So it’s two weeks till our favourite festival and now that the line up is confirmed its time to start getting excited. Here’s why :-

FRIDAY - APPAT/CLOAKS/DRUMCUNT/MIKE WATT/PART CHIMP/SCORN/SCOTCH EGG/SECRET CHIEFS 3/SLABDRAGGER/

SATURDAY - AGATHE MAX/ALEXANDER TUCKER/ANTILLES/BACKWARDS/BARDO POND/BERG SANS NIPPLE/ELECTRIC WIZARD/KLAUS KINSKI/KOGUMAZA/LUCKY DRAGONS/MONARCH/MUTE SYNTH/NATHAN BELL/ORTHODOX/PHAROAH OVERLORD/SKULL DEFEKTS/TEETH OF THE SEA/WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM/ZOMBI/

SUNDAY - ALVA NOTO/ASTRO/BARN OWL/BYETONE/CIRCLE/CUT HANDS/DRUNK IN HELL/DRUM EYES/ENVY/ETERNAL TAPESTRY/FIRE!/ICONACLASS/JEFR CANTU LEDESMA/MODULATE/ORE/PEKKO KAPPI/SELFLESS/SILVER APPLES/TONY CONRAD/TURBONEGRO/WHITE HILLS/

So not only am I finally getting to see Secret Chiefs 3 but I get to catch Scotch Egg, Barn Owl and the amazing Silver Apples. I only just got the Silver Apples album but it is an absolutely extraordinary thing and I am tremendously excited not only at the prospect of seeing the Simeon in action, but at unleashing some spasticated hippy dance moves in their general direction.

It’s not just bands remember and there are films and exhibitions aplenty and “the film programme will include; $100 Dollars And A T Shirt, Suspiria, Karp Lives: Kill All Red Neck Pricks, Man With A Video Camera, Still Before (Oxbow on the road), Blood Sweat and Vinyl: DIY in the 21st Century, Fonal Records shorts and more…

Art exhibitions include; Conny Prantera, Herman Inclusus, Birmingham Zine Festival and there will be a talk with William Bennett of Cut Hands/Whitehouse/Vice Guide to Liberia also.”

As if that wasn’t enough, there are also some kids gigs too so I intend to indoctrinate my sprog into the world of experimental electronics and also embarrass the crap out of her by stage diving into a bunch of six year olds.

As you might have gathered from this, I will be there for the whole time so if you see me come and say hello. If I look at you blankly just tell me you lent me some money once and I’ll feign being pleased to see you.

Kim Monaghan

I’m pretty excited about Supersonic festival this year. Firstly, because Secret Chiefs 3 and Zombi are playing but also because it may be the first official Sitting Now outing, as Ken should be coming up to the wonderful city of Birmingham for it. Hopefully this means there may be some interview shenanigans etc but we can’t confirm anything yet.

It seems that Capsule who run the festival weren’t happy with my excitement levels as they appear to be trying to burst my heart by announcing the addition of Alva Noto (with Beytone) and Cut Hands to an already scintillating schedule. If you don’t know, Alva Noto is a purveyor of astonishingly great experimental / minimal techno to be found on one of the world’s greatest record labels Raster-Noton. Cut Hands is an alter ego of William Bennett (co-founder of the truly terrifying Whitehouse) and after hearing one of the tracks the other day I can safely say it will be a pretty intense experience.

These are just my personal highlights, as there are a wealth of other (undoubtedly) great bands. There are also films and even a kids concert over the course of the three days. Get your tickets now.

http://www.supersonicfestival.com

Kim Monaghan

A while ago we reviewed the band Illness. We also played them on the podcast. It is with great sadness that we must announce that the band is (conceptually) dead. They are doing a last tour at these places :

Thursday 4th August, Flairz, Hastings w/ Depakine Chrono and P for Persia
Friday 5th August, The Cowley Club, Brighton w/ Depakine Chrono and something else too
Saturday 6th August, Scar Studios, London w/ Depakine Chrono, Shield Your Eyes and more

They have also released “The Break Up Tape” on their Bandcamp page here :

http://illnessband.bandcamp.com/album/break-up-tape

I haven’t heard it yet but if it’s as good as the thing we reviewed then it’s probably worth getting hold of. I would also recommend going to see them if you’re trapped in the hell of South East England because they’re probably quite good live and they also have the amazing Shield Your Eyes with them at the London date.

Kim Monaghan

If you’re anything like me, you might be following this phenomenon religiously like some sort of cyberpunk wet dream come true with Rage Against the Machine on full blast, manically hitting refresh for the most recent information on the case while simultaneously debating the merits of every entity’s move or reaction like some mental chess match. Just in case you aren’t quite as inhumanely fixated, here’s a lengthy summary of what’s been going on:
______________________________________________________________________

To date, WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange was incarcerated for crimes relating to sexual assault in Sweden. The charges state that he was involved in two rapes in which initially consensual encounters with women turned nonconsensual when he refused to use a condom. Assange has denied the charges vehemently and believes it to be a sort of smear campaign moreso in relation to the cables scandal, though apparently there is no evidence of this thus far. If convicted, Assange would spend a maximum of four years in jail which, no doubt, could amount to considerably less than what his enemies envision for him.

Regarding the charges, Naomi Wolf offers a surprising response that appears to deviate from her original convictions.  She discusses what the allegations mean in The Huffington Post and a critique of her piece from feministing can be found here. Assange was released on bail earlier with certain conditions such as reporting to the police station daily and curfew among others, but more recently will be sticking around for a little longer to appeal the ruling. Here are live updates from The Guardian, NY Times’ The Lede, and The Nation. If you’re interested in what his attourney has to say, check out Mark Stephens’ Twitter.

When – or if – he does get out, Julian Assange will dwell in this mythical manor- a relative upgrade from the prison where he has resided, oppressively denied the company of an Internet accessible computer. Not shabby, but I’d say, not quite as novel, either, as hiding out in the lavish Bondesque cave that Ken wrote about.  Where does that leave Mr. Manning? The hacker responsible for snatching up the sacred documents? In a brig in Quantico.

However, just as The US Justice Deapartment has tirelessly been searching for criminal charges to make against Assange – including consideration of the 1917 Espionage Act – it’s no secret that Manning landed himself in hot water, and obvious charges that relate to his illicit behavior will be enacted.

Naturally, WikiLeaks is not receiving the greatest amount of cooperation from American institutions or conservative figureheads. Sarah Palin expressed serious distaste for WikiLeaks, and was subsequently under cyber-attack. It is yet to be seen if Senator Joeseph Lieberman will endure a similar fate after proposing legislation directly targeting Wikileaks, that would make publishing the names of military and intelligence informants illegal. Representative Peter King from New York takes a more extremist approach in suggesting that the State Department consider branding WikiLeaks as a terrorist organization. (source.)

Most notably, to name a few: Amazon, Paypal.com, and Mastercard have all discontinued services to the whistleblower institution.  However, their actions have prompted special support from others – and not just from Ron Paul, The Progressive Librarians Guild, The ACLU and Michael Moore - but also from the rogue internet group, Anonymous. (Their Twitter, or one of them.)

Dubbed “Operation: Payback” for the avenging of Assange, the so-called internet gathering group has published in their press release that their motivations behind attacking major institutions’ websites (PayPal, Mastercard, Visa) were more symbolically used to sully their “public face[s]” rather than obtain any illicit information. Instead they have sought attention by slowing the networks down rather than disarming them. You can view their manifesto here. A series of DDos attacks inconvenienced,  but did not truly harm the corporate sites.  Since then, Anonymous has backed down according to the press release due to fear of negative associations with putting a blockage in cheery holiday shopping. Indeed, that will dampen their reputation… but it’s not so sure Assange would really revel in their cowardice as he appears to hold bravery in high esteem, per his revealed OKCupid profile. At any rate, here’s how they did it, and where they gather.

Still, businesses are now called to prepare themselves for a hacktivist backlash,- the fear seemingly sending a warning message to major corporations with ties to Wikileaks to remain compliant with them. And yet, guess who’s NOT cutting ties with WikiLeaks- (perhaps due to extraordinary traffic, I’d posit!?) – Twitter. From computerweekly.com‘s website:

Twitter is thought to be next in line, following accusations that it has blocked Wikileaks from trending on its microblogging site. The company denied it had done so in a blog post yesterday. “This week, people are wondering about Wikileaks, with some asking if Twitter has blocked #wikileaks, #cablegate or other related topics from appearing in the list of top trends,” said the firm. “The answer: absolutely not. In fact, some of these terms, including #wikileaks and #cablegate, have previously trended either worldwide or in specific locations.”

It would appear that WikiLeaks has been cautious about the releasing- a negligible percentage has actually been made public out of the total- some of Assange’s colleagues have become estranged. The New York Times reports: “In recent months, some of Mr. Assange’s closest associates in WikiLeaks abandoned him, calling him autocratic and capricious and accusing him of reneging on WikiLeaks’s original pledge of impartiality to launch a concerted attack on the United States.”

With lessened support from those working closely to him, he has still garnered massive following from cyber groups and fans online and off. While some people are branding him a high-tech terrorist, others idolize Assange as a messiah for free speech and transparency. Currently, what remains to be answered is: are the rape allegations a ploy to get Assange into custody to prosecute him for espionage and publishing documents illegally or legitimate complaints of rape by these Swedish women?

Disregarding the sensationalized celebrity status that he has gained is an even more pressing issue.  His fate is now rather inconsequential concerning the documents themselves because of the purported torrent, so we face the question of the documents themselves.  At the moment, it is unsure what the content of the new cables will be. I would propose that juicier, more scathing and significant information will be distributed with time.

Will the cyberwars continue? How will US foreign policy be changed? What about security measures? The implications could be potentially be tremendous.  Unfortunately, though the corruptions on display might outweigh purported costs of embarrassment for the US, the point that critics swear by is that WikiLeaks’ exposed cables will essentially make a blaring target out of the US for terrorist groups.

Here’s an opinion on why WikiLeaks is actually counterprodcutive to its goals of long-lasting transparency, argues one, and why WikiLeaks is a “good thing.” Hit refresh. And if you’d rather see the cables themselves, check out some summaries here and what looks like an authentic mirror site of the cablegate.

Claire Lumiere

Michael Moore today sent out this missive:

Friends,

Yesterday, in the Westminster Magistrates Court in London, the lawyers for WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange presented to the judge a document from me stating that I have put up $20,000 of my own money to help bail Mr. Assange out of jail.

Furthermore, I am publicly offering the assistance of my website, my servers, my domain names and anything else I can do to keep WikiLeaks alive and thriving as it continues its work to expose the crimes that were concocted in secret and carried out in our name and with our tax dollars.

We were taken to war in Iraq on a lie. Hundreds of thousands are now dead. Just imagine if the men who planned this war crime back in 2002 had had a WikiLeaks to deal with. They might not have been able to pull it off. The only reason they thought they could get away with it was because they had a guaranteed cloak of secrecy. That guarantee has now been ripped from them, and I hope they are never able to operate in secret again.

So why is WikiLeaks, after performing such an important public service, under such vicious attack? Because they have outed and embarrassed those who have covered up the truth. The assault on them has been over the top:

**Sen. Joe Lieberman says WikiLeaks “has violated the Espionage Act.”

**The New Yorker‘s George Packer calls Assange “super-secretive, thin-skinned, [and] megalomaniacal.”

**Sarah Palin claims he’s “an anti-American operative with blood on his hands” whom we should pursue “with the same urgency we pursue al Qaeda and Taliban leaders.”

**Democrat Bob Beckel (Walter Mondale’s 1984 campaign manager) said about Assange on Fox: “A dead man can’t leak stuff … there’s only one way to do it: illegally shoot the son of a bitch.”

**Republican Mary Matalin says “he’s a psychopath, a sociopath … He’s a terrorist.”

**Rep. Peter A. King calls WikiLeaks a “terrorist organization.”

And indeed they are! They exist to terrorize the liars and warmongers who have brought ruin to our nation and to others. Perhaps the next war won’t be so easy because the tables have been turned — and now it’s Big Brother who’s being watched … by us!

WikiLeaks deserves our thanks for shining a huge spotlight on all this. But some in the corporate-owned press have dismissed the importance of WikiLeaks (“they’ve released little that’s new!”) or have painted them as simple anarchists (“WikiLeaks just releases everything without any editorial control!”). WikiLeaks exists, in part, because the mainstream media has failed to live up to its responsibility. The corporate owners have decimated newsrooms, making it impossible for good journalists to do their job. There’s no time or money anymore for investigative journalism. Simply put, investors don’t want those stories exposed. They like their secrets kept … as secrets.

I ask you to imagine how much different our world would be if WikiLeaks had existed 10 years ago. Take a look at this photo. That’s Mr. Bush about to be handed a “secret” document on August 6th, 2001. Its heading read: “Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US.” And on those pages it said the FBI had discovered “patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings.” Mr. Bush decided to ignore it and went fishing for the next four weeks.

But if that document had been leaked, how would you or I have reacted? What would Congress or the FAA have done? Was there not a greater chance that someone, somewhere would have done something if all of us knew about bin Laden’s impending attack using hijacked planes?

But back then only a few people had access to that document. Because the secret was kept, a flight school instructor in San Diego who noticed that two Saudi students took no interest in takeoffs or landings, did nothing. Had he read about the bin Laden threat in the paper, might he have called the FBI? (Please read this essay by former FBI Agent Coleen Rowley, Time’s 2002 co-Person of the Year, about her belief that had WikiLeaks been around in 2001, 9/11 might have been prevented.)

Or what if the public in 2003 had been able to read “secret” memos from Dick Cheney as he pressured the CIA to give him the “facts” he wanted in order to build his false case for war? If a WikiLeaks had revealed at that time that there were, in fact, no weapons of mass destruction, do you think that the war would have been launched — or rather, wouldn’t there have been calls for Cheney’s arrest?

Openness, transparency — these are among the few weapons the citizenry has to protect itself from the powerful and the corrupt. What if within days of August 4th, 1964 — after the Pentagon had made up the lie that our ship was attacked by the North Vietnamese in the Gulf of Tonkin — there had been a WikiLeaks to tell the American people that the whole thing was made up? I guess 58,000 of our soldiers (and 2 million Vietnamese) might be alive today.

Instead, secrets killed them.

For those of you who think it’s wrong to support Julian Assange because of the sexual assault allegations he’s being held for, all I ask is that you not be naive about how the government works when it decides to go after its prey. Please — never, ever believe the “official story.” And regardless of Assange’s guilt or innocence (see the strange nature of the allegationshere), this man has the right to have bail posted and to defend himself. I have joined with filmmakers Ken Loach and John Pilger and writer Jemima Khan in putting up the bail money — and we hope the judge will accept this and grant his release today.

Might WikiLeaks cause some unintended harm to diplomatic negotiations and U.S. interests around the world? Perhaps. But that’s the price you pay when you and your government take us into a war based on a lie. Your punishment for misbehaving is that someone has to turn on all the lights in the room so that we can see what you’re up to. You simply can’t be trusted. So every cable, every email you write is now fair game. Sorry, but you brought this upon yourself. No one can hide from the truth now. No one can plot the next Big Lie if they know that they might be exposed.

And that is the best thing that WikiLeaks has done. WikiLeaks, God bless them, will save lives as a result of their actions. And any of you who join me in supporting them are committing a true act of patriotism. Period.

I stand today in absentia with Julian Assange in London and I ask the judge to grant him his release. I am willing to guarantee his return to court with the bail money I have wired to said court. I will not allow this injustice to continue unchallenged.

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com

P.S. You can read the statement I filed today in the London court here.

I have to admit, I’m not normally the hugest ‘electro’ fan – mainly because I am so uneductaed in the genre – but Babe Lincoln really floated my boat:

Babe Lincoln is a party in your headphones. Lincoln, the music producer, along withThe Babe, the life of the party in the bikini, bring you tunes to get you up and out of your seat! Lincoln lives a nostalgic life, and you can hear it in his music. These two party animals are dedicated to a proposition which was true in my time, just as it’s true today. Be excellent to each other. And… PARTY ON, DUDES!

I’m very sad to report that Irvin Kershner died today aged 87. Kersh (as he was dubbed by most), directed one of the greatest films ever made ‘Star Wars:The Empire Strikes Back’. Empire has long been considered the best of the original trilogy by fans (myself included). From Empire:

Having fought in World War II, Kershner began his career by teaching film at the University of Southern California, but quickly made the move behind the camera via a detour as a stills photographer and TV director, calling the shots on Stakeout On Dope Street in 1958.

A decent career followed, in which he directed the likes of Sean Connery inA Fine Madness, Richard Harris in The Return Of A Man Called Horse, and Faye Dunaway in 1978′s Eyes Of Laura Mars (based on John Carpenter’s screenplay).

It was this movie that persuaded George Lucas, looking for someone to take the reins on his Star Wars sequel, to approach Kershner to directThe Empire Strikes Back. The rest is movie history: Kershner’s no-frills storytelling style, coupled with a strong script and an imaginative visual pallet, gave Empire a gravitas that marked it out as an instant classic.

Kirsh went on to direct Robocop 2 – which we’ll forgive him for – and the final, unoffical, bow for Sean Connery as James Bond in ‘Never Say Never Again’.

I urge you all to get out your Star Wars DVDs, pour yourself a drink, and toast the man!

Much to the dismay of the US government, the media organization/whistleblower site WikiLeaks released private US documents on its website this weekend.  Information that was previously posted on the website exposed action reports from the Iraq war that confirmed mistreatment of Iraqi insurgents and civilian deaths, but we already knew that- and this is far more substantial in what is, WikiLeaks writes, “the largest set of confidential documents ever to be released into the public domain.”  Several publications were entrusted with the information earlier from an intermediary associated with WikiLeaks to begin releasing the documents. Among them are the New York Times (US), The Guardian (England), Le Monde (France), El Pais (Spain) and German magazine Der Spiegel.

WikiLeaks’ editor-in-chief Julian Assange had been waiting to unveil the secret cables despite warnings issued by the Obama administration against posting the “irresponsible” information, which they hold will compromise US foreign relations and put lives at risk.  (This is just a bit laughable when one considers the sincerely “irresponsible” act of killing thousands of civilians abroad). The cables leaked so far contained candid assessments of foreign leaders among other sensitive information.  US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and US ambassadors were recently busy contacting foreign officials in the days prior to prepare them for the blows.  It is suspected that Pfc. Bradley E. Manning, age 23, is behind gathering the files and sending them to WikiLeaks.  Previously, he was guilty of sharing video footage with WikiLeaks of a helicopter strike in Iraq that killed several civilians and two journalists.

The website, which naturally is receiving a massive amount of traffic at this time, was down earlier due to a denial of service attack confirmed through their official Twitter.  Though it looks like from MSNBC’s poll that most Americans voting on the website do not support WikiLeak’s heavy disclosure of these secrets, there’s no doubt they’ll be reading. Comments on various websites have drawn the metaphor given the recent TSA debates on full-body scans that the United States government is now, itself, due for involuntary unveiling and intense scrutiny.

You can access some of the data on The Guardian’s website, but they have opted not to publish the actual content,which, without it, renders it rather meaningless.  Instead, you can enjoy a lengthy list of senders, recipients, and dates! (Hosted by Google documents!?)  Though it seems sure that more information will come out eventually given time and staggered publication by the various news sources WikiLeaks granted the documents to,  “insurance” has been posted on torrenting site, Pirate Bay.  On November 25th, on their Twitter, WikiLeaks posted about it:  ”Now is a good time to download some “history insurance”“ -but don’t get too excited yet- the file is encrypted.  However, it is thought that the crack code will be revealed in time, if necessary.  At this point, no one but the creators seem to know what it contains.

From the Wikileaks website:

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.

The cables, which date from 1966 up until the end of February this year, contain confidential communications between 274 embassies in countries throughout the world and the State Department in Washington DC. 15,652 of the cables are classified Secret.

The embassy cables will be released in stages over the next few months. The subject matter of these cables is of such importance, and the geographical spread so broad, that to do otherwise would not do this material justice.

The cables show the extent of US spying on its allies and the UN; turning a blind eye to corruption and human rights abuse in “client states”; backroom deals with supposedly neutral countries; lobbying for US corporations; and the measures US diplomats take to advance those who have access to them.

This document release reveals the contradictions between the US’s public persona and what it says behind closed doors – and shows that if citizens in a democracy want their governments to reflect their wishes, they should ask to see what’s going on behind the scenes.

Every American schoolchild is taught that George Washington – the country’s first President – could not tell a lie. If the administrations of his successors lived up to the same principle, today’s document flood would be a mere embarrassment. Instead, the US Government has been warning governments — even the most corrupt — around the world about the coming leaks and is bracing itself for the exposures.

The full set consists of 251,287 documents, comprising 261,276,536 words (seven times the size of “The Iraq War Logs”, the world’s previously largest classified information release).

The cables cover from 28th December 1966 to 28th February 2010 and originate from 274 embassies, consulates and diplomatic missions.

Stay tuned for more viral transparency – the website boasts only 220 out of 251,287 of embassy cables have been released so far.

More information:

• The New York Times has a posting of letters between the US Government and Assange of Wikileaks and the story posted here.
• New York Times’ coverage of the reaction to WikiLeaks.
• The Guardian posted a photo gallery with Washington’s view of various political leaders.
• They also posted live updates for a while until the writer signed off for some sleep.
• Wikileak’s official Twitter for live updates.
• BoingBoing has a roundup of some of the oddities of the leaks and has a bullet list of some revelations.

But what happened?

About 3 months ago, we started to get messages from our readers that they were getting virus warnings when they loaded up the site. We tried to respond to this as quickly as possible, but we were too late.

I won’t bore you with the details, but eventually we came to conclusion that we wanted to nuke the site -and the server – and start afresh.

With this new more ‘modern’ and ‘bloggy’ theme, we can now bring a lot more content. Why? Well for a start, you need a PhD in The Internets to post to the old theme, this one makes it a lot simpler.

We’re also rebuilding the show archive, so bare with us if you subscribe to the show.

MASSIVE thanks to Joseph Matheny for picking up where our old web guy dumped us, the man is a workhorse, and a gent!

Ken Eakins

This is a pretty fantastic rendering of Aleister Crowley’s ‘Rite of Saturn‘ by The Club De La Faye. The curators of the video, ‘The Ecstatic Society‘ plan to release more of Crowley’s rites.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Ecstatic Society in Denmark is a free-spirited creative embryo, mainly established to manifest Aleister Crowley´s Rites of Eleusis in a modernized form. The project does embrace change lovingly, and other interesting paths might certainly be pursued in time. The rites are manifested in collaboration with groups, artists and organizations. Collaborators so far are Club de la Faye, Cosmasia Kraft and Studiosapiens.

Ken Eakins