This is ridiculous

You know, I was going to post another of my favourite videos, "Ashes to Ashes" by David Bowie. But embedding was not allowed from youtube. This I do not understand. Look, I am putting up the video because I like it and it is an advertisement for Mr Bowie, not I. So suck it, youtube.
Anyway, back to the video. In addition to the video being one of the most influential ones ever, I wanted to address the amusing comments that I read about David Bowie wearing what kids described as a "clown outfit". Many viewed this as David Bowie saying he was an "insane clown" and that he wanted to be normal. I feel no need to defend David Bowie, but what made me laugh my arse off was the fact that a person had to feel they were such a "Bowiephile" that they had to correct everyone into thinking that "David Bowie wanted to wear the clown costume because he was crazy in the 70s and the white represents drugs, and he now wants to be taken seriously." Huh?
The outfit is a Pierrot outfit. David Bowie studied with a mime troop before making it big. You can see him featured with a chief influence above, the truly iconic Lindsay Kemp.

Fevered Distraction.....The Eighties Were NOT a Real Time of Greatness....

"Push, push.......STRUGGLE" Video: "Eighties" by the great Killing Joke



Of course the only sources I find to question the current fascination with the 1980s are usually in Australia, European and UK papers. This is a particularly biting article about that strange nostalgia. What, joblessness, "greed is good", emotional and physical exploitation of the poor is just so groovy! As the great Jaz Coleman of Killing Joke screams "feather the nest and fuck the rest".....this is not an era I value. I value honesty, not someone trying to sell me soured milk as fresh. I can hardly wait for the 1929 Stock Market Crash craze! I would like to send everyone back to the 1980s that has made a career out of extolling the uber mediocrity, Voodoo trickle down economics and cruel policies which took jobs from hard working people and cut the social safety net. I look to the future while glancing with malice at this oh too recent past, and those who selectively agrandize it. Squeegee the Third Eye!!!!!!!!!


From "The Age" (Australia):
"But that's the thing about nostalgia - it cares little for facts. It filters, sanitises and simplifies history. Nostalgia is as much a forgetting as a remembrance of things past. That's why America is able to have its own '80s nostalgia for Ronald Reagan, even as the evidence mounts that the Gipper's great legacy is to have put his country in a great economic shithole. (The push for Reagan to be the face of the $50 bill is ironic, given millions of Americans would be unlikely to see such a large denomination anyway.)

But the pull of nostalgia will always be strong when people feel insecure about the present and worried about the future. We head towards an election with both parties shamelessly seeking to exploit fear, and with Labor campaigning under the vapid slogan ''moving forward''. With word and action so emptied of meaning, it's hardly surprising many of us want to look back."
http://www.theage.com.au/national/melbourne-life/going-gaga-for-the-80s-20100727-10ud7.html

Fevered Distraction: Hair of The Dog

Yeah, I know what you might be thinking.....how is this not narcissistic? Really, according to Christopher Lasch criteria, this rockin' tune is not, since it IS a rockin' tune. Narcissism in music today is image before the music. The cart before the horse, as it were. It is a psychotic abuse of the concept of music. Also, involving hypersexualized children in "pop music" is exploitational with a capital "E" (and no, this isn't a "think about the children" rant). But this doesn't signify the deterioration of anything, huh?
Anyway, I dare you to listen to this without wanting to sing along with the chorus. Dare you. Triple dare you.

All this time I thought this band was from the American South....but they are actually Scottish, and got their name from the song "The Weight" by The Band. You know, I wondered for awhile if it wasn't a reference to Jesus. As an aside, I want a movie where Jesus starts out turning over the table of the money changers in fury. This riff is playing (the lyrics just wouldn't fit, unfortunately).....I want my kick ass Jesus back. Why does society always neuter its prophets after killing them? Rant over.

Fevered Distraction: Black Sabbath "Black Sabbath"

Damn, I love this album and this band. I adore this video because it highlights the brillance of the guitarist, Mr Iomma, who despite losing the fingertips of two fingers, really is one of the greatest rock guitarists ever. No violin bows or dry ice needed, a la Jimmy Page. And, Ozzy.....man what happened to him? This is how I want to see Ozzy. I feel if he retired after a short solo career he would still be viewed as "The Prince of Darkness". He ironically to my mind would have made far more money as the dark, gothic and scarce enigma who fronted this very influential band. Now people just scream "Sharon" at him. It seems that so many people can only look at things in the very short term, and the Oz man is one of them. Rock is supposed to be about mystery and voodoo chile, honey.....not reality television money.

Is It My Body?

I know I mentioned this song before, but the Alice Cooper (well, just Vince) interview made me think of it. This is to me what Glam Rock was about. There was an improvisational quality to it, and a distinct humour. The actual band also is incredible in their prowess. But when Alice/Vince takes off his spacey jumpsuit it is very amusing. However, it is not all about image. Back in 1973 they rocked when even though they were in goofy costumes. And, of course I had to post this because this was done in the Motor City. I am trying to remember that the city had a rocking past.

Fevered Distraction of the Day (FDD): When Alice was Alice: "I Want the Audience To Be Tribal"

You know, this interview reminds me of the time a friend showed me a picture of her father from the 70s. He was in the height of cool fashion, and had a surly, funny see-saw grin on his face. Much different than the "Get off my lawn, ya whippersnappers!" attitude he affected now.

Of course, Alice Cooper has changed also, like we all do....but he has become very safe, like the father of my close friend. "Poison" compared to "Is It My Body"? You make the call. He was so incredible with the actual band "Alice Cooper".

But this interview shows the "cool dad", or the Alice I discovered, and was so sad that I never got to see, the one from 1973. Scruffy 5 O'Clock Shadow, beer in hand and eccentric teeth (sounds like a song title for Devo). He was true and poignantly vulnerable then, and that is what it is all about. A real man showing you glimpses of his observations instead of hoping his video is in heavy rotation.

First Fevered Distraction of the Day: Obama and Bowie

This is in my "Favorites" because it is just so silly. I also have to commend the editor on this, it is really great how in sync the song is with Obama's "version" of the Bowie song "Heroes". This must have taken a shitload of time. That would be the song I would play for Obama now, "Time" off of "Alladin Sane"........his trick is you and me. Anyway, I can remember (I remember), no not standing by the wall with the guards, but watching Obama make this speech. So much hope in the eyes of the people.

Hey Everyone: Transmission and Transition

Whoa, had to read the copious amount of emails I received about my absence (yeah, those three were really taking up my day).  Honestly, I like to be on the Web, but I detest talking about myself, my immediate environment or any other things of that nature.  I am an old school woman and I think that people sometimes just put out too much shit about themselves.  Often I have read blog posts from both genders chronicling the person's day.......it is like something else I hate:  "Reality" television.  Fuck that.  However, since I am going to be putting out some grooves soon, and showing you what I have been creating in addition to that, I thought this would be a good time to start blogging more regularly.  My topic will be my next post.  By the way, the above image is not made by me, but it is some stunning Dia De Los Muertos work and I couldn't resist.   

The Culture of Narcissism: Hope or Fear?

    Hey there, I just was passing through and wanted again to highly recommend the book "The Culture of Narcissism" by Christopher Lasch.  It reads like it was written yesterday but is from the 1970s (we are just at the very tail end of the capitalist cycle, so it is not ancient history, contrary to popular media pundits).  Throughout  these years, I have carried it around with me everywhere, as almost a totem of hope.   

    Why am I writing this now?  I feel more angry every day that the media seem to be viciously avoiding the big issues, like the recent oil spill, the brutal shootings in Britain, and are so overwhelmed that they focus like I will, on ephemera that is emblematic of our age:  "pop" music.  However, unlike the mainstream media I want to explain as best as I can why this focus is taking place in my view, and in the view of other observers of society.  Hopefully, the anger will foster positive transformation. 

It seemed important to write something because of the number of emails I continue to get about my mild criticism of lady UMG, which I find at once baffling yet indicative of our social chaos.  To set the stage, like I mentioned, I received many emails from trolls who proceeded to insult me and what I do in order to praise the innovation of Lady gaga.  I am laughing as I am typing this.  Wha?    The only people who would do this are either literally or intellectually children, and that is exactly what our society wants.  Focus on the distraction, let others take action.  Our decline requires humans to stop trying to evolve past puberty.

     Just the forward to Lasch's book seems like he was writing about 2010.  Extreme distrust among the populace towards each other and especially those in places of political power.  A lack of feeling that one has a place in the world since the media manipulators can only cling to their old ways of doing things, which is to promote extreme self absorption, a fear of age, and encouragement of wants instead of needs.  We are all following the plan so well, it seems.

     So, Lady Gaga fans, take heart, despite the fact that the planet is ruined, your idol appears to think she is a divinity, and she bears absolutely no resemblance whatsoever to the people she cites as influences.  She was told to say she likes David Bowie, but she can't name a song.  That must tell you that she is what this age exemplifies:  a denial of connection to even recent history.  David Bowie did indeed address history to some extent, and yeah, he many times asked the listener to think.  Lady Gaga attempts to kill herself on stage in a bizarre sui generis act that relies on spectacle to distract from intellectual questions.  This is your and my new age.  But there is still a chance to change for the better.  Doomsday nay sayers have become a cottage industry, and that is just as much a falsehood as any other media story today.

So, gaga fans, many little kids have been marketed to and have gone on to see how their "choices" were manipulated.  Some have it easier than others.  I know a few parents who are very forthright about mind control (see Walter Lippman, et al on manufacturing consent) and their children of their own accord refuse to wear the Cadmium laced Hannah Montana jewelry.  I also am seeing organic farming and local organizations making a come back to a mild extent.  But there is still work to be done, but unlike our contemporary society, that wants you to believe their negative view of the questioner, I am hopeful.

     The first step, and how I will end this post for today, is what Mr Lasch discussed at the end of his foreward.  A culture of Narcissism needs one thing to thrive, which we have in abundance:  a lack of recognition of history, and thus a constant anxiety about the future.  Only "nostalgia" is tolerated, such as discussion of past fashion trends and other innocuous things.  Those Lady gaga fans sure embody the denial of history principle.  Many wrote that I must like Madonna, I have to be centuries old, and Madonna is ancient as well.  Madonna?  Look up Josephine Baker.  I said this to a kid a while ago and they actually responded with "Why would I want to?  I don't need to know it for anything."  This made me laugh and feel sad at the same time.  These children (and adults) couldn't think further back than fifteen years if their life depended on it.  Also, don't construe this as a slam against "kids today".  The ones who emailed me were a very extreme group.  However, they are a symptom of a disease in the body politic.  Adults are doing the same thing:  adulthood has become a thing to be feared.  Therefore, the cycle of life is broken and there is nothing to take its place.  I mean, why think about others, death and life when we can buy that great new television right now? 

     And yes, I see angry blogs that declare an Illuminati controls everything and this is all part of some master plan.  Honestly, I can't go that far.  I have seen and read about far too many political blunders to think there is this incredible uber group that picks and chooses everything, right down to the pop stars.  Yes, they repress and assess, but they are not into pop culture (though I love the website Vigilantcitizen.com and anything that questions....) and even if they were, we can decide to reject their "suggestions".  What if no one watched that horrid show "American Idol"?  The cynics reading this would say "there is another way they would control entertainers' behavior then, you rube."  But maybe, just maybe we would have real music by now made by people who love music and might get adequately compensated for it.  Whoa!  Anyhoo, an "Illuminati"'s main focus would not be on Beyonce, but on more powerful players in different areas that have real control.  Also, as Hitler knew, the best type of control is fear induced.  Beyonce doing weird pseudo occult dance moves is only a distraction. 

     The actual issue is we are about to go into a new type of lifestyle that does not revolve around consumption and personal transitory desires and me, me, me.....because it is impossible to continue.  The wheels of our society are so corroded by blood, tears, and paper Presidents that they are no longer able to turn.  But that does not signal the apocalypse.  It signals the birth of a new day.  Let's do this thing.

    Really, I am saying this as much for myself as for anyone who reads this:  there is hope, but it cannot be in a leader.  The times they are a'changin', and it is because we are at the crossroads:  fear or hope.  I choose hope.  Do you?  

Lady Gaga: "Telephone"

     I have tonight come to a different understanding of my relationship to humanity.  This will not be an excited peon to Lady Gaga's uniqueness, so little monsters may move on.  It is a meditation on my own foolishness. 
I find myself looking at one thing in a new light, even though the filter on Lady Gaga is flickering with ambivalence and ultimately disgust.
     It seems that Lady Gaga exemplifies the time we live in, and indeed it infuriated and to a more existential degree now, it still does, because I sense her team knows it.  But now, all of my justifications of my strange aversion to this person's presence in the media have been taken away.  Of course I have been very stupid and very wrong in my judgment of her.  And no, I have not turned into Donald Sutherland in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" or some grazing sheeple who only sees things surrounding any media figure in a vie en rose way.  Fuck that. We need to stop thinking celebrities are important for breathing. How does that Lindsay Lohan girl live? Or that Kim Kardashian? I want to see things about......shocking! REAL people. So I still hate the intense focus on a fluffy commentator like Lady Gaga.
Yes, I also realize I am contributing to it, but this really is my last summation about the child.
     Ever since I was asked by a very cool relative of mine to watch Lady Gaga's "Oprah" performance and to "critique" it, I have been weirdly fascinated by her.  For some reason I felt she was mocking what I held so sacred but was not replacing it with anything of value.  I still stand by this, since she is fatally Post Modern.  That is the issue I have always had with Monsieur Warhol, and we see the broken remnants he left behind.  So she was reigniting the debate, and I was horrified!  My relative later admitted that they had had a good inkling of what my reaction would be to this girl with the auto tuned voice, easily forgettable music who actually stated with a straight face that one of her inspirations is David Bowie.  She is a rogue and an upstart!  I do not deem David Bowie sacred, but of course I would get annoyed by someone referencing him who creates songs about oral sex.
    So, much to my amazement, I saw this girl had created "controversy" for herself every single day between then and now.  Really, in my decades on this planet, I have never seen someone go from playing for the Queen to Elton John to a concert series to.....the "Telephone" video.  Oh boy.
   But before I discuss that, I have to say what preceded this.  I read that Lady Gaga has been voted The Most Influential Person according to "Time" magazine.  Fuck, I had to read that again.  No way.  What is this chick gonna be doing a "Poker Face" duet with the Pope next week?  I only just saw this chick the other day, it seems like, I thought to myself with indignation.  And no, of course I am well aware of the fact that the girl on the screen and record is not "Lady Gaga".  "Lady Gaga" is composed of 100 people, and she is the paper tiger logo.
   I did go to another site to confirm this bizarre voting by "Time" magazine, which I had always considered hopelessly conservative and was the staple of say, generations from World War II.  However, they had a ridiculous rant by Cyndi Lauper on her "relevance", and Cyndi is so out on Planet Nine it made me chuckle.  Then I watched Lady Gaga's little video "acceptance" and her discussion of her love for Deepak Chopra!  HaaaaHaaaHaaa........for real, if that girl could find a more banal, vapid symbol of complete lack of spiritual force combined with craven capitalism I don't know how!  I saw the satire, and it was mildly compelling.  She was fucking wearing that sparkling bra she wore at the "Much Music" festival (yes, this bitch does do research), except it was different.  It made me laugh.  And I hated this girl with every fiber of my being before that.  I didn't think she was doing anything new, I thought she was trying to be like other singers, I was very jaded.  Now, no, I did not Learn to Love Lady Gaga.   But I did watch the "Telephone" video, which I vowed never to do.
     So after seeing that hilariously bad ode to Deepak for the sake of her little baby "monsters" (I wish adults would think about their children calling some stranger "mama" thus their children are implicitly "babies".  Read a book on Hitler youth.  I now think this Lady Gaga machine is trying to show that conditioning is easy when your audience is neglected.  That is one thing that troubles me.  It seems children are her main audience, but tonight I understand why gay males like her.....I thought it was silly at first...the club bois were her main target audience or something).
     Anyway, the "Telephone" video was beyond my expectations.....in that I went in without any.  Totally bitter and cynical.  Visions of Perry Farrell in my head.  I thought I was probably going to be wasting my time, but since I had watched part of an early Lady Gaga video, I might as well try to watch this latest one to know why this is always being watched. 
     Yes, money pays for promotion, and it can buy fame easily, but this girl continues to stay around......she gives a non threatening vacuous message to her "children" and a more disturbing one to those who care to know more.  But the issue is that most of America is distracted by the bells and whistles.  Especially the babies.
     Well, the movie starts out in a surreal women's prison with hilariously clad women who are so large they could be men.  They are all in heat, especially burnin' for the new meat, who is, of course, Lady Gaga.  "Prison" is kind of a misnomer here in that there is so much campy behavior and dress that you know you are on the set of a video.  There is a trivial kiss, but the toxins of the cigarettes is the real issue......anyway, it is simply a Stepford version of a Quentin Tarentino film, with some Russ Meyer added in.  But there seems to be an anger that is not present in Tarentino's or Meyer's films.....a real anger...or maybe I was just wishing for that in retrospect.   The dialogue, dance, whatever is irrevalent.  The product placements are brutally in your face, you can't get away from them....like you can't get away from Lady Gaga.  Then there is a sexy element between Beyonce and Lady Gaga, they give B's boyfriend what was comin' to him and LG goes into her sandwich routine (don't forget the Tiberium!).  If people don't understand that the diner is America, I don't know where they are at......And the scary dance around the bodies just shows our disconnect from others.  I do think that was the intention, but again, wrong demographic.  Lady Gaga, no matter how many people her corporation pays to name her "Greatest Person Ever to Walk the Face of the Earth" is only going to appeal to people who are used to the average pop tart's act.  The mighty Madonna (yeah, the only artist who never stole from anyone, right Debbie Harry, Cyndi Lauper, etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc?) never made comments on society except to promote her "emancipation through sexual degradation" campaign.  Express yourself.....by bending over!  Yeah! 
    So the comments about the "Telephone" video that litter the net are usually from 11 year old girls who for some reason watched it.  They wail about the beauty of being a baby for their mommy, and how nice Lady Gaga looks in police tape.  This is a very effective way to repulse anyone over the age of 15. 
    And this is where the story ends.  Warhol focused on youth culture for awhile, but his focus was never on children, and a female pop tart's main focus group is little girl........  As a visual artist Warhol was able to get away from classification by using other outsiders to promote himself.  He soon became an old lady who loved to dine with the society ladies and celebrities of his era, earning the name Drella.
    On the other hand, we have Lady Gaga putting out another remix of her albums for her children soon, since it is time to cash in now honey.  This video will never be seen for what it is, because frankly, the music is wallpaper.  Lady Gaga, like Madonna, is a visual performer.  They really see music as secondary. 
     The audience that the Lady Gaga corporation wants to market to has had ten years of blonde pop tarts with auto tuned vocals.  We went through 9/11;  most adults consider something like this childish, and they are right.  It certainly looks like it on the surface.
  So, in summation, I do not feel the interest in Lady Gaga that I did because I have figured out the reason why I was annoyed.  In fact, I feel rather sorry for her.  She has a huge fan base composed primarily of little girls who are concrete enough to think this girl is "fashionable" and "unique" but actually her behavior is a ruse.  Her music is really not supposed to be played except by Clear Channel that is piped through to Dentists' offices, or when one is intoxicated.  It is indeed soulless and repetitive.  But she is bound and gagged (S&M reference noted) by her contract.  She can't alienate these children, but it is a horrible commentary that they are her biggest fans.  So she gives them Deepak Chopra platitudes of "Be Yourself" (or maybe Madonna's "Express Yourself").  Thus, ANY commentary (and I am NOT saying this girl and her corporation are Noam Chomsky, Erving Goffman, et al) is LOST.  Therefore, the act is getting stale.   But honestly, I appreciate that she tried, even if the set up was right from the beginning that she would fail.  But that failure has something to do with the culture that she is trying to warn people about in an inoffensive, but pretty obvious way.  Feel like making a sandwich?

I Am Rejecting Bread and Circuses

Hello everyone!
I was just thinking about the previous posts, and the future of this blog.  I continue to work diligently on my stuff, but have allowed myself to become mesmerized by the media distractions of today far too much.  I even answered angry emails about certain celebrities that really were pointless in the first place.  My actual life has involved some recent stresses, so this is unacceptable to me any longer.  If you believe person X speaks for you, you have given them quite alot of your own power, even if you think person X represents freedom, etc. 
Sure, I love certain things in popular culture, but I have never liked the fact that money, and the love of it, has dictated what I would be exposed to....and I just feel too cynical about the situation in my country to pay these people much heed any longer.

Honestly, I think that the economic situation in our country is forcing us to return to a simpler way of existence.  People in the media just are a distraction from that, and also make me momentarily forget what I consider a goal.....in the words of Flannery O'Connor......"to find grace in a world of evil".  It is sad but not surprisingly that I am sure some will want to have me define evil, but anyone over 11 years of age knows it when they see it, if they are not being directly subjected to it.

I will still communicate with others through my website and explore what my best options are.....

Let cooperation be the whole of the law,

Bette Dillinger 

A Quiet Moment for Wendy O Williams

Flannery O' Connor: The Futility of Blood

Of course I am coming back to the web from time to time....it will ultimately be our only lifeline
To scowl and prance
as if our dance
had any meaning

Hello beloved reader, thanks for stopping by.  I am thinking of putting a song up for your listening enjoyment on last fm.....there will be a link provided when I get a chance.  The song is called "Cutting the Cord".....
I am very excited that next month (but it is available now....I don't know how this happened) the first biography of Flannery O'Connor will be released.  She was, and is, a great inspiration to me.   
     Really, one bit of advice she subconsciously imparted to me as a reader was that yes, indeed, there are great books and authors one should make a point of reading but never limit yourself to what others tell you is great.  Life itself can provide the richest material to draw from, and it might be a work that others consider ephemeral or not worthy of a real examination because it is not from some widely recognized source of knowledge. 
    She also unconsciously conveyed to me the joy in living.  She died young, but she never stopped dreaming or thinking.  There are so many I see lately in the media and even locally who think their issues are exclusive to them or that they have to end them all now.  Please don't think that is a blanket judgement.  This is a strange time to be a thinking, feeling human, but holding tight and experiencing fully those horrific emotions is a learning experience everyone goes through.  Just know you can come out the other side.

Many Blessings,
Bette