“It’s an unbelievable tool for learning new tunings, capo use, original voicings, and face puckering riffs and solos.

Complete with an introduction by the band and various pictures throughout. Also featuring a “Performance Notes” section where the band give suggestions on tough sections and altered tunings.“

Eh!!

I’m sure you can easily imagine how tit might feel to receive this treatment and perhaps, if you’re a fan of punk, metal or any music subculture it hits a close to home in a way that is slightly little different than the ‘average’ human rights abuses we’ve sadly grown accustomed to ignoring. I can easily empathize with the complete frustration and humiliation these ‘punks’ must feel as I have had  a few brushes with bully ‘authorities’ who pretend they’re acting ‘in the name of the law’ but I have never, and hopefully never will, experience this type of human rights abuse by authorities of a state.

In the past Propagandhi has received letters from people in Banda Aceh and all over Indonesia so any one of these people could be the same people who have contacted us. I imagine that they feel complete rage and isolation inside at the moment. In the off chance that they might see this post I’d like to say to all the Punks who’ve been victimized by authorities in Indonesia that we, the members of Propagandhi, are supporting you and admire that you have expressed yourselves even at your own expense. You are definitely people to look up to and honor.

For us here in North America, and anywhere in the world where we are allowed to dress how we want (but clearly not to publicly demonstrate or protest), let this be a reminder of what happens when society follows fundamentalists and allows ‘morals’ to be dictated. There are a lot of people in all our countries who would love to give the ‘spiritual cleansing’ treatment to punks as well as people of other religions, fans of Harry Potter and countless other groups they may label as ‘deviants’.

To everybody:  If you believe in human dignity, autonomy, and the right for people to be able to make their own decisions- keep fighting for your rights and freedoms, as well as the rights and freedoms of others.

Hopefully within the lifetimes of the punks arrested in Aceh they will have the liberty to express themselves the way they choose.

Change.org has made a petition to advocate for their release.

The record label Aborted Society is collecting mix tapes and burned CD’s (no cases) to send to their fellow punks to help with morale. Maybe you can help out?

Check out this 100% ruling documentary about the Indonesian punk ‘scene’.

If anyone else has any ideas, or has anything on the go to help out send us a message about it. Thanks.

Keep the spirit alive everybody.

P.S. When visiting America  be sure not to dance at the Jefferson Monument.

If you are participating in Occupy Wall Street in any way, keep going! Let everyone know that Earth isn’t just a stomping ground/garbage dump for a spoiled and tiny fraction of it’s inhabitants. Send the message to the “elites” that their ability to live the easy life at all of our expense is coming to an end. If you haven’t seen the website yet, check it out:  occupywallst.org

Take care!

Here in Winnipeg, we raised some funds earlier this summer to help finance a 10 day delegation visit to Haiti by activists involved with the Canada-Haiti Action Network (CHAN). A set of public meetings across Canada are scheduled to publicize the findings. Our event in Winnipeg will be held at the lovely Mondragon Bookstore and Cafe,  Monday, Sept. 26th, 7-9 PM (free admission).

Events elsewhere can be viewed at:

www.canadahaitiaction.ca/events

I’ve been involved with CHAN since 2005, helping to organize awareness raising events and fundraisers to help sustain organizations such as the IJDH, Haiti Liberte, Partners in Health, and the Cuban Medical Brigade, to mention a few.  There are numerous ways people can get involved to help support social justice in Haiti. Doing nothing will simply ensure that big business and their servile scumbag smiley faced politicians will continue to operate with impunity. The latest chapters in the uninterrupted 200+ years of reactionary counter-revolution by wealthy nations (and now transnational capital) against Haiti continue to unfold. Perhaps we can have a small hand in sticking a wrench in all of this.

Check out

www.canadahaitiaction.ca

when you have a chance.

So, we’ve got a classic good news/ bad news situation on our hands to share with you this fine august day.

The bad news is that due to a serious injury, we can’t play the Red River Rampage show in September. 13 years of judo-throwing 250-lb men and then defending jiujitsu guard-pass attempts by the same behemoths has finally caught up with Todd The Rod. He currently can’t even hold his bass for more than 10 seconds without excruciating pain in his back. He’s been trying to get answers from this eviscerated joke of a health-care system for months now to no avail. Thanks corporate-welfare/ social-capitalism!

We actually had to resort to sending him down the US to get a goddamn MRI at a private clinic to see what the hell was going on in his spine and surprise, surprise, he’s got bulging discs, tears and pinched nerves all over the place.

The good news is that the Red River Rampage organizers have bent over backwards to keep us in their plans and have moved the show to March 23rd. A long ways away, i know, but hopefully enough time for us to get Todd healthy in the long-term.

And that’s the good news: Todd is going full tilt on a structured physio program to get back to full capacity. It’s only been a couple weeks and he already feels small improvements in terms of the pain. Me, Beave and Jord have been keeping the song-writing juggernaut rolling in the background meanwhile. We’re still on track to rock out and make a ridiculously facemelting record this winter! So shut your pie-holes and hold on to you pantaloons people. The assault continues!

I hope you’re enjoying your evening and seasoning it, help other people as much as possible with some levity and common sense, two things that are sorely lacking in the world at the moment.

I have one little thing to say tonight: Try to keep your life’s endeavors positive; there’s way too many good and cool people and great things going on in this world to waste your life being negative or hateful. Create and achieve, my friends. Work hard, help other people as much as possible and keep rolling on.

Thanks.

On December 7th, 2005, federal agents conducted a nationwide sweep of radical environmentalists involved with the Earth Liberation Front — an organization the FBI has called America’s “number one domestic terrorism threat.” IF A TREE FALLS: A STORY OF THE EARTH LIBERATION FRONT is the remarkable story of the group’s rise and fall, told through the transformation and radicalization of one of its members, Daniel McGowan. Part coming-of-age tale, part cops-and-robbers thriller, the film interweaves a chronicle of McGowan facing life in prison with a dramatic investigation of the events that led to his involvement with the ELF. Using never-before-seen archival footage and intimate interviews — with cell members and with the prosecutor and detective who were chasing them — IF A TREE FALLS asks hard questions about environmentalism, activism, and the way we define terrorism.

Propagandhi is back in the ‘Peg after a whirlwind tour of Australia! Thanks to everyone over there especially Blue Murder, who booked the tour, and the great folks from Stolen Youth who played every show with us. Also thanks to Laura Horvath for making me an awesome vegan cheesecake for my 38th birthday. A  bunch of people came to see us at multiple shows, for that we are grateful. Also, many thanks to all the great Australian bands and everyone who came to rock out with us!

Now we get on to the excitement of preparing to record our next record! We hope to record in September.

Over ‘n out!

My name is Katherine Geeraert, and I have started a Tsunami relief fund for students at the school where I teach in Japan. I am a teacher at Soma Higashi High School in Soma, Japan. I was at the school when the Earthquake and Tsunami hit the North East Coast of Japan.The effects of the 9.0 magnitude earthquake have been extreme throughout North Eastern Japan. In Soma, the Earthquake caused a 7.5 meter tsunami that destroyed much of the Soma Bay area and the surrounding neighbourhoods. Some of my students lived in these neighbourhoods. Many other students at Soma Higashi commute to school in Soma from other communities that lie along the coast, some in closer proximation to the Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. As a result of these disasters, many students have either lost their homes and belongings, or are unable to return to their homes because of the 30 km. evacuation zone. Many of their parents have lost their jobs as a result of the either the extreme, detrimental effects of the Tsunami, or because their jobs are also within that 30 km radius. These students need simple necessities to return to school and to begin rebuilding their lives with their families. Friends of Soma gives 100% of it’s donations directly to these families through Soma Higashi High School. Any amount of support can make a huge difference.

We’re very excited to have the opportunity to host Donna Barry, the Director of Advocacy and Policy for Partners in Health, in Vancouver (March 22/23), and in Winnipeg (March 24/25) for speaking engagements related to post-earthquake health issues in Haiti. Admission to all events are free. More info can be found here:

www.canadahaitiaction.ca/events

More info about Partners in Health and Haiti can be found here:

http://www.standwithhaiti.org/haiti

The cables suggest, contrary to public pronouncements from the Gillard government, that the unbelievably good looking Canadian hard rock band Propagandhi have no time-line for withdrawal from their extremely unpopular mission in Australia.

Propagandhi have warned against handing over responsibility for security in Australia to any of the completely self-serving total assholes that tend to get involved in federal politics in the first place, insisting the transition must be tailored to the conditions on the ground.

Quoted in the heavily-redacted documents is Propagandhi’s Minister of Agriculture, Jordan D. Samolesky, who states that “Propagandhi will not abandon Australia. Propagandhi will not allow Australia to become a haven for terrorists. Propagandhi will remain engaged in Australia until everyone is either dead, maimed or incarcerated. Only then can democracy and freedom prevail. Now let us blaze!”

See either the “Shows” link above or the “Upcoming Shows” thing to the right for more info. Don’t say we never give you a wide range of redundant choices to see the details of our tour-dates.

Prairie Artists Against Enbridge includes some of Canada’s finest bands and cultural workers, a governor general’s award-winning novelist, and a former Winnipeg Blue Bomber. They all attached their names to a letter, delivered today to the National Arts Centre, protesting Enbridge Pipeline’s sponsorship of its upcoming Prairie Scene! Festival to be held in Ottawa from April 6th to May 8th, 2011. The letter is endorsed by such notable NGO’s as the Indigenous Environmental Network, Sierra Club Prairie, the Rainforest Action Network, Dogwood Initiative, Corporate Ethics International and the Polaris Institute.

For more information or media inquiries, contact: PrairieArtistsAgainstEnbridge@gmail.com

January 25th/ 2011

Mr. Christopher Dearlove/ Ms. Rosemary Thompson
National Arts Centre
P.O. Box 1534, Stn B
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada
K1P 5W1

“Art gives people a language by which they can understand themselves and their society…and the corporate power structure is determined to make sure artists speak in a language that does not threaten their entitlement.”

-Chris Hedges, Pulitzer Prize Winning Author

Dear Mr. Dearlove and Ms. Thompson,

We, the undersigned artists, musicians and performers of Manitoba and Saskatchewan respectfully request that the National Arts Centre reconsider its decision to partner with Enbridge Pipelines as a Prairie Scene! festival sponsor.

As Canada’s foremost showcase for the performing arts, the National Arts Centre should choose sponsors that help to promote its values as an innovator in community programming. Partnering with Enbridge Pipelines tarnishes that image with the company’s disastrous environmental record.

On July 26 2010, an Enbridge pipeline ruptured from unknown causes, gushing tar sands oil into a nearby creek for several hours before Enbridge contacted state authorities and shut off the flow. The EPA reports 1 million gallons of this dirty oil fouled more than 24 miles of Michigan’s Kalamazoo River, posing a threat to nearby Lake Michigan. Cleanup crews are still working hard to save Canada geese, muskrats, and other wildlife poisoned by the spill. The preventable disaster may be the worst oil spill in U.S. Midwest history.

Despite the spill, Enbridge Piplelines is still pushing for approval of a new 1,200 km pipeline to carry tar sands crude from Edmonton, Alberta to Kitimat, BC. The project, opposed by a wide coalition of aboriginal communities and businesses located along the pipeline corridor, would put Canada’s most sensitive wild salmon rivers at risk.

By associating with Enbridge, The National Arts Centre associates itself with the company’s irresponsible corporate behavior. For the sake of the Centre’s good reputation and for the sake of our environment, we urge you to reconsider partnering with Enbridge as a 2011 Prairie Scene! Festival Sponsor.

Thank you,

Prairie Artists Against Enbridge:

Mike Alexander — Musician

Brad Bellegard — Musician

Rob Bos — Artist

Craig Boychuk — Musician/Producer

Burnthe8track — Band

Susie Burpee — Choreographer/Dancer

Comeback Kid — Band

Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Milan — Performance Artists

Christine Fellows — Musician

Danny Fernandez — Musician

Eric Galbraith — Musician

Noam Gonick — Filmmaker

Dagan Harding — Musician

Head Hits Concrete – Band

Derek Hogue — Designer

Reghan Hincliffe — Musician

Charley Justice – Musician

Jonak Krieser — Musician

Pimpton — Musician

Greg Macpherson — Musician

Mama Cutsworth — DJ

Chris Merk — Musician

Robb Morrison — Sound Engineer/Producer

The Paperbacks — Band

Joel Passmore — Musician

Pip Skid — Musician

Propagandhi — Band

Riva Racette — Musician

Andrea Roberts — Musician

Wolbachia – Band

Thomas Roussin — Musician

Deborah Schnitzer — Writer/Educator

Kerri Senkow — Musician

Leo Sepulveda — Musician

Ramiro Sepulveda — Musician

Brad Skibinsky — Musician

Miriam Toews — Novelist

Molten Lava – Band

Volcanoeless in Canada — Band

The Weakerthans — Band

Ila Wenus — Musician

Troy Westwood — Musician/Athlete

This petition is endorsed by the Indigenous Environmental Network, Sierra Club Prairie, the Rainforest Action Network, Dogwood Initiative, Corporate Ethics International and the Polaris Institute.

Well, here I am, poor me, dealing with the flu for the 5th consecutive day, in the confines of my poop-bedded (whoops!) home in Winnipeg. The worst illness I’ve had to confront in 15 years, man-o-man alive, I feel like crap. Sweats, chills, leaking snot, sneezing, coughing up yellow gunk, eyes that feel like Marty Feldmans’ looked, etc, etc….yes, apparently it’s “flu season” in our rotten and nasty country once again.

Being a huge suck at times like this, I moan and groan in the comfort of my bed. I have a tub that I can fill with hot water whenever i please. I have a high quality in-house water purifier and can drink as much as I want, whenever I want. Someone special is nearby to bring me tea (and then to pause and ask a question in a strictly abstract theoretical, non-literal way, “Honny, did you poop the bed??” (groan…uhh..no?!). I have very little appetite, but know when it returns, there’s food in a working refrigerator downstairs. I can pass the time listening to music on the radio, diddling the internet, or watching hateful nonsense on television. (Sarah Palin!! What the fuck! We need to re-lock and reload against these right wing freaks!! Don’t we?? At the ballot box is what i mean, of course, right?!!…..uhh, yeah! with votes! go democracy!…sheesh). I sit, taking crappy pills that I don’t want to take, but do anyway, because my head and body ache so bad I can’t even sleep at night. Woe is me!!

Now imagine being in a place, where you might be lucky enough to have a blanket that keeps you warm at night. Your roof is a tarp, and the floor turns to mud when it rains. You’ve been living like this for a year, and have been told that more help is on the way, but you’re not confident in the people delivering the message. You don’t even have access to clean water. In fact the water might make you deathly ill. Access to food is questionable, and is a concern every day, day after day after day after day.
An occupation force that’s better equipped to repress the poor masses than to assist in the plight of the people has introduced cholera to major sources of water that are heavily depended upon. The international “community” has recently staged farcical elections there, but the largest party in the country has been excluded, along with another 18 or so… “Democracy” has tended to come from outside and above, which assists in transnational exploitation and the interests of the domestic elite; when it comes from below, well, the community organizations representing the poor majority are historically met with brutal, deadly force, and are pushed into hiding or underground. The prevailing government has little power, and does little to alleviate the suffering. The multitude of countless NGO’s have more power, and sometimes do a few things here and there to alleviate suffering, but can’t get their shit together to do anything beyond that. Imagine having the flu there!! Imagine contracting CHOLERA there!! Imagine walking for hours with hardly any food in your gut to cast a ballot in an election you know is a selection by the international “community”, stepping over dead bodies of people who had cholera and weren’t lucky enough to get treatment by the internationals, only to get there and realize the polling station doesn’t even exist. IMAGINE THAT!!

It’s been one year since the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti.

Some internationalist organizations such as Partners in Health and the Cuban Medical Brigade and others are doing excellent, respectful, and extremely valuable work there and are definitely worthy of support.

The Canada-Haiti Action Network is holding events across Canada over the course of January to bring attention to the unjust situation there. Info can be found here:

http://www.canadahaitiaction.ca/events

Additional independent media sites uncorrupted by corporate affiliation can be viewed here:

http://www.canadahaitiaction.ca/weblinks

….oh yeah, if anyone happens to have access to Bill Clinton, spit in his face for me. Aim for his mouth, or his eyes. Of course, I mean that figuratively, not literally…..

Next Thursday, Jan 13th, 7PM, at the Rudolph Rocker Cultural Center at 91 Albert St, 3rd Floor, they are presenting:

A Public Forum: Examining the Continuing Disaster in Haiti.
A year after the earthquake in Haiti, the country faces many challenges that are socially imposed. From the ongoing UN occupation and the emergence of cholera, to failed aid models, to sham elections that refuse to allow Haiti’s largest political party participation, Canadians have many reasons to be concerned about what is being done there under the rubric of humanitarianism.

Please join us for a short presentation and for an open discussion. Admission is FREE!!!

All those believing that Canada is acting as a benign force for democracy are strongly encouraged to attend.

Wikileaks began on Sunday November 28th publishing 251,287 leaked United States embassy cables, the largest set of confidential documents ever to be released into the public domain. The documents will give people around the world an unprecedented insight into US Government foreign activities.

See them here.

If you are still fool enough to believe this system doesn’t reek like fetid plop, maybe these documents will help you see the light.

Government officials are of course spinning this as if citizens are doing something wrong by sharing these, but if these goofs don’t want to get caught lying and conniving and plotting and deceiving, then DON’T FUCKIN LIE AND CONNIVE AND PLOT AND DECEIVE. Don’t treat the world like it’s one giant game of Risk.

Anyone else notice a lot of politicians pulling surprise resignations in the past 6 months? yeah, me too.