Post-Lab

Great night, fun party. Thanks to all who made it happen!



Next GoatLab - St.Pauls Carnival Afterparty, free at the Black Swan!

Emma's top photo's here.

Glastonbury Picks

I am going to be at Glasto this year (if all goes to plan) rocking-out so I thought I would share my picks from the events there. Music-wise, the No.1 venue has GOT to be the House Of Doll Tent Glastonbury 08, Trash City, its an amazing line-up, turned to 11;

THURSDAY:
DJ'S MR HYDE & JNKY (DJ SET)
DJ TENDRAW (DJ SET)
MULLY (LIVE)
LE COUTEAU JAUNE (LIVE)
DJ BUMPANDGRINDMAN SAGE (LIVE)
SHITMAT (LIVE)
DJ STIVS (DJ SET)
CLOSE

VISUALS: WEIRDCORE

FRIDAY:
DJ'S
DJ TENDRAW (DJ SET)
HORACIO POLLARD (LIVE)
DJ NASTY MCQAID (DJ SET)
K-TRON (LIVE)
TEAM PLASTIQUE (LIVE)
ED COX (LIVE)
DJ BUMPANDDRINDMAN SAGE (DJ SET)
MR HYDE (DJ SET)

VISUALS: WEIRDCORE

SATURDAY:
GABBA AROBICS
EXPO HOURS
WRONG MUSIC
MC GAFFY (TBC)
ROMVELOPE (LIVE)
DJ TENDRAW (LIVE)
DEMON CABBAGE
SHITMAT (LIVE)
PARASITE (LIVE)
DONNA SUMMER (LIVE)
DJ NASTY MCQUAID (DJ SET)

VISUALS: WEIRDCORE

SUNDAY:
FILM SRCEENINGS
HORACIO POLLARD (LIVE)
DJ'S MR HYDE & JNKY (DJ SET)
K-TRON (LIVE)
TEAM PLASTIQUE (LIVE)
LE COUTEAU JAUNE (LIVE)
ED COX & DJ STIVS (LIVE)
DJ'S TENDRAW VS SAGE, NASTY & HYDE (DJ SET)
CLOSE

And of that must-see's are Stivs, Shitmat, Donna Summer and Ed Cox (clowncore!) and Bristol's own PARASITE!

Other music I am hoping to see is Seth Lakeman (Sat, Acoustic) Manu Chao (Sat on Pyramid Stage & Sunday Jazz world), Seasick Steve (Acoustic Friday and Sat on Pyramid Stage), Joan Baez (Sunday, Acoustic), Billy Bragg (Sunday, Left Field), Kate Nash (Friday on Pryamid Stage & Friday on Left Field and also Friday on Queens Head - she's busy!), Cassette Boy & DJ Rubbish (Glade on Sat).

Oh and DJ Donna Summer (aka Jason Forrest) is also on the Glade Stage. Check it out.

Plus non-music type things we have my picks of John Hegley (Friday & Sunday, Poetry & Words Tent), Attila the Stockbroker (Sat & Sun, Poetry & Words Tent), Miscarriages of Justice UK Campaign (Left Field, Friday) plus all the campaigns in the Green Fields and stuff!

Have a good one!

The Power of Nature

As humans we are all too often human-centric in our world-view. We see ourselves as the be-all and end-all of history. But are we really? Our all too often arrogant religions place us at the centre of the universe and its time, but the probability is that we may well be nothing but the brief flowering on hyper-active sentience on a planet that existed before us and will carry on happily after us, thank you very much. Taking a passage from an old New Scientist article (which was reprinted in the excellent journal 'Do or Die' and replacing 'London' with 'Bristol' we get;

“But what would really happen if Bristol went back to to nature? Let's suppose that this weekend Bristolians flee after a Chernobyl-style accident. Or that tonight's news reveals that a genetically-engineered virus has been set loose, as in the film Twelve Monkeys. Or that Bristolains suddenly all get so sick of city life that they take Shelley's advice to flee "to the wild wood and the downs". How long before abandoned Bristol turned back to a rural paradise?”

Passing though the Bear-Pit today, there was a remarkable view of that vision; a wild flower paradise in the centre of the concrete jungle! It was amazing too see and I stopped to snap it I noticed many other fellow Bristolians doing the same.



There is something in the power of nature that speaks directly to us and beyond us. The hyper-complex system we have built may be far more unstable that we like to think;

“The end of civilisation. Literature and film abound with tales of plague, famine and wars which ravage the planet, leaving a few survivors scratching out a primitive existence amid the ruins. Every civilisation in history has collapsed, after all. Why should ours be any different? Doomsday scenarios typically feature a knockout blow: a massive asteroid, all-out nuclear war or a catastrophic pandemic. Yet there is another chilling possibility: what if the very nature of civilisation means that ours, like all the others, is destined to collapse sooner or later? A few researchers have been making such claims for years. Disturbingly, recent insights from fields such as complexity theory suggest that they are right...”

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GoatLab Radio June 08

Parasite has done a great show!

Goatlab Radio with Parasite & Bong-Ra Interview - June 2008

Tracklist:

1. Himuro Yoshiteru - Wet You
2. Amph - My Girl (ft. Cauto) (Mutant Sniper)
3. DJ Donna Summer - Wonder Years (Cock Rock Disco)
4. Filaria - Bruce Lee Perry
5. Gromov - Coma Gain (Allergy)
6. Hudson Mo - Ooops! (Wireblock)
7. Kamerat Tord - Loona (unreleased!)
8. Michael Montano - Madder Dan Dat (Ghislain Poirier Remix)
9. South Rakkas Crew - Mad Again
10. Venetian Snares - Eurocore MVP (Planet Mu)
11. Vex'd - Crusher Dub (Planet Mu)
12. Venetian Snares - Miss Balaton

Hear it at: http://dswat.streamlinetrial.co.uk/thegoatlab/?Radio

See you at the 'lab tonight....
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Irony Overload

Clarion Events (hosts of The Baby Show) recently bought the rights to DSEi, yes the life-affirming Defence Systems and Equipment International, aka the world's biggest arms fair.

And remember how the fight in Iraq is for democracy and how the US handed power over to Iraqi's? Ironic then...

The intrepid Patrick Cockburn reveals that the White House is more or less blackmailing the Iraqi government into signing a security pact with George W. Bush. At stake is $50 bn. of Iraqi money held in the US Federal Reserve, at least $20 bn. of which could be lost to Iraq if the government of Nuri al-Maliki declines to sign on the dotted line. Cockburn also reveals that the Iraqis wanted to diversify their receipts from oil sales away from dollar holdings into euros, and that the Americans vetoed the move. Bush wants 50 bases in Iraq and the prerogative of the US military to act unilaterally and with impunity inside the country.

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Kill 'Em All

There was a great 2000AD strip, The ABC Warriors, where one of the characters Mek-Quake, a psychotic robot with a tiny mental age declares that;

"We're going to fight for freedom and democracy and anyone who disagrees, we're going to kill 'em, yeah!"

Now life imitates art as it emerges that Bu$h has similar ideas. Here's what he is supposed to have said in a pep-talk to commanders via secure video link;

"Kick ass!....If somebody tries to stop the march to democracy, we will seek them out and kill them! We must be tougher than hell! ... Our will is being tested, but we are resolute. We have a better way. Stay strong! Stay the course! Kill them! Be confident! Prevail! We are going to wipe them out! We are not blinking!"

WTF????? Is this guy playing GTA or running the most powerful military in the world? It's beyond a joke...
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al-Qaida's Supposed Defeat

There is a good piece in response to the CIA's claims that al-Qaida is on the ropes by Jason Burke (His book on al-Qaida is a good read);

When CIA director Michael Hayden last week spoke of the imminent "strategic defeat" of al-Qaida, he surprised many. Some, such as Professor Bruce Hoffman of Georgetown University, immediately pointed out that Hayden is a political nominee speaking in election year and that the new optimistic analysis flew in the face of everything the intelligence community had been saying for months....

Burke talks about a guy, al-Suri, who wrote lots on the strategy of global terror and has a different idea of how they should fight from Bin Laden. I checked out more about this and found an interesting quote by al-Suri in another article where he remarks that the actions of the US and its allies in Iraq and Afghanistan has shown him that they are so evil that it justifies a nuclear/chemical/biological terror attack. The implication is that prior to the attacks on Iraq and Afghanistan he was not convinced of the need for such destruction, after he was. I don't have the original documents, but this suggests another example of how the War of Terror (TM) is making us less not more safe.

It is also costing some serious money and freedom in the process;

The total Pentagon budget represents more than our combined spending on education, environmental protection, justice administration, veteran's benefits, housing assistance, transportation, job training, agriculture, energy, and economic development. No wonder, then, that, as it collects ever more money, the Pentagon is taking on (or taking over) ever more functions and roles.

And it is set to grow. This is why the 42 days must be opposed, why the war of terror must be stopped.
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