Sunday, November 14, 2004

Friday, November 12, 2004

Founding Manifesto of Register the Cat

Manifesto of Register
1. The Great Register intends to sing the love of danger, the habit of energy and fearlessness, and poop.

2. Poop, courage, audacity, and revolt will be essential elements of The Great Register's poetry.

3. Up to now humans have exalted a pensive immobility, ecstasy, and sleep. The Great Register intends to exalt aggresive action, a feverish insomnia, the racer’s stride, the mortal leap, the punch and the slap.

4. The Great Register doth does shall affirm that the world’s magnificence has been enriched by a new beauty: the beauty of human slaves. The feline conquest of the weaker human species is more beautifuler than the Victory of Samothrace.

5. We want to hymn The Great Register, who hurls the lance of his spirit across the Earth, along the circle of its orbit.

6. The Great Register must spend himself with ardor, splendor, and generosity, to swell the enthusiastic fervor of the primordial elements.

7. Except in struggle, there is no more beauty. No work without an aggressive character can be a masterpiece. Poetry must be conceived as a violent attack on unknown forces, to reduce and prostrate man before felines.


8. The Great Register stands on the last promontory of the centuries!... Why should he look back, when what he desires is to break down the mysterious doors of the Impossible? Time and Space died yesterday. The Great Register already lives in the absolute, because he hath created eternal, omnipresent speed.


9. We will glorify war—the world’s only hygiene—militarism, patriotism, the destructive gesture of freedom-bringers, beautiful ideas worth dying for, poop, and scorn for all mammals save the feline.


10. The Great Register will destroy the museums, libraries, academies of every kind, will fight moralism, cedar-scented litter, every opportunistic or utilitarian cowardice.


11. The Great Register will sing of great crowds excited by work, by pleasure, and by riot; he shall sing of the multicolored, polyphonic tides of revolution in the modern capitals; he shall sing of the vibrant nightly fervor of arsenals and shipyards blazing with violent electric moons; greedy railway stations that devour smoke-plumed serpents; factories hung on clouds by the crooked lines of their smoke; bridges that stride the rivers like giant gymnasts, flashing in the sun with a glitter of knives; adventurous steamers that sniff the horizon; deep-chested locomotives whose wheels paw the tracks like the hooves of enormous steel horses bridled by tubing; and the sleek flight of planes whose propellers chatter in the wind like banners and seem to cheer like an enthusiastic crowd. And the irresistible crinkle sound of a toy mouse.

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

COLLEGE BASKETBALL PREVIEW

2005 Audubon Park Registers

PG Majestic Nahm

Supernatural scorer with instinctive instincts ... A sparkplug for the Register lineup ... Does a good job at attacking the weak points in the defense, but occasionally tries to take the lane in too much traffic and thereafter runs into trouble and then fells really bad about it and apologizes profusely ... Plays far bigger than his size would indicate, but smaller than his entourage would suggest ... Can score from the standstill in heavy traffic, but not when left alone beneath the basket ... Also a terrific shooter from long-range, but not really ... Not a guy that should be left open off screens , or alone in the library...... A crafty passer and knitter... Collects a lot of steals and cassettes ... Plays with a lot of emotion, too much probably.

SG Finn Marley

A streaky shooter, and window cleaner ... Has terrific elevation, discipline and poise in his form, but not in his tone ... Much of the reason for his hot and cold tendencies lies in his bed, talking on the phone ... Possesses range that borders on unreal(unicorns, fairies, dragons, etc…), and he occasionally gets caught up in that ability ... Will take 3-pointers from well beyond the stripe, as well as below it ... Uses his outside shooting ability to create mid-range shots for himself, throwing pump fakes and small mammals to open up pull-up jumpers and cardigans ... Has solid finnishing ability when he gets deep in the groove, but is not an outstanding athlete ... Defense needs improvement.

SF World B. Biggers

Handcrafted with a premium East Indian rosewood back and sides and a bookmatched top of select quartersawn Sitka spruce… Its smaller 000 body size and short 24-9/10" scale help produce delicate, balanced tones. The rosette and soundboard are inlaid with herringbone wood marquetry, and the body is bound with grained ivoroid…. An ebony fingerboard features a long diamonds-and-squares pattern in abalone pearl… Signature is inlaid in mother-of-pearl between the 19th and 20th frets… Tastefully appointed with hand-beveled tortoise pickguard, nickel-plated open-geared machines equipped with unique butterbean knobs. ..Bears an interior label, individually numbered in sequence. Includes limited lifetime warranty and deluxe hardshell case.

PF Danny Binge

Brilliant shooter from just about anywhere but the court ... Wonderful aching jump shot ... Can go off the dribble with slow, loping, caustic, melancholy drives, freeing himself with a behind the back dribble or faked pass or tortured glance or whispered denunciation ... Easy... Once his feet are set, the ball is going somewhere ... Can hit out to 4 feet at this point, if he's open, he'll take it from anywhere ... Wants to initiate a five-man, ball-movement time signature, which often leaves him out of sync with his teammates ... Not a rebounder but a lover, he'll pull in a few during a contest through positioning(wink, wink), but he'll leak out on the break(is seeing a doctor) or get back on defense before he heads to the rim(thank you very much) ... Utilizes the backdoor cut. Still learning as a "defender", he'll get caught with his feet in "mud".

C Kalb Rambus

Algae that grow on the hair impart a greenish color to the coat with narrow white stripes running across the back and down the sides, a pattern that provides excellent camouflage in dense thickets …There is no tail…. It feeds almost exclusively on the leaves, buds, and stems of Cecropia, a tropical relative of the mulberry…. Moves sluggishly but can strike swiftly and powerfully if attacked. Horn shape seem to vary with habitat, which ranges from high grass savanna to equatorial forest... Grazes and drinks in the early morning and evening and rests during the heat of midday and at night… Can easily fend off a lion.


Go Registers!

GO REGISTERS!


Thursday, November 04, 2004

Bandwidth

Example

Audubon Park is pleased to announce the release of Bandwidth, a compilation of North Carolina bands (including AP) put together by WXYC to celebrate ten years of webcasting. The comp is downloadable from WXYC's website starting on Sunday the 7th I believe (though don't quote me, or read this, because I might be wrong) and available in local stores and from all the bands included.

The track list is:

WXYC's Webcasting 10th Anniversary Celebration

Bandwidth: Celebrating 10 Years of Internet Radio on WXYC-Chapel Hill

1. Report about WXYC’s Pioneering Webstream on DRS3, Basel, Switzerland
2. JETT RINK - Born Hungry
3. THE MOANERS - Everybody Wants My Baby
4. PROTEAN SPOOK - Live at the Penland (NC) School of Crafts
5. AUDUBON PARK - The Blasted Heath
6. MALT SWAGGER - Binger
7. SHALLOW BE THY NAME - maxi-yow-mini
8. SPECTAC & MEDIAN - Life Ain’t Easy
9. BRINGERER - Bush Laden Family BBQ
10. BLACK TAJ - Woke Up Tired
11. CANTWELL GOMEZ & JORDAN - Shayna Wuz Here... Peeing Like a Cheetah
12. $TINKWORX - Pararrayos
13. MICRO-EAST COLLECTIVE - Cells - One to Many
14. WORK CLOTHES - South Bronx
15. CAN JOANN - the victor
16. TORCH MARAUDER - Manowar (Sweet Revenge)
17. HOTEL MOTEL - Breaking Into Pictures
18. COLD SIDES - Carrier Frequency
19. SHARK QUEST - Open Season
20. ETTA BAKER - Lost John
21. LIBRANESS - Sykes Temple Lane
22. THE SAMES - All We Need Is a Friend
23. JACUZZI BROTHERS - bright tiger2
4. BILLY SUGARFIX - A Space Nomad’s Wildest Dreams


There will also be two shows to celebrate the release of the comp and the ten year anniversary. The first is this Saturday, the 6th, at LOCAL 506 and features Jett Rink, Spectac, The Moaners and eNtet (a micro-east collective off-shoot). Billy Sugarfix will host.

The second show is at CD Alley on Nov. 12th and features The Torch Marauder, Bringerer and David Nahm from AP. This show will start at 4pm. Pizza Beer Party!

At both shows you can dance and get copies of the comp.

Check out
WXYC's website for more information.


Wednesday, November 03, 2004

Joy

Friends--

If there is one thing that Audubon Park is about it is joy. The joy of playing solos, the joy of making noise, the joy of friendship. Overall, we are a pretty joyous bunch.

But, today is an awful day--one that I am personally having a hard time getting through.
But, the wrong thing to do is withdraw--to accept our defeat and turn our backs.

Yes, I am disappointed.
Yes, I am angry.
Yes, I am mystified.

But we--as people who still believe that social justice is attainable, that equal rights for all people is not immoral, and that each American--no matter what their philosophical persuasion--can get along and work together for the benefit of our country and the world--need to make a louder, more joyful noise so as to make ourselves heard over the dull roar of disenfranchisement and discrimination, over the din of greed and oppression.

I have asked myself all day what else were we to do. Didn't we do it all. We registered new voters. We got the voters to the polls. But somehow, it wasn't enough.

We can't let this discourage us. There is still happiness to be had in this world--we just need to work harder to find it. There is still hope in this world--we just need to strive harder to protect it. We need to start work on the 2006 and 2008 elections. We need to focus on our communities. Where we see poverty, hunger and discrimination, we need to reach out and give some of the happiness and joy that we all find in ourselves and each other to those that need it more. The next four years, I fear, are going to be devastating for those at the bottom of the American social order. We have to be there to help them.

Yesterday, while volunteering for MoveOn outside a polling place, Jennifer and I befriended the Republicans volunteering there. They were obviously a little sketched out by us at first, but by the time the poll closed we were all getting along and having a nice time. Of course, this was during a time when I was pretty confident that Kerry was going to win, but it was the most incredible feeling. It was a time when I really felt that I was making a difference. These two Republicans were going to leave that night with a better idea of what liberals are like.

Bush won, but he didn't win by a lot. Most Americans, no matter what side of the vote they ended up on, want the same things essentially. We need to help them see that this administration is not Conservative.

It is not Christian.

It is not Moral.

It is a perversion of the values that it pretends to hold dear. It is our duty to help those that can't see this understand. No matter what, I still believe that most Americans, when you can talk one on one can agree on most issues at their core or at least come to some understanding of each other.

I am pretty sure that I am stupid for thinking this--America has such an awful history of injustice (against the world and against ourselves)--but there is something essential to it, something deeply ingrained, this idea of America, that, even if it hasn't ever been achieved, even if it has, to date, failed spectacularly, there is an idea of what America can be that I think we can achieve.

This country prides itself on being a country where you can start with nothing and succeed. A country with a document, the Constitution, that protects the liberties of its citizens. A country that was born as an underdog that defeated a juggernaut. This self concept of America runs contrary to what this administration stands for: advantages to the rich, but not the poor; a Constitution that takes liberties away; more power centered in the hands of a few, reaching around the world to protect our interests with no regard to the repercussions. But it is because of this American Myth that I still think we can achieve something greater than we have yet. The idea is there. We need to make it real.

We can't give up.

The flaws of the administration were laid bare before us--and some chose to turn their eyes away and proceed as though they knew nothing.

People can close their eyes, but they can't close their ears.

Info:
"Don't Mourn, Organize" from Daily Kos
Sen. Elect Obama's speech from the DNC
War is on the Stereo by the Nein





Lessons

Basically I learned two of them last night:

1) The desire to exclude gays from society makes you "moral."

2) We never need a reason to invade another country.

At least I'm in a band I really like. And at least I had a guy ask me to take a picture of him and his friend last night in front of the Vote Here sign outside his polling place in Chavis Heights. Both of them had just voted for the very first time and were grinning from ear to ear about it.

--Ben

Tuesday, November 02, 2004

For goodness sake, stop what you're doing and vote.

Go Vote!

Vote!

Please vote!