Audio: Separate is Not Equal - Day of Decision 2009

Today the California Supreme Court acted in a cowardly manner in upholding Proposition 8 (the discriminatory legislation that denies same-sex couples equal marriage rights under the law). The kicker for me is that no where in the civil law that same-sex couples are fighting for does it mandate that religious groups be required to marry same-sex couples; only that they be able to legally marry. If your church doesn't support same-sex marriage, good for you. But why does your church support unequal treatment for all human beings under State law? Shame on you! /rant

I spent the past two days with organizers of the recent "Day of Decision" and "One Struggle, One Fight" events that culminated today. Here's a bit of audio from today's rally. It's the initial reaction from a large crowd at the steps of the San Francisco office of the Supreme Court. It then cuts to a couple (Sean Higgins and Robert Franco) who participated in the non-violent civil disobedience that over 100 people committed to as a protest...more to come!

CLICK TO LISTEN (c) Noah Chandler www.hellasolutions.com

Upcoming Audio Event: "Red Bull 45s"

This happening sounded interesting. If you're in the area, give it a go:

Red Bull 45s

Red Bull 45s - an event that takes a piece of record history and remixes in into an innovative evolution of the traditional DJ set. The unique event pays tribute to yesteryear by tasking four DJs with creating an interactive group performance using only the 7-inch 45 rpm records popular in the 1950s and 1960s. The event format places four DJs in four opposite corners of the venue, with the crowd in the middle. Each DJ spins for no more than four minutes on 45 rpm records, with each subsequent DJ attempting to match the last beat of the previous DJ - without the help of any beat-matching programs (instead each DJ has to go “digging” through his stack of 45 rpm records). The event’s goal is to revive the once revered 45 rpm record while tasking DJs to use all their imagination and expertise to create a seamless and continuous flow of music.

Thursday, 21 May, 2009
Starts at 06:00 PM

Venue:
California Academy of Sciences
55 Music Concourse Drive
Golden Gate Park
San Francisco, CA

[click HERE for more info]

Keep Listening!

Noah

IE8 Crashes Pro-Tools

If you run Pro-Tools on Windoze then listen up: DON'T upgrade to Internet Explorer 8 (a recent Windoze Update offered by MS). What happened to me and apparently many others on the ProToolsUsers forum is that after installing the update and you try and open the ProTools program, it won't open! Ugh! What a pain!

Anyway, I had to use a (free) third-party uninstaller to properly uninstall IE8 and once I did things are back to normal. I just wish it hadn't taken 8 1/2 hours to figure this out. Another reason why you should have a machine dedicated to only your media work and not connected to the Internet. Obviously the problem is being able to afford two machines.

Anyway, I hope this helps someone spend a lot less time figuring out what the heck is going on and instead working on their projects.

Does New Technology Equal the Demise of Radio?

I've been researching different ways of distributing audio content and came across an interesting article. In this piece the author is responding to "old school" radio people who are predicting the end times for radio as new technologies (in this piece cell phone radio) come about. Yes, cell phone radio! I've been playing with it for the past few days and there are some good services out there. The best in my opinion are those that don't require the user to download any software and don't use the data network (incurring data charges on the users end) but simply function like a phone call (which only consumes a users minutes). But the technology is a bit young and from my experience also a bit 'buggy'...but a cool idea!

Best Drinks...Ever!

The two best places to get drinks in the U.S. are The Violet Hour in Chicago and Tommy's Tequila Bar in San Francisco. There are likely others but for quality, taste, and honest drinks you'd be hard-pressed to find better.

The Violet Hour is run by true drink nerds with amazingly creative talents. On top of that the bartenders are not only capable but eager to take your likes and creating something on the spot. I have found very few places confident and creative enough to do such a thing. And for that they have my undying love and respect.

Tommy's is the simply the best for margaritas and ultra high quality sipping tequila. If you think Cuervo when tequila is mentioned you have got to make a trip to Tommy's. They have near one hundred 100% agave tequilas! Every margarita ("nectar of the G-d's" as they call it) is made to order with fresh squeezed lime and taste tested by the talented bartenders. Say hello to Julio, the owner, if you go!

Happy Saturday!

Unemployed and Hating It!

Yeah, I'm sure no one likes being unemployed but I am effing tired of it. Then the news that the California unemployment rate has now reached 11.2 percent comes over the wire. Business as usual I suppose...Democrats bicker with Republicans, Republicans bicker with Democrats...whose got the bigger di...oy vey.

Oh but have you checked out my new Ska station over on pandora.com? Getting better every day! :-)

Radio: Skadio!

Listen up ska-lovers, check out my ska "station" over on pandora.com.

TUNE IN:
www.pandora.com/?sc=sh86282757660564544

Audio: Imagine 2050 Podcast (March 2009)

My edition of this months Imagine 2050 podcast is now live. It covers some of the folks I met while working on the human rights hip-hop show last month in Tempe, Arizona.

Click HERE to listen.

Cheney: Don't blame Bush team for economic woes

BWAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!

[image not posted because too disgustingly ugly]


Get the article here.

U.S. Capitalism: Privatize Wealth. Socialize Risk. Export Work.

"What is going on?!" Yes, indeed! What the fuck is going on? Are we all so enamored with capitalist ideals that we just sit around accepting getting fucked by corporation after corporation, bank after bank? Stop fantasizing people. Nothing comes for free. You gotta work for wealth and our outsourcing of the "W" word (w-o-r-k) and the covetting of 24 hour consumption is not going support the longevity of this country (even world)!

Today we have more and more articles about capitalist insanity. Such as an article about Forbes magazine listing Mexico's most notorious drug lord in their top self-made billionaire lists. Ummm, is the "bottom line" the bottom line? Doesn't it matter that this guy is responsible for the deaths of thousands of people? What are people thinking?!

But there is hope...or rather a bit of sanity out in the news world. Enter Jon Stewart...

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 3

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

DIY: Build Your Own Home Studio

Build a music studio in an apartment building - More DIY How To Projects

Mafikizolo touring the States

I just caught wind that the supremely beautiful and happening South African band Mafikizolo will be touring the US soon. I haven't been able to track any exact dates down but I strongly suggest seeing them perform if they come through your town. I got their CD when I was in South Africa working on my SisterLove documentary and actually use a bit of their sound in the project. You can find their CDs state-side but for ung-dly amounts of money as they're not formally released here. But you'd rather listen to the crap they play on commercial radio anyways, right? WRONG! Anyway, check'em out on YouTube:

New Podcast Posted on "Imagine 2050"

Update: You can check out the second part in my podcast series with Michigan-based hip-hop artist One Be Lo over at Imagine2050.org. Today we're talking about hip-hop identity and American identity as we continue our exploration of the question, "What does it mean to be American." Listen!

All Media Systems on Your Computer Have Been Crashed

If in your travels around the web you pick up some kind of virus or what not that switches your desktop image with the image to the left and then continually warns you about your a/v codecs being corrupted, Don't Believe It! It's a total scam! In most cases the "Update Now" is a hyper-link to a web site trying to sell you some kind of "security" software (currently one of the sites is wincodecpro.com). Don't give them your credit card info or anything like that. IT'S A SCAM! Instead, enjoy the next many hours undoing all the things their little program does to your system. Here are my findings that should assist you in recovering:

1) Look for any new folders in your 'Program Files' directory (such as one called Media System). And delete it! Warning be sure this is not part of a program folder that you want! So, what you should find in this folder are three files: a)a .gif file; b)an .htlm file; c) and an .exe file (likely named wmptray.exe). Open the gif file and html and see what they are. You should be able to tell if they are legit or not.

2) Do an anti-virus scan and malware/adware scan. Install a firewall (i.e. ZoneAlarm) and do not allow wmptray.exe to access any websites other than something at microsoft.com!

3) Your 'Task Manager' may get disabled so you will likely have to use a program like the Eusing Free Registry Cleaner to view your start up programs. Again, look for the link C:\Program Files\Media System\wmptray.exe and disable this. As far as getting your 'Task Mangager' back? I haven't figured it out quite yet so if you have any knowledge please post a reply to help me and others who fall into this trap.

Good luck.

Audio: New Podcast Posted on Imagine 2050

I just posted my newest "Imagine 2050" podcast which is from my visit to Tempe, Arizona last week. It's a short interview with hip-hop artist One Be Lo talking about music, youth and empowerment. Check it out!