After the pathetic Occupy-themed song of Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, the political rap-rock band’s singer rhythmic vocalist Zack de la Rocha decided to honor the nationwide protesters, possibly to encourage them after a spate of crackdowns and evictions by local governments. Take a look and catch a glimpse of what may have been the tenor of Mr. la Rocha’s oft-promised but never-launched career as a solo artist:

Via Prefix:

The beginning spills through city veins
Into the arteries
And under powers poison clouds
We move like the shadows
Through the alley ways
Through nightmares bought and sold as dreams
Through barren factories
Through boarded schools
Through rotting fields
Through the burning doors of the past
Through imaginations exploding
To break the curfews in our minds

Our actions awaken dreams of actions multiplied
A restless fury
Once buried like burning embers
Left alone to smolder
But together stacked under the walls of a dying order
All sparks are counted
Calloused hands raised in silence
Over the bonfire of hope unincorporated
It’s flame restores tomorrows meaning
Across the graveyards of hollow promises
As gold dipped vultures pick at what is left of our denial

And the youngest among us
Stare at us stoned like eyes determined
And say
Death for us may come early
Cause dignity has no price
At the corner of now and nowhere
Anywhere
Everywhere
Tomorrow is calling
Tomorrow is calling

Do not be afraid

Yes, their civic ignorance and major-label hypocrisy are both easy and fun to mock, but they still knew how to jam, and guitarist Tom Morello achieved some truly awe-inspiring results in his sonic experimentation. Regardless of his politics, I could always respect him as a human and as a musician.

But oh, how the mighty have fallen. Here’s Morello before performing at Occupy Wall Street last Friday:

The crimes committed by Wall Street are just that–crimes. And if Barack Obama doesn’t have the courage to shut down Guantanamo Bay, then perhaps he can fill some of those animal cages with the Wall Street criminals who torpedoed our economy. And if Barack Obama doesn’t have the courage to do that, we may have to drag those sons of bitches off to jail ourselves. Perhaps we’ll put ‘em in those little orange jumpsuits with the black hoods over their heads and crank Rage Against the Machine 24 hours a day.

To the left, there’s nothing worse than getting a one-way ticket to Guantanamo Bay. Even terrorists don’t deserve such a fate. Yet bankers sure do, because some animals deserve cages more equally than others.

The suggestion for mob justice isn’t the worst part of this. Look at the flash of glee that comes across his face at the thought of imprisoning and humiliating people who make their living through voluntary transactions. And that’s not even the worst part of it; listen to the song he plays after his little fascist fantasy… if you can.

Morello could have outright called for the head of every last Republican in the country, but if he had then launched into some melt-your-face-off rawk, I would gladly shake his hand and step up to the guillotine. But this–this, at best, half-sung fizzling dirge performed under Morello’s solo moniker, ‘The Nightwatchman,’ is just embarrassing.

The man has devolved from one of the world’s premier rock guitarists to your local state college’s most famous acoustic singer-songwriter–and one that has to use a human microphone, at that. It’s no wonder, then, his leftism’s become increasingly bitter and violent.

Finally, what this really means for me is that Neutral Milk Hotel’s Jeff Mangum performing for OWS is a double heartbreak; not only is he an economic and moral dunce, but he’s now in the company of has-beens. Excuse me while I go cry in a corner and sing “Two-Headed Boy” to myself.

As we gather with loved ones this Labor Day weekend to officially bid farewell to another all-too short summer, we should take a moment to remember those who are serving overseas and unable to be with us to enjoy those BBQs, cold beers, pool parties, and such.   Here to remind us of their sacrifices, with a brand-spankin’ new rock tribute entitled Soldiers of America, is the very hot new conservative rock band, Madison Rising.

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“Madison Rising, named in honor of James Madison, the fourth President of the United States and author of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Federalist Papers, is a new rock band best described as a conservative version of Rage Against The Machine” according to President and CEO of Purple Eagle Entertainment (and fellow BigDawg’er), Richard Mgrdechian, who formed the band.  He further states:

The band provides guitar-centric, pro-American rock music to a market completely devoid of anything similar.  The band expects to become the face of patriotic rock and roll.  Madison Rising is expected to perform at major campaign events, military bases, NASCAR events and other pro-American venues, establishing itself as a major political voice in this country during the 2012 election cycle and beyond.  The band’s first single, Soldiers of America, was released on September 1st, 2011 and the album itself will be available on September 30^th.

BigDawg Music Mafia is honored to introduce the very talented members of Madison Rising:

Lead Vocals – Dave Bray: Dave was born in Yorkshire England to American parents working for the National Security Agency.  His family relocated to Jefferson, Pennsylvania at age 5.  The definitive musical moment came for him in high school after performing “Alive” by Pearl Jam at a talent show in front of an awe-struck audience.  Dave has been performing ever since.  Dave enlisted in the Navy immediately after high school and while at Camp Johnson in North Carolina, won the coveted Top Dog Award for outstanding physical fitness.  After serving as a Navy medic in a sniper team in the 2nd battalion 2nd Marines, Dave was stationed on the USS Guam.  Dave was honorably discharged in 2007 and returned to PA where he built tanks for BAE Systems, Inc. a major international supplier of defense related systems.

Why he joined: “I plan to take the same approach to the success of Madison Rising as I have in the past with the military. It feels great doing something you love for a purpose that matters. When people start hearing our music, I believe they will have a whole new outlook on what it means to be a patriot and on the conservative message in general.”

Christopher Schreiner – Lead and Rhythm Guitar

Lead and Rhythm Guitar – Christopher Schreiner: In 2008, Chris was a top ten finalist in Guitar Player Magazine’s Superstar Competition, as well as a finalist at the 2009 Urban Music Awards America’s Next Urban Superstar Competition.  Renowned for his nuanced arrangements and music acumen, Chris was invited by ESC Records, along with music legends Steve Vai, Dennis Chambers and Billy Cobham, to contribute a track for one of their major releases of 2010.  Chris graduated from the prestigious Berklee College of Music in 2005 with a BA in Guitar Performance. In 2008 Schreiner released his debut album Only Human.  The recording won multiple awards including Best Instrumental Single at the Malibu Music Awards and Best Instrumental Album at the Muse’s Muse Editors Choice Awards.

Why he joined:  “I have been involved in many creative projects. This however is particularly exciting because the message drives and informs the creative process, unlike most musical endeavors which lack any meaning beyond pure artistic expression.”

Alex Bodnar – Lead and Rhythm Guitar

 Lead and Rhythm Guitar – Alex Bodnar: Alex has been a guitarist for a variety of elite musical acts since the age of fourteen when he had already mastered some of the most complex music around including Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Van Halen and others.  At 21, Alex toured Japan as lead guitarist for Utada Hikaru (Japan’s all-time number one selling female artist).  In 2006 Alex became musical director and guitar player for a promo tour with RBD, a Grammy nominated music group.  In 2008, he joined forces with Creed frontman Scott Stapp for his second solo effort.  As part of the Scott Stapp Band, Alex wrote numerous songs, played lead guitar and toured the world performing for tens of thousands of American military personnel during their Armed Forces Entertainment tour in locations including Africa, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Kuwait, Bahrain.

Why he joined: “It’s easy to waste our talents on meaningless creativity, but to use ones talents to help society and influence positive change in the world is something we are optimistic enough to try, and hope to accomplish through our music.”

Sam Fishman – Drums

Drums – Sam Fishman: As a child Sam could not resist hitting pots and pans, so it is natural that since age 10, Sam has dedicated himself to the art of percussion. Now 24, Sam is a master drum technician with a rock style similar to that of legendary drummers Keith Moon of The Who and John Bonham of Led Zeppelin. Sam attended George Washington University on a Presidential Arts Scholarship. While in Washington, D.C. he incorporated elements of hip-hop, funk, and progressive rock into his playing.  After leaving GWU, Sam enrolled in the University of Rochester to continue his musical studies, performing key roles in ensembles at the Eastman School of Music.

Why he joined: “There is no better way to reach the American people then to play great rock and roll music that stands for something. We are in need of a voice  that stands for hard work, perseverance, and a call to take back our liberty.”

Ryan Kienle – Bass

Bass – Ryan Kienle: Ryan began playing the bass in 8th grade.  A few years and several bands later, Ryan was the founding bassist of Matchbook Romance, which released four albums, selling over 350,000 records in the U.S. alone.  In support of these releases, Kienle spent three consecutive summers performing on the Vans Warped Tour.  Ryan has performed live on MTV, MTV2, MTVU, Fuse and NBC, as well as, having songs featured in the best selling video games Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, and Madden 2007.  He is endorsed by G&L Guitars, Electro Harmonix pedals, Aguilar amps and Keely Electronics.

Why he joined:  “America often seems to be the decline while other nations reap the benefits of our indifference.  When an audition for a Pro-American band came along, I immediately  jumped at the opportunity. Playing music is my first love, so playing the bass for a better tomorrow was a natural fit for me.”

The man behind the creation of this phenomenal new band, Richard Mgrdechian, who I met at CPAC earlier this year, learned about our site when a friend brought him by our booth and introduced us.  I told him what we were all about, gave him my card, and he joined shortly after.  He told me he was forming a conservative rock band and was in search of a lead vocalist to complete the band.  He explains how Madison Rising came to be:

It took almost a year to get everyone and everything together to make this all happen.  The first person who joined the team was Chris Schreiner, a phenomenal guitarist and musical composer.  He and I began collaborating on a couple of songs as we searched for other members (through word of mouth, CraigsList, Facebook ads, MySpace, etc).  Along the way we met Alex Bodnar, a true musical prodigy who had produced albums, written music for known acts, toured with Creed and so forth. Once he was aboard, things really took off.  We held multiple auditions for the next 3-4 months for singers, drummers and bassists.  Sam Fishman (our drummer) was the first to sign up.  The guy is a rock legend waiting to happen.  Then came the highly experienced Ryan Kinle (our bassist) who had founded his previous band (Matchbook Romance) and toured with them for almost a decade.  The last piece of the puzzle came to us courtesy of the US Navy, when Dave Bray walked into an audition – a born rockstar, gifted performer, military man, and true conservative.  Once he was in the picture, the puzzle was complete.

My goal is to have the band perform at dozens of major campaign and GOP events to make sure these events are fun, entertaining, and enormously attractive to potential attendees.  Liberals have successfully used this strategy for decades to dramatically increase turnout at their events and make their ideology “cool.”  Madison Rising will allow conservatives to do the same thing, to significantly increase attendance at political events and to successfully infuse ideologically suppressed ideas (like what true liberty really is, or having some gratitude for all the things we have in this country) back into popular culture.  This approach should be especially successful with respect to younger (18-35) voters, a key demographic where conservatives desperately need to focus.

Madison Rising will be available for live events as of September 2011.  The band has established relationships with media outlets including newspapers, radio shows and television networks that have agreed to help promote the material.

You can learn more about Madison Rising on their official website.  Do take a moment to subscribe to their brand new YouTube channel and Like their new FaceBook page and please help spread the word.  Their debut single Soldiers of America is now available on iTunes.

As I mentioned in an article just published in the August edition of Smart Girl Nation, entitled “The Sound of Freedom”…“Pardon our noise; it’s the sound of freedom”. Thanks to talented conservative artists like Madison Rising, we are (to borrow a line from our friend and fellow culture warrior, Jeannie Hinck) “rocking the sound of freedom like a BigDawg”!

Andrew (BigDawg) and I wish you and yours a safe and blessed Labor Day weekend and may the Good Lord continue to watch over our brothers and sisters in harm’s way.

Filmmaker Moore attend a recent Wisconsin pro-union rally and regaled the crowd with an address saying, “Madison is only the beginning.”

“We’re going to do this together. Don’t give up. Please don’t give up,” Moore told the protesters, who have swarmed the Capitol every day for close to three weeks.

Oh, he’s a great supporter, right? But let us drift back only a few years to 2009 when he was filming his last bomb, Capitalism: A Love Story. During that production we found that Moore didn’t hire union stagehands (the IATSE) for his film.

According to his agent, Ari Emanuel, Moore claimed that he used non-union labor because the stagehands union doesn’t “respect documentary filmmakers” or some such thing.

It made the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) mad enough that they refused all the free tickets Moore tried to offer them when the movie debuted. Yet here are these teachers in Wisconsin now falling all over themselves because Moore came publicity seeking in front of them. For shame that their institutional memory is so shallow, eh?

That wasn’t the only time that Moore made a film snubbing union workers, either. Back in 2000 Moore directed a music video for the band Rage Against The Machine and non-union workers were also used in that production.

Just last year Moore made a stir by stealing the work of a newspaper and re-posting the entire thing on his own website as if it was his own work. He even took the video produced by the Knoxville News Sentinel, took the paper’s logo off it, then reposted it as if it was his own work.

Moore has long been an opponent of copyright protection and thinks that everyone’s work should be free.

In any case, Michael Moore is a supreme hypocrite, typical of a liberal, saying one thing and doing another.

Concerning actors and artists, “Shut up and sing” has become a conservative cliché long since due for retirement.  For one, we’re inconsistent.  We can’t applaud Jon Voight speaking his mind one day and then decry Sean Penn for speaking his the next day.  Sure, we can point out how much his thoughts lack basic self-awareness, but to suggest that he should just do his job and not voice his opinion is a totalitarian thought.  To entertain it is to betray our own principles and become exactly what we hate.

Today, though, I can’t help but entertain it. 

Zack de la Rocha, the lead singer of Rage Against the Machine (who came crawling back to his band once it was clear his career as a solo artist was DOA), has organized a boycott of Arizona’s new immigration law, convincing plenty of well-to-do leftist bands to skip on performing in the state.  Now, there’s nothing wrong with bands deciding where they’re going to play.  The issue is the principle behind the decision, exploiting a cause célèbre to frame themselves as righteous racial crusaders.

Among these artists is Conor Oberst, the lead singer for the uber-pretentious “Bright Eyes,” a band which I have had the pleasure of never listening to, mainly due to Oberst’s liberal use of the lazily-singing, ever-so-profound folk songwriter archetype that even Bob Dylan figured out was boring.  I’ll catch a lot of flack outside BH for that, but I’m extremely proud of my decision never to have plunked down $15 on an artist who names their songs “Let’s Not Shit Ourselves (To Love and be Loved)” and finds this worthwhile material for a music video.

Oberst, in an attempt to stick out from the rest of his “Yeah, I’m not racist, either!” peers, has written an open letter to Charlie Devy, a music venue promoter who organizes hundreds of events throughout Arizona and New Mexico every year.  Levy first wrote an open letter to de la Rocha’s boycott brigade, asking them to consider who they will actually hurt.  Most likely, the evil racist gringo politicians won’t be affected a whit (unless indie hipsters stop diddling with iPhone apps and start calling their state representatives), while the hard-working people who feed their children with the money that comes in from concerts will likely go destitute. 

Zack de la Rocha

These people most likely agree with de la Rocha and Oberst, yet they’re being punished with poverty for something they cannot control.  Levy points out in his letter that instead of resorting to infantile behavior, these artists should come to Arizona and embrace open dialogue, tolerance, and all the other feel-good progressive buzzwords that suddenly became unpopular when unfettered federal power for their side became a possibility.

Oberst’s response is exactly what you’d expect: eerily paranoid, self-aggrandizing, and full of capitalized common nouns.  As I quote from his first paragraph, consider the law he’s talking about, a near-copy of the existing federal law that allows police, once they have accosted a person for some other violation of the rules, to see whether they have broken another in their entrance to the country, just like police can ask, once you have broken some rule while driving, to see whether you are authorized by the state to be driving on their roads.  Oberst says of the law and its makers: 

The only thing, clearly, that these people care about is Money and Power, that and the creation and preservation of an Anglo-Centric Police State where every Immigrant and Non-White citizen is considered subhuman.  They want them stripped of their basic human rights and reduced to slaves for Corporate America and the White Race.

The only thing?  24 hours a day, at breakfast, lunch, and dinner?  Even Robert Byrd had to quit after a measly 14 hours.

As if this nonsense isn’t stomach-churning enough, Oberst goes on to gloss over the reality of what he’s doing.  “Much of the Artist end of the boycott is symbolic, I acknowledge, and no real threat to the economics of the State.”  The consistency is lovely:  standing up for the lawbreaker individuals who have a demonstrable negative effect on “the State,” yet ignoring the minimum-wagers who sell t-shirts at shows so they can have some cash to buy gas and food.

As much as my gut reaction to this childish conspiracy-mongering is to shout “Shut up and sing!”, it’s not necessary.  The more the Left speaks, the more we can speak.  The more we both speak, the more the world sees how ill-informed, irrational, and self-serving this boycott is.

But I’m not surprised.

Think about it for a second. Since when has socialism ever been accurately portrayed in American pop culture or academia? I’ve never seen it covered in “Facts of Life,” and I’ve watched every episode. And Rage Against the Machine, one of the most successful leftwing buckets of noise on the planet, never really explained how they spent their millions. Although I’m guessing it’s not just on Rogaine and trucker hats.

Fact is, because socialism is a lie, people have to keep pushing the lie. When someone says, “Hey, my brother is a socialist,” they never follow it with, “you know, that ideology based on envy that’s responsible for the deaths of millions.” No instead it’s, “He sells Che shirts out of hemp, when he isn’t recycling sex toys for the homeless. God he’s so caring.”

Fact is, socialism is the easiest thing you can romanticize, because it’s a big fat exaggeration of “sharing.” As kids, we were always told to share, because sharing is good. If you had twenty Playboys under your bed, surely you could hand one off to Billy, who has none. Socialism has always piggybacked on this notion: that it’s just not right for you to have so much, when others have so little. Never mind that you’ve earned what you’ve got, while the others sit around watching Judge Judy in their underpants (sorry Bill). Socialism is government forcing you to share your stuff with jerks.

So the only way to teach American adults that socialism is evil, is to get them when they’re young. The next time your son mows the lawn, instead of paying him directly – tell him you’re going to “spread it around,” to quote our President. Yep, even though you did all the work, Tommy, there are kids down the block who deserve that money just as much.

Now, if your kid finds this idea appealing, you have full permission to send him to Venezuela. He can mow for Hugo!

And if you disagree with me, you probably masturbate to Noam Chomsky.

Tonight we’ve got: 

Ann Coulter!

Tucker Carlson!

comedian Tom Shillue!

fun fun fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun!

From the “Truth is Stranger Than Fiction” files:

Rock bands including Pearl Jam and REM have joined a coalition of musicians to support the US president’s efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay prison.

The National Campaign to Close Guantanamo, which also includes former military officers, launched on Tuesday.

Many of the artists who have signed up are angry that their music was used as an interrogation tool in the jail.

But CIA spokesman George Little said music was used only for security, rather than “punitive purposes”.

In a statement, REM said: “We have spent the past 30 years supporting causes related to peace and justice. To now learn that some of our friends’ music may have been used as part of the torture tactics without their consent or knowledge, is horrific. It’s anti-American, period.”

Other artists to sign up to the coalition include Jackson Browne, Steve Earle, Roseanne Cash, Billy Bragg, Bonnie Raitt and Rage Against The Machine.

On behalf of the campaign, the National Security Archive in Washington is filing a Freedom of Information Act request seeking classified records that detail the use of loud music as an interrogation device.

How lacking in self-awareness do you have to be to claim that your music is used as torture? That’s not something most people would call attention to.  

Big Hollywood agrees and calls on the CIA to start using audio tapes of rock stars pontificating on politics as an interrogation tactic. The terrorists would break much faster.

Read the full article here.

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We’ve seen this film many times before from Mr. Moore. The Bush years were kind to him as he tapped into the fears of Americans as they questioned the post 9-11 world, or worried whether there were bogey men hiding in the front offices of America. Now, he’s able to exploit the recession and all the hardships we endure in one great big Mike Moore spectacular! In Moore’s world, free enterprise is unfair, health care is unfair, the 2nd amendment is unfair, life is unfair, paychecks, layoffs, mortgages and democracy itself is unfair — and America is the bad guy. 

While I was in the thick of working on media for George W. Bush’s re-election campaign, Fahrenheit 9/11 was released. A twenty-something who had been working for me went to see it one weekend. Thoughts raced through my head: “Was he a Michael Moore fan?” “does he really believe Moore’s outrageous conspiracy theories?!”  These thoughts quickly vanished when he strolled in the next morning and said, “My friends and I laughed. It was kinda funny — nobody actually believes all that crap.” Just another way to blow off some time on a Saturday night, go have some chuckles (after all it’s only sarcasm, which is the only way I can explain John Stewart’s popularity, come to think of it).

Let’s face it: Moore is one of the most successful documentary filmmakers of all time. But he’s done it by becoming the P.T. Barnum of the left, if you will. In the end, Moore’s message is just another second-rate side show for suckers-born-every-minute. And, boy, do those suckers buy tickets! No worries, though —  his over-the-top, skewed sensibilities are usually a bridge too far for most Americans. He’s regularly exposed by critics as horribly cherry picking his facts and heavily manipulating interviews. Moore’s stale formula is all so predictable, he even said it himself: “This issue informs all my other movies. I started thinking if I can only make one more movie – I started thinking this of course during the Bush years – what would that movie be?” Why, to insult America, of course! Bravo Michael Moore, you’ve outdone yourself again!

It’s all fine and dandy for Moore — he spends his spare time directing music videos for best-selling chart toppers like Rage Against the Machine and R.E.M. He’s sending his kid to private school. He owns a couple of homes.  His speaker’s fees for preaching the ills of capitalism usually runs tens of thousands of dollars per speech. And, sure, he can spot a greedy capitalist when he sees one — they’re his neighbors. He wrote, “I walk among them. I live on the island of Manhattan, a three-mile-wide strip of land that is luxury home and corporate suite to America’s elite….. Those who run your life live in my neighborhood.” Gee, Mike — next time you bump into them at the clubhouse, tell ‘em all us little people said ‘hi.’

Now, Moore works the glitterati circuit in Venice, Italy hobnobbing and schmoozing the press. He reveals his capitalism slam-piece may be his last documentary. Can we be so lucky?  But of course! Moore wants to direct features — after all, everyone knows that’s where the real money is!

Perhaps more than any other fifties rock and roller, Buddy displayed a capacity for growth, for pushing the boundaries of The Sound. At the time of Buddy’s death he was living in New York City, married to a young woman born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and hanging out in coffeehouses, where he listened to beat poetry and flamenco guitar; at the same time he had booked a steel guitar player for the recording session that he didn’t survive to attend. Buddy was both growing in new directions and sinking his roots deeper into that fertile American earth from which The Sound had sprung. Who knows what great music this restless creative spirit would have brought forth in the sixties and seventies? Maybe in Heaven Buddy will play us all a new song.

It’s a great day to celebrate the genius of the American muse that gave rise to Buddy Holly, who deeply absorbed both Bo Diddley and Bill Monroe, and then filled the West Texas plains with a new American tune equal parts swampy blues and lonesome mountain pining. Only in America my friends, only in America could The Sound spring forth; a music as traditional as the bluegrass tunes that the Crickets cut their teeth covering, as radical as Buddy’s Fender Stratocaster, which redefined what a guitar could look, sound and feel like. Like another great American rock and roller, Johnny Ramone, Buddy’s guitar style was all about machine-gun fast downstrokes. A Hungry Sound, a Mighty Sound.

It’s funny when people talk about the British Invasion of 1964 as some sea change in the sound of popular music, because at first all those British groups, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones included, sounded astonishingly like…Buddy Holly. Indeed, both Paul McCartney and Keith Richards gratefully acknowledge their debt to Lubbock, Texas’ favorite son. Maybe the truth is that by 1964 the world was finally ready to fully open up its ears to The Sound, and the British Invaders reaped the harvest that Buddy sowed.

But today let’s not grieve or recriminate but remember and celebrate, because on that windswept American plain the car is fast and the girl is beautiful, the music lives and liberates and we’re gonna shake it just a little in the middle of the night…

All Hail Buddy Holly, and His Big American Sound. Rave On!