This is kind of a lazy post but it is freezing cold and my MS symptoms hate me right now.
Before I start I want it to be known I bought these with my own money, I did not receive these badges and patches for free or at a discount.
Since I have been endlessly posting about the genocide in Gaza on social media I decided to buy some politically themed patches and pins. I bought all the pins and patches off of Etsy. I got the badges from Wokerati Party, and I got the patches from Chaos Creations. I have a lot of DIY projects going on at the same time so I am not quite sure where the patches are going yet but I have some ideas. All of the patches and badges are of a good quality so I highly recommend them for all of your leftist political needs.
If you live on the US East Coast and want to make a difference please try to attend this. I am guessing that this is going to be huge so plan accordingly.
If you follow me on social media you know where I stand when it comes to the genocide of the Palestinian people by the government of Israel. I think it is disgusting what is happening and that there needs to be a ceasefire right now. If Genocide Joe wanted to end the siege he could with a snap of his fingers. Instead he directly sold bombs to Israel without the approval of Congress.
I have always been interested in the history of WWII. I have read numerous books about the rise of the Nazis in Germany and about the European theatre of the war in general. What is going on right now in Gaza, and the West Bank, is right out of a fascist’s 1930’s playbook. The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) have been using propaganda to dehumanize the Palestinian people, calling them animals and inhuman; the same words that Goebbels used in his propaganda against the Jewish people.
If you want to learn about what is really going on in the conflict Owen Jones is an excellent source over on YouTube. He is one of the only Western journalists to devote all of his time to covering what is actually going on; digging up the propaganda to find the truth underneath. He frequently has guests on his show and sometimes he makes appearances on other shows. Besides that there are a bunch of us on Twitter(x) retweeting important news stories and photos coming out of Gaza,etc… John Cusack, the actor, has been very activedoing this so he is another good source to seek out on Twitter(x).
The best thing you can do, if you want to help end the genocide, is to use your social media platform to share articles about what is going on. The reason why Israel is beginning to lose the propaganda war is because of normal everyday people sharing media and turning the tide against them. If you have been listening to political punk bands like The Dead Kennedys for years you know exactly what to do to make a difference. Make uncle Jello proud.
This is another installment in my series about 80’s bands that are generally ignored by younger folk; bands that I never hear anybody under fifty talking about. If you are over fifty you have definitely heard the music of Ultravox; their song Vienna was very popular throughout the decade and some of their other songs were regularly played on MTV back then.
If you follow me on social media you know that I have been getting into 80’s bands that I somehow skipped back in the 80’s when I was a teen. Ultravox is such a band, because I liked a few of their songs but didn’t dig any deeper for whatever reason. The band had two main phases; the early post-punk era led by John Voxx, and the more popular New Romantic era led by Midge Ure. I will be concentrating on the Midge Ure version of the band because that is what I am more familiar with.
Midge Ure is a very talented musician, who was also in the New Romantic band Visage. I did not know that until the other day, which is funny as hell because one of my favourite songs to dance to over thirty years ago was their song Fade To Grey. He also helped write the very popular Christmas charity song Do They Know It’s Christmas? back in the 80’s. So, to say that Midge Ure was a very influential musician back in the 80’s is an understatement.
With all of that being said here are my favourite songs from the Midge Ure era of Ultravox. I hope you enjoy them and have fun bopping around.
I have to say that this trailer is pretty damn epic! I am a huge fan of all of the Mad Max films so to say I am happy would be an understatement. It comes out May the 24th of 2024.
Geordie Walker, one of the founders and guitarist for Killing Joke, has died of a stroke at the age of 64. Killing Joke is a band that is impossible to fit into just one music style box, and that is the reason why they have always been such a highly influential band to so many different musicians. My thoughts go out to his friends and family. May his memory always be a blessing.
You can tell what decade I spent my teen years in.
I have complained on here and on my social media accounts about how a lot of modern post-punk bands sound the same; same Joy Division sounding bass, same droning vocals, same Cure sounding guitar. In fact I have had a bunch of people mad at me for talking about this in the past, but am I wrong? No, I am not. Are there good modern post-punk bands out there? Of course, but they are the outliers and not the norm. Being that all of this is the case I have decided to start buying music from the 80’s that I somehow overlooked back then or that I just didn’t know about. I have also bought some newish metal and legacy band CDs.
I can well imagine some people looking at the above photo and wondering why I would buy a bunch of Now Yearbook pop album compilations. The secret is that they never contain just pop songs. Back in the 80’s the British charts would often have new wave and ‘alternative’ songs in their ranks. More so than in the United States. For instance, that above Now Yearbook 88 comp has Voyage Voyage by Desireless on it, which was a big club hit in the alternative clubs in the San Francisco Bay Area back then. Never heard it on the radio, only in clubs so I was quite happy finding it on this CD. Also, there are a bunch of songs on these from bands that I totally skipped over in the 80’s for whatever reason. Remember, there was no internet and it was easy as hell to accidentally forget about bands back then. All of these were below £10 a piece and some were even below £5.
The above left is a Devo: 50 Years Of De-Evolution 1973-2023. I got this because I don’t own anything by them and I thought that it was about time that I did something about that. The above right is OMD Souvenir, a collection of their singles. I owned some of their music on tape in the late 80’s but nothing since. They were the first concert I ever went to back in 86 so they will always hold a special place in my heart for that reason. The bottom left is Toya’s album Anthem. I have been meaning to buy her music for ages now. She is one of those 80’s musicians that I just totally missed back then, mostly because I was in the US where I never heard her music being played. I have been constantly listening to this and she is sooooo good!The bottom right is Fuzzbox’s compilation Bostin’ Steve Austin, that includes their first album and a bunch of singles. I was very, very pleased to find their music on CD, because I had their first album on tape back in the late 80’s.
Yet more compilations! The top two are pretty easy to sus out so really no need for an explanation. I love Lycia and a few other ethereal bands so that middle CD really pleased me. It is a new comp put out on Cherry Red Records called Cherry Stars Collide: Dream Pop, Shoegaze & Ethereal Rock 1986-1995. I barely own any shoegaze or dream pop so this was a bit of a must have for me. Through it I know I’ll discover more bands. The bottom two are synth-pop compilations, one based on 1980 and the second based on 1981. I love old synth-pop music so these were a no brainer for me to get. Again, listening to these two will lead me to older bands that I have totally forgotten about.
I am beginning to explore metal music a bit more. I have always loved early Danzig and thrash music so it is a genre that is ripe for me to explore. The upper left is Omen by the band Moyra. They are a female lead melodic death metal band and holy shit can the woman growl and sing. The upper right is EndEx by the industrial metal band 3teeth. I really want to explore that specific genre more because I really don’t own that much of it even though I do tend to like it. The middle left is Ofnir by Heilung, and the middle right is Futha also by Heilung. They describe themselves as “amplified history from early medieval northern Europe”. They are haunting as hell and they give off spooky pagan vibes which is perfect in my opinion. The bottom left is OMD’s new album Bauhaus Staircase. I listened to it multiple times yesterday and it has got to be the most political music that they have ever made. I highly recommend it! Finally on the bottom right is Danse Macabre by Duran Duran.
Well, that is it for now. I hope you enjoyed this musical journey of my psyche as much as I loved writing about it, and I hope I introduced you to some bands that you will grow to love.
I’ve been gone because I decided to play The Outer Worlds on my Switch. I played it once last year, but this time I am going to explore everywhere and try to complete every single side quest. Last night I finally completed all of the quests on Terra-2 so I am quite proud at the moment. I just need a break for a few weeks so I will be back. If you love Fallout 3/New Vegas you will love this game, it is seriously a lot of fun.
I am going to keep this short and to the point. What the Israeli government is doing against the Palestinians is genocide and ethnic cleansing. They are killing innocent Palestinians who have nothing to do with Hamas. This is what the government of Israel has wanted since the beginning of their statehood; the Palestinians forced off of the land by any means necessary. It is disgusting that the US and UK governments are enabling this and I refuse to vote for any politician that supports the government of Israel. FREE PALESTINE!!!!!!
