alternative cultures funhouseparty.com

Yeah.... Harlem streets stay flooded in white powder
Like those motherfuckers runnin' away from the Twin Towers
Gunshots rock the earth like a meteor shower
"Bowling for Columbine": fair, given the media power
Innocence devoured like a chicken spot snack box
Government cocaine cooked into ghetto crack rock
Corrupt cops, false testimony at your arraignment
Check to check, constant struggles to make the payments
Working your whole life, wondering where the day went
The subway stays pakced like a multi-cultural slave ship
It's rush hour, 2:30 to 8, non stoppin'
And people coming home after corporate sharecroppin'
And fuck flossin'--mothers are trying to feed children
But gentrification is kicking them out of their building
A generation of babies born without health care
Families homeless, thrown the fuck off of the welfare

It's like Cambodia, the killing fields uptown;
We live in distress and hang the flag upside down
The sound of conservative politicians on television
People in the hood are blind so they tell us to listen
They vote for us to go to war instantly
But none of their kids serve in the infantry
The odds are stacked against us like a casino
Think about it: most of the army is black and Latino
And if you can't acknowledge the reality of my words
You're just another stupid motherfucker out on the curb
Trying to escape from the ghetto with your ignorant ways
But you can't read history at an illiterate stage
And you can't raise a family on minimum wage--
Why the fuck d'you think most of us are locked in a cage?
I give niggaz the truth, cause their pride is indigent
You better off rich and guilty than poor and innocent
But I'm sick of feeling impotent watching the world burn
In the era of apocalypse waiting my turn
I'm a Harlem nigga that's concerned with the future
And if you're in my way it'd be an honor to shoot ya
Uproot ya with the evil that grows in my people
Making them deceitful, cannibalistic and lethal
But I see through the mentality implanted in us
And I educate my fam about who we should trust

http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSL103271720071210

Wait nearly over for Led Zeppelin reunion gig
By Mike Collett-White

LONDON (Reuters) - British rockers Led Zeppelin reunite on Monday to headline a tribute concert to the late Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun in what has been billed as one of the biggest gigs in years.

The three surviving members of the hugely successful 1970s group that created "Stairway to Heaven" and "Whole Lotta Love" have rarely performed together since splitting in 1980 after the death of drummer John Bonham following a drinking binge.

By their own admission, each reunion has been a flop, so anticipation is high that the 90-minute set at London's O2 Arena late on Monday will get somewhere close to the heyday when they were considered by many to be the world's biggest rock band.

Singer Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones will be joined by Bonham's son Jason on the drums for the one-off comeback, although there has been fevered speculation that the gig may be followed by a full-scale tour.

"Let's just do the O2 and we'll see what happens from there," 63-year-old Page told Reuters in a recent interview. "I haven't got a crystal ball here and nor have you."

Led Zeppelin sold an estimated 300 million albums and were legendary for their rock'n'roll excess, but their popularity is also attributed to the influence the music had on later acts.

When organizers announced the concert, also featuring the Who's Pete Townshend, Bill Wyman and the Rhythm Kings among others, the Web site selling tickets crashed as more than a million people rushed for about 20,000 seats.

One man from Scotland entered a charity auction last month and paid $170,000 for a pair of tickets to the show.

FANS DESCEND

Fans from around the world selected by lottery began arriving in London several days ago to collect their tickets.

"We turned up on Saturday, but we were told to come back the next day as we would still be at the front of the queue," said David Beesmer, 42, a businessman from New York who spent more than $7,000 on his ticket and trip.

"I didn't want to take any risks," he told the Daily Mail.

Net profits from the concert will go to the Ahmet Ertegun Education Fund which provides scholarships for gifted children.

The Turkish-born music promoter and record label founder died last year aged 83 after slipping backstage at a concert by the Rolling Stones and going into a coma.

As well as Led Zeppelin and the Stones, Ertegun and his Atlantic Records helped launched the careers of acts ranging from Ray Charles to Aretha Franklin.

He was born in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1923. His father, a lawyer, served as Turkish ambassador in Switzerland, France, England and the United States.

With older brother Nesuhi, he explored black neighborhoods in Washington and they amassed more than 20,000 78-rpm records.

Realizing he knew more about music than most label owners, he co-founded Atlantic in 1947 with blues expert Herb Abramson and a $10,000 loan from a Turkish dentist.

Its first smash hit was a 1948 rerecording by bluesman Stick McGhee of the novelty ditty "Drinking Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee."

(Editing by Paul Casciato)

Led Zeppelin Reunion Wows London, Keeps World Guessing on Tour
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=a6sXAi67skhY&refer=home#

By Mark Beech

Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Led Zeppelin played its first concert in 19 years, leaving a London audience of 20,000 people calling for more -- and the world guessing on whether the band will tour.

Last night's show, described as ``rock's biggest reunion'' by other stars at the O2 Arena, was hailed by fans as immaculately performed. The only disappointment was no announcement on whether it will be the prelude to a longer return.

It was billed as a not-to-be-repeated charity event, though the demand could persuade the group to join a lucrative reunion bandwagon that includes the Police, Eagles, Who and Spice Girls. ``Led Zep'' could make $3.2 million a night, Billboard estimates.

``This was unforgettable,'' said concertgoer Martin Slaney. ``It was a monumental event that I was lucky to win a ticket for. They played like they had never been apart and were note perfect. This has to go down as one of the greatest comeback concerts of all time,'' said Slaney, who works for GFT Global Markets Ltd.

The audience ovation began with the opening ``Good Times Bad Times'' as Robert Plant intoned the words: ``In the days of my youth/ I was told what it means to be a man/ Now I've reached that age/ I've tried to do all those things the best I can.'' Blistering accounts of ``Ramble On'' and ``Black Dog'' followed. Then Plant said good evening. This was just the start.

The audience went wild at the end of a show of 16 songs and would not let the band go. A storming take on ``Whole Lotta Love,'' one of Zeppelin's most famous songs, stirred up emotions after a driving set of pounding rock by founder members -- guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Plant and bassist John Paul Jones -- joined by Jason Bonham, son of their late drummer, John Bonham.

`Gig of the Century'

``We are seven years into the millennium,'' said fan Janie Oldfield, 25, from London, in an interview. ``For me, we've seen the gig of the century. It's easily the best concert I've ever seen.'' Oldfield's ticket was bought by her mother Sue, 51, who queued with her to get the pass needed to get in. ``You could sense rock history being written,'' said Oldfield, a fashion designer.

The show, in rehearsal for three weeks, included nearly all of the Zep classics. ``For Your Life'' was given its live debut. A 10-minute rendition of ``Kashmir,'' with a spectacular light show, had thousands of fans dancing to the infectious beat, including me.

The bearded Plant, 59, told the crowd that ``Dazed and Confused'' had to be on the set list and the band responded with a standout performance, equal to some of those at its 1970s peak, crowned with spaced-out feedback.

White-haired Page, 63, added a crazed guitar solo to ``Stairway to Heaven.'' It sounded even better than some of the live performances captured on albums such as ``How The West Was Won,'' ``The Song Remains The Same'' and various bootlegs.

`No Quarter'

``I was speechless,'' said another fan, Emmet Owens, 26, from Derry, Northern Ireland, who sat three rows from the front. ``I could not find any faults. `No Quarter' was amazing.''

The event will benefit the Ahmet Ertegun Education Fund, which provides students with annual scholarships to universities in the U.S., U.K. and Turkey. The late Ertegun, an industry leader for six decades, was the co-founder of Atlantic Records. He died in New York last December from a head injury suffered when he fell backstage at a Rolling Stones concert in October. He was 83.

Singer Paolo Nutini, 20, the last British act to be signed by Ertegun, said in an interview before the concert that Led Zeppelin was ``about to prove'' that it was the best band in the world again. Foreigner's Mick Jones, also arriving for the show, said that Zeppelin's reunion ``raised the bar'' for everybody else.

Wyman, Emerson

Zeppelin, which has sold more than 300 million albums, was the biggest name on the concert list which also featured performances by Nutini, Foreigner, Bill Wyman, Keith Emerson and Paul Rodgers.

Tickets originally cost 125 pounds ($254) and were available through a ballot at http://www.ahmettribute.com . The ballot had more than a million entries. The site had 25 million hits from those trying to register and crashed as 80,000 people a minute clicked on it.

Tickets were later offered on EBay for as much as $10,000 each for ``buy it now'' sales. Promoter Harvey Goldsmith tried to prevent reselling of tickets by insisting on strict identification checks. Fans had to present a photo ID, the credit card used to book the ticket and a confirmation code. Lucky winners, who were given a non-transferable bracelet, traveled from more than 50 countries, and some queued for six hours.

The most expensive tickets were 83,000 pounds for a pair, paid by Glasgow businessman Kenneth Donnell in a charity auction.

Bonham's daughter Zoe said in an interview as the concert got under way that her brother Jason was ``not at all nervous.'' It was the first time that she had heard Led Zeppelin perform live. (For the record, Bonham was strikingly good, and Page showed no sign of suffering from his finger injury that had delayed the concert from November.)

Atlantic Label

Led Zeppelin, formed in 1968, was named after an in-joke that the band's heavy sound would ``go down like a lead balloon.'' The quartet signed with Atlantic the same year.

By the early 1970s, ``Led Zep'' was describing itself as ``the biggest band in the world.'' The group pioneered heavy-metal music with songs such as ``Whole Lotta Love'' and ``Stairway to Heaven.''

Led Zeppelin broke up after Bonham died, aged 32, in 1980. Page and Plant have often performed and recorded together since then, though not under the group's name. Jones, who played keyboards as well as bass, joined reunions at 1985's Live Aid and a 40th anniversary concert for Atlantic in 1988, also with Jason Bonham on drums.

The show was watched by Noel Gallagher of Oasis, David Gilmour of Pink Floyd and Dave Grohl, frontman of Foo Fighters.

Critic Killer

Of the many hundreds of rock gigs I have seen over the years, this was one of the best. If I hadn't got a press pass, I would have paid whatever for the privilege (though 83,000 pounds might have taken some explaining to my other half).

``Since I've Been Loving You'' was the sort of track to kill those critics who say Led Zep can only do loud and insensitive. It was as tender and sweet as they come, with Page adding little guitar flourishes to each line.

The show was filmed, so we can pray that it will be released at some stage. Even better would be a world tour so everyone else can see how good a rock band can be. Let's hope.

(Mark Beech writes for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the writer on this story: Mark Beech in London at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Last Updated: December 10, 2007 23:16 EST

Good news is that depite one missing and two non-functional fingers, the 17 year old female drummer maimed by a thrown homemade bomb on July 4th in Dolores Park ( http://fullvaluereview.com/2007/07/22/roisin-isner-a-closer-look/ ) will be back on tour this month with the band Tinkture. see http://myspace.com/tinkture for dates. Oh, and it definitely was a bomb: police were led to an exploded steel CO2 cartridge at the scene. see http://youtube.com/watch?v=5zlX7JOOPE4

Also good news is that we found out who did it: piece of shit LA gangbanger, Hector Chicas aka "Scrappy", member of Santa Monica 13, a small group of lowlifes and the only gang left in Santa Monica.

Unbelievably bad news is that police have informed us that an arrest in the case is highly unlikely, even though it is officially a bombing investigation, even though they know who did it, even though there are reliable witnesses. Problem is the cops are in SF while the bomber is in LA and it's just too much trouble to properly investigate, so the SFPD brass pulled the plug on the investigation.

We learned of Scrappy's identity through an SF musician, Eric Shea, formerly of the band Parchman Farm. Eric does a weekly hotdog thing at the Casanova Lounge. Eric reposted an email about the incident on July 5th through myspace. A surfer friend of his in LA got back to him that day saying that some gangbangers he knows were on the beach in Malibu talking about it that day, july 5th. One of them, Hector Chicas, aka "Scrappy", told of how he was in Dolores Park the night before and was throwing bombs, how one came too close to some girls, how they headed back to LA that night to "get the fuck out of Dodge". Hector said, "I hope I didn't hurt her too bad." Witnesses claim that the assailant ran after the attack, only to come back soon after to set off more explosives and was seen laughing about the incident with his group of thugs. Witnesses describe a long-haired attacker while Scrappy's mugshots show him with a shaved head; Santa Monica PD confirm, however, that Scrappy had grown his hair long. SMPD also confirm that Scrappy lives with his mother in Malibu and is a complete asshole who gets drunk, does insane things and then fights the cops. Scrappy's myspace is http://myspace.com/bronzesuperman Apparently, criminals often have myspace pages under their real names filled with uplifting spiritual jargon to show their parole officers...they then have another page showing who they really are: scum.

Unfortunately, the surfer in question is unwilling to contact police and Eric Shea is unwilling to name him. Eric said that if he did name him, he would "never be able to surf those points again". His concern is his LA surfing priviledges! What a spineless, self-absorbed worm. Basically, Eric Shea is ensuring that Scrappy goes unpunished. Here is an email fron Eric to the drummer's father:

Chis, we can do two things now. 1.) I can alert my attorney Matt Gonzales about this and have Sergeant Carl Fabbri arrest you (months ago I filled out tons of paperwork about your harrassing me to help build the case should it come to this). 2.) I can succumb and give you the name that you keep harrassing me for, providing that you first take the libelous information down that you just posted up. I'd rather do the latter and keep everyone's holidays relatively happy. But that's up to you.

Can you believe it?? So far, Eric hasn't "succumbed". Perhaps the SF music community would like to tell Eric what they think of him: his phone number is 415.756.8448, email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , myspace http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=11670478

if you have any helpful info, please contact the drummer's father: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and please repost this far and wide.
thanks.

This tribe is set up for those who love music. If you like to Write music, sing music, or just plain out listen to music, and want to join up with others from all around the world who share the same interests as you, then this is the place to come.. Now this is only an alternative/hardcore/goth/punk/old&new rock/80s rock/EMO, music tribe.. People who are into the Backdoor boys, and Nstink, or any of those other gay boy band groups, please turn away now and save yourself from tribel descrimination. Thank you all, and i hope this tribe gets up and going fast!