-and-lesbian-dvd.html?sn=1"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">TLA Video</span></a><br />
<a href="http://shop.logoonline.com/"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">Logo Television Shop</span></a><br />
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<span style="color: #ff6600; font-family: arial;"><b>ANTI-DRUG WAR</b></span><br />
<a href="http://www.journeyforjustice.org/campaigns/supplies.html"><span style="color: #33ccff;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 0pt;"></span>The November Coalition</span></span></a><br />
<a href="http://cognitiveliberty.org/donate.html"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">The Center For Cognitive Liberty and Ethics</span></a><br />
<a href="https://secure3.ctsg.com/dpa/donation/index.asp?Item=18&MS=donhtn"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">The Drug Policy Alliance</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.maps.org/"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=3456#gear"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">NORML Holiday Gifts</span></a><br />
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<span style="color: #ff6600; font-family: arial;"><b>PROGRESSIVE AMERICAN VALUES</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 0pt;"></span><a href="http://action.aclu.org/site/PageServer?pagename=FJ_donationhome"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">ACLU</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.naacp.org/get-involved/index.htm"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">The NAACP</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.cafepress.com/bettybowers/627012"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">Betty Bowers Gifts</span></a><br />
<a href="https://www.utne.com/subscribe/subscribe.aspx?promocode=EUTDN8ZE"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">UTNE Magazine</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.syracuseculturalworkers.com/"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">Syracuse Cultural Workers Gifts</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.americanhumanist.org/"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">American Humanist Association</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.unityonthebay.org/about.html"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">Unity on the Bay</span></a><br />
<a href="http://sciwear.com/default.cfm?XID=2&TID=11"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">Darwin Fish Stocking Stuffers</span></a><br />
<a href="http://shop.npr.org/"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">National Public Radio Shop</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.quaker.org/"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">The Quakers</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.amnestyusa.org/store/index.html"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">Amnesty International Gift Shop</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">People for the American Way</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.motherjones.com/index.html"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">Mother Jones</span></a><br />
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<b><span style="color: #ff6600; font-family: arial;">HIV/AIDS/Cancer</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: 0pt;"></span><a href="http://www.amfar.org/cgi-bin/iowa/support"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">AMFAR</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.patf.org/support.asp"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.aidsquilt.org/"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">AIDS Memorial Quilt</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.ansafrica.org/"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">Artists for a New South Africa</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.palsatlanta.org/"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">Pets are Loving Support Atlanta</span></a><br />
<a href="http://ww3.komen.org/PromiseShop/"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">Susan G. Komen Promise Shop</span></a><br />
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<span style="color: #ff6600; font-family: arial;"><b>ANIMALS</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 0pt;"></span><a href="http://www.hsus.org/"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">The Humane Society</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.petamall.com/"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">PETA Shopping Mall</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.savethemanatee.org/adoptpag.htm"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">Adopt a Manatee</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.audubon.org/"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">National Audubon Society</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.orangutan.org/"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">The Orangutan Foundation</span></a><br />
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<span style="color: #ff6600; font-family: arial;"><b>ART</b></span><br />
<b><span style="color: #ff6600; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 0pt;"></span></span></b><a href="http://www.fenris.xbuild.com/"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">Kenneth Treacy</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.ericchismar.com/"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">Eric Chismar Photography</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.mattress.org/index.cfm?event=Support"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">The Mattress Factory</span></a><br />
<span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;"><a href="http://www.high.org/" style="color: cyan;">The High Museum of Art </a></span><br />
<a href="http://www.warholstore.com/"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">The Warhol Museum</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.clydebutcher.com/clyde-butcher-gifts.cfm"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">Clyde Butcher Photography</span></a><br />
<span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;"><a href="http://www.coreybarksdale.com/" style="color: cyan;">Corey Barksdale</a></span><br />
<span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;"><a href="http://www.artbycecile.com/index.html"><span style="color: cyan;">Cecile Broz</span> </a> </span><br />
<a href="http://www.carnegieartstore.com/"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">Carnegie Museum of Art</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.salvadordalimuseum.org/store/home.php"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">Salvador Dali Museum</span></a><br />
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<span style="color: #ff6600; font-family: arial;"><b>HOLIDAY CARDS AND ECO-DECORATING</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 0pt;"></span><a href="http://www.cafepress.com/bettybowers/880338"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">Betty Bowers</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.eco-artware.com/eco-news/green-holiday.shtml"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">Eco-Decorating</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.syracuseculturalworkers.com/taxonomy/term/62/holiday_cards"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">Tools for Change Holiday Cards</span></a><br />
<a href="http://bloomin.com/"><span style="color: #33ccff; font-family: arial;">Recycled Cards That Grow</span></a><br />
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<span style="color: #ff6600; font-family: arial;">Have a Peaceful, Stress-Free and Meaningful Holiday!</span><br />
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<b><span style="color: #ff6600;"></span></b>Cyrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08793279039656646748noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10184379.post-91920188167974769832009-11-13T20:38:00.007-05:002009-11-14T22:35:21.399-05:00The Left Side Of History<div style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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Every day, all day long, the media presents us with "political discussions", where one discusser defends the liberal point of view and one pushes the conservative perspective. As pundit show ratings soar, and newspapers close up shop, the conservative versus liberal political cage matches are aired 24 hours a day, and applied to absolutely every topic imaginable. As long as we have a conservative and a liberal fighting about something - we have a show. And, of course, to fit the profitable format - every topic, no matter what, must have both points of view. In a discussion of Newton's Theory of Gravity, we would near certainly be presented with a liberal "in favor" of gravity - and a traditional conservative arguing against the controversial theory citing research by Focus on the Family that debunks everything Sir Newton ever said. <br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And this liberal versus conservative "political discussion" format will always benefit the conservatives. Of couse, there are a few success stories on the liberal side of this dangerous political battle - Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, and to a degree, Chris Matthews. </span><br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But, the underlying problem is the most basic nature of liberal and conservative minds. The very basis of liberalism is academic discussion and investigating different points of view. Liberals, by their very nature, want to hear and accommodate others' points of view. Conservatives, on the other hand, have no interest in hearing any point of view that differs from tradition. This leaves liberals holding the political discussion bag. While liberals seek to understand, conservatives seek to control. Liberals agree to have the discussion about whether the gravity is real, or not, because it's only fair to listen to others' point of views. And the liberal guest will point out centuries of scientific research that has supported Newton's ideas, and the conservative will argue that Newton was against God, and that if we teach the Laws of Physics in schools, it will make the children homosexual socialist abortionists. And, both viewpoints will be treated as equally valid by the show's host**, and too many Americans will go to sleep that night thinking that these are just two reasonable, competing points of view. </span><br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I bring this up after a discussion with my friend, Jason. We were talking about health care and how absurd it is that conservatives have been able to control the debate so well. How is it that this summer's town hall meetings were filled with people fired up against government run healthcare - while demanding that Obama and his liberal army not touch Medicare? And, how did this America-hating, secessionist, secessionist, anti-government movement come to be and where was it when Bush was running up the biggest deficit in history on two wars and tax cuts for the richest one percent? And, how did conservatives succeed in making liberal, and progressive, bad words - especially given the heritage of conservatism in this country?</span><br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Without writing a dissertation, I just want to look at the histories of the two main schools of American political thought. It's probably necessary to start with some definitions...</span><br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1. Conservative - tending, or disposed, to maintain existing views, conditions, or institutions; to limit change; cautious, moderate, tending to preserve the status quo. <br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2. Liberal - favorable to progress or reform; open-minded or tolerant; free of, or not bound by traditional or conventional ideas or values; progressive, broad-minded, tolerant.</span><br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It's ironic that the self-proclaimed conservatives of Glenn Beck's teabagger movement so heavily lean on symbols of the American Revolution, when so many of the ideas of the founding fathers were so radically liberal. The American Revolutionaries weren't tradition-loving Christianists. They were freedom-seeking secularists. They fought and died for radically forward-thinking ideas - ideas that laid the framework for future generations to work towards a society that recognized the equality of each of its citizens. </span><br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Of course, it's difficult to neatly fit any of the founders into today's well-defined political camps, but make no mistake - if Thomas Paine, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were alive today, they certainly wouldn't tune in to the corporate loyalists on Fox News, and they'd want nothing to do with Glenn Beck or Michael Savage. <br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The great American revolutionaries were products of the Enlightenment, and they wrote down their radically enlightened, radically liberal ideas as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America. And, not once does either of these brilliantly conceived documents mention a nation based on Judeo-Christian principles, no matter how many times Pat Robertson and Bill O'Reilly say otherwise. </span><br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Real homegrown American conservatism found its first home in the White House during Andrew Jackson's years as President. Andrew Jackson dismantled the federal banking system, which caused an economic collapse known as the Panic of 1837. He stood strongly for keeping Africans enslaved and terrorized, and he was well-known for his attempts to exterminate each and every Native American from the continent. "Old Hickory," as he was known, is now honored for his genocidal forays, by having his image engraved on the $20 bill, and I'm sure Ann Coulter has a painting of him somewhere in her lair. </span><br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">From the early days of the Union through the Civil War and through the 20th Century, conservatives fought to keep Africans enslaved, committed genocide on American's native inhabitants, fought against women's suffrage, stood strong against the New Deal policies, blacklisted movie actors "suspected" of Communism, fought to keep African-Americans separate and unequal, were disgusted by flower children, squandered nearly 60,000 young American lives in Viet Nam, made the Watergate Hotel infamous, sold weapons to terrorists in Central America, implemented "trickle-down" economics, and spent millions of our dollars in an creepily obsessive attempt to impeach Bill Clinton for lying about a blow-job. </span><br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">American Conservatism owes its history to the work of Andrew Jackson, generations of slave owners and Confederates, the Ku Klux Klan, Father Coughlin, Joe McCarthy, George C. Wallace and Bull Connor, Richard Nixon, Jerry Falwell, Ronald Reagan, Oliver North, Jesse Helms and David Duke. It is a history of violence, domination, oppression and genocide. </span><br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And, while conservatives were building their hateful history, liberals were gathering as abolitionists and unionists and suffragists, constructing the Underground Railroad and putting Americans to work through the New Deal policies. Liberals rebelled against the unnecessary Viet Nam War, crafted the Social Security and Medicare systems, and stood strong against police fire hoses and dogs in Alabama. And, without liberals there would be no consumer protections, labor rights or civil rights. </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Liberals are still educating against racism, homophobia, sexism, and xenophobia, and fighting to save our planet from the short-sightedness of conservatism. <br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Today, the conservative movement is completely centered around making sure that faggots and lezzies can't marry each other, and shooting dirty Mexicans in the desert. The conservative movement has always been about keeping very distinct social classes and using violence and intimidation as regulation, and the conservative voices of today - Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Michael Savage, Michelle Malkin, Ann Coulter and their ilk - are well-versed in using fear of the other to rally their tea-bagging troops. </span><br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So, just how is it, that conservatives have managed to nearly succeed in making "liberal" a bad word in American politics? I cannot for a minute understand why any thinking and loving person would want to associate themselves with the historic agenda of conservatism. </span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">On good days, I think it's just a matter of lack of education, media manipulation and fear-mongering. On other days, my heart breaks wondering if it's just that nearly half of us are just hateful, racist, homophobic, unkind bullies. </span><br />
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</div>Cyrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08793279039656646748noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10184379.post-32595404237922630552009-09-25T21:53:00.002-04:002009-09-25T22:04:39.670-04:00Acid House Flashback # 14<p align="center"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/7bQu83CLOeM&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/7bQu83CLOeM&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></p><p align="center"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#00cccc;"><strong>"Oochy Koochy" - Baby Ford - 1988</strong></span></p>Cyrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08793279039656646748noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10184379.post-9124461682537079752009-09-16T09:57:00.004-04:002009-09-16T10:05:41.859-04:00One Nation, Under-Educated....<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><object height="240" width="400"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/lUPMjC9mq5Y&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/lUPMjC9mq5Y&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="400" height="240"></embed></object></div>Cyrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08793279039656646748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10184379.post-34293062366830277212009-09-11T21:03:00.007-04:002009-09-12T00:03:07.897-04:00Matters Of Probability<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUnk3IkmB4KdiGcZ9olcoC8gmkrHMMQdJfvPYR-xVG1arncx4CaASpzpbNs3yTD9La6lE1bs780eMaGKuaJipET8MnugCAYTzTPSR4svDudKfoHOzg-zBu6qxxS1RXtiYYLjwLaA/s1600-h/coincidence1920_xthumb.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUnk3IkmB4KdiGcZ9olcoC8gmkrHMMQdJfvPYR-xVG1arncx4CaASpzpbNs3yTD9La6lE1bs780eMaGKuaJipET8MnugCAYTzTPSR4svDudKfoHOzg-zBu6qxxS1RXtiYYLjwLaA/s400/coincidence1920_xthumb.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5380423441711824498" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 204, 204); font-family: arial;">I'm not one who believes that there is an old man looking down on us from the sky and judging our every thought and action. I don't believe in magical trinkets, sacred sites, or holy scriptures. I'm definitely not one to pay for a palm reading or a tarot session.<br /><br />I do believe in scientific method, observation and hypothesis, and rigorous testing. I believe that altruism and biophilia are wonderful evolutionary gifts that should be revered more than holy wars and televangelism, and I believe that it's possible that life is, somehow, the Universe trying to understand itself.<br /><br />Now, having said that, I am also really intrigued by the idea of coincidence. I know that most "coincidences" are just matters of probability, but I do seem to have an unusually high incidence of these matters of probability. Possibly lots of us have unusually high incidences of coincidence, which, of course, would make coincidence not unusual at all. Still with me?<br /><br /><a style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_jung">Carl Jung</a>, one of the most brilliant thinkers of the early twentieth century, explored ideas of "<a style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_unconscious">collective unconscious</a>" and "<a style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronicity">synchronicity</a>." He posited that coincidences that are not causal in nature, are actually a sort of manifestation of an underlying framework of collective unconscious human experience and thought. I wonder a lot about this.<br /><br />Let me just share a few odd, but true, stories of coincidence in my fairly recent experience...<br /><br />* I've shared <a style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);" href="http://nibbledbyanokapi.blogspot.com/2005/07/nuts-and-bolts-of-it.html">my personal adoption story</a> here at the Lair. But there are a few really strange details that I haven't shared. Back in 2000, when I decided that I really wanted to know something about my biological parents, I began my search by using a name search website. I knew my biological parents' names, and I decided that it would be easier to find my father, because my mother's last name might well have changed due to marriage. I input my father's name, and the website generated 14 possible matches all with different addresses. I composed a letter, and sent a letter to each of the 14 addresses. A few days later, I received a call from a woman who told me that she had received my letter, because her father had the same name. She assured me that her father was not the man that I was looking for, but that, coincidentally, she was employed by the Children's and Family Services office in Pittsburgh, and that her job was to help adoptees find their birth parents. And she proceeded to help me find my biological father, who has the same name as hers. Let me just point out that the last name is Kress...not exactly Smith or Jones.<br /><br />* To add to that coincidence...that wonderful lady lives and works in Pittsburgh, which is the city that I grew up in - though I was living in Miami Beach at the time. My biological father lives in Washington State.<br /><br />* But the adoption story coincidences don't stop there. When my biological father was contacted, and informed that I wanted to speak with him, he refused to have any contact with me. I wrote to him, and never received a response. So, the agency then assigned someone to find my biological mother. A few months later, I received a call from the agency in Pittsburgh, letting me know that they had found her, and that she wanted to talk to me. We spoke, and I found out that she lived in St. Pete Beach, less than 5 hours from me in Miami Beach. And, she went on to tell me how she actually grew up in Miami Beach, in a house about a mile from where I was living. When I finally met her, she showed me pictures of me when I was 2 years old in Miami Beach...and I thought that I had never been to Miami Beach before I moved there when I was 23. It seems that she and my father were married, and living in Pittsburgh, when I was born. They took several extended trips, with me, to visit her parents in Miami Beach. When I was 2 years old, they got divorced and she moved back home, to Miami Beach, and left me with my father. He took me to a babysitter, and just never came back. So, I grew up in Pittsburgh, with an adoptive family - but I ended up moving to her hometown and was living there when I met her.<br /><br />* Last September, Tony and I had a fantastic time on a trip to Italy. We started off the journey with a few wonderful days in Rome. On our third day, I stopped at a very small internet shop on a small side street near our hotel, to check e-mails. There was just one other person in the shop, and I couldn't help but to notice how much he looked like a guy that I knew back in Miami. As he gathered his things, and walked towards the door, I couldn't help but to ask if he was possibly from Miami...and of course, he was. We talked for a bit, and wondered together what the chances were of running into someone that you know in another country, thousands of miles away, in a tiny internet shop, at 8 in the morning. Coincidentally, we ran into him again the next day int he train station.<br /><br />* So, back to Pittsburgh for the background of this story. I actually grew up in the south suburbs of Pittsburgh. Our high school had about 1,000 students, and my grade had less than 250. Not very big. In 1992, I moved to San Francisco. In 1994, I moved to Miami, and just this past April, I moved to Atlanta. Shortly after moving here, Tony and I started going to the <a style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);" href="http://www.uuca.org/">Unitarian-Universalist Church</a>, just to check it out, and possibly meet some like-minded folks. On our third visits, at the end of the service, I noticed a woman in a red shirt walking ahead. I turned to Tony, and said, "See that woman in the red shirt? I think I went to high school with her!" Of course, he looked at me like I was insane, but I darted off to get a closer look. I walked up beside her, and asked if her name was Laurel. Now, of couse, you know it was, and we fumbled around for the right words to say to address the weirdness of the situation. I think it needs to be pointed out that the Unitarian-Universalist Church here in Atlanta is not an 8,000 member mega-church. It's a small congregation, and there couldn't have been much more than 100 people there. It's also probably interesting to point out that she and her family live about 30 minutes north of the church, and Tony and I live about 20 minutes southeast. It's probably also interesting to point out that Laurel's husband is from Albany, New York and went to school in Syracuse....and Tony is from Syracuse, and went to school in Albany. AND...two weeks later, Tony and I ran in to Laurel at Piedmont Park. Did I mention that there are over five and a half MILLION people in the Atlanta Metro Region?<br /><br />I won't bore with more stories, but I do have these types of "coincidence" more often than seems possible. Of course, it could be that I just don't understand the probability of the simultaneous occurances, and I feel some need to place a deeper meaning on, what are essentially, non-meaningful events.<br /><br />Tell me...do you have similar stories of coincidence? How do you see synchroncities?<br /></div>Cyrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08793279039656646748noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10184379.post-62838363153913544082009-07-24T10:40:00.006-04:002009-07-24T10:55:03.640-04:00That's A Lot Of Oysters<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#00cccc;">As a follow up to my recent post about the American fight for healthcare, here's another important perspective from Bill Moyers. Thanks to Brandie and Olga for the video tip. <br /></div><p align="center"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/fbjjU95WZhE&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/fbjjU95WZhE&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></p><div align="justify"><br /></div></span>Cyrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08793279039656646748noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10184379.post-28916640214813710682009-07-23T14:11:00.011-04:002009-09-04T08:10:12.553-04:00So You Think You Can Make Me Cry?<div style="color: rgb(0, 204, 204); font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">This performance piece on <a style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);" href="http://www.fox.com/dance/"><span style="font-style: italic;">So You Think You Can Dance</span></a> made me fall apart. The choreography was inspired by, and portrays, a woman's fight against breast cancer, and it is one of the most beautiful works of art that I've ever had the privilege of viewing.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/OrILXIASpSM&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/OrILXIASpSM&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></div>Cyrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08793279039656646748noreply@blogger.com0