No Aaron McGruder? No Boondocks.

McGruder in S1 Bonus Features

Aaron McGruder must be a very smart man because he is laying incredibly low on the subject of the 4th season of The Boondocks going forward without his involvement. Yeah, he made some half-assed consumer-friendly Facebook post about not holding grudges, but I really don't count that as a statement as much as him distancing himself from the new season. He's right though, you don't want to piss off the powers that be in this industry, it's a sure-fire way to make sure that you're black-balled lickety split. Am I disappointed that the always outspoken McGruder is not coming out against this bastardized, pirated version of his baby? Fuck yes I am, but I understand it. So, please allow me to voice what he is choosing not to:

"This is some ol' bullshit."

I must say, I sort of saw this coming. As of the second series of The Boondocks hitting DVD, McGruder

McGruder Absent in Bonus Content

had a very strong presence in the content of the DVD's. He was involved in the bonus features, and even provided commentary for the episodes. However, as of the bonus features of the release of Season 3, McGruder had completely disappeared from them. Instead Cedric Yarbrough and Gary Anthony Williams seemed to helm the intro's to the episodes and commentary that McGruder had previously provided. Also, during the first two seasons, the show was nearly completely written by McGruder and a man named Rodney Barnes who was the Executive Producer of the series. By the third season, only two episodes were written by both of them and the rest was written solely by McGruder. Is this proof of a strained relationship or just a coincidence? I have no idea, but it bares mention.

Uncle Ruckus (no relation)

It also should be mentioned that even despite the fact that McGruder didn't want to do another season, he was far from done with the characters of the show. McGruder attempted to Kickstarter a film that would feature the actor who plays Uncle Ruckus (Gary Anthony Williams) as a live version of the character himself. Unfortunately the film didn't receive enough money and it seems that the project has gone away forever. It seemed damn interesting (I even donated to it), but the Kickstarter lacked having a personable element to it. Perhaps if McGruder would have taken a more active role in the campaign instead of just throwing Uncle Ruckus' character at it, it could have succeeded. Regardless, all of these facts combined with McGruders insistence that the third was indeed the final season of the show, I suppose the writing was in fact on the wall.

McGruder accepting Peabody

I make no qualms about the reason I enjoy media. I watch television and movies to experience the voice of an author coming out through characters and showcasing their viewpoint on this weird, twisted world. Few people have been able to do this as well as McGruder. Through the voices of Huey and Riley he represents the duality of both himself and the culture of his people. Huey was McGruder looking in on black culture from someone who knows how great his people are, but get's tired at watching them be kept down and the popular stereotypes that have grown as a result. Riley is the opposite side of that and represents living inside a culture that celebrates violence, gangster rappers, stereotyped television, and movies.

That's why The Boondocks was so goddamn genius, although you could tell that the show swayed toward Huey's outlook on life, it rarely made a staunch argument that either was correct. It didn't preach to the audience, it merely highlighted sections of black and white culture and explored them... quite hilariously. Each episode dealt with some slice of life and tackled it with satiric ferocity. Sometimes the subject was attacked scathingly, sometimes the subject was tackled lovingly, but always there was a lesson to be had, and much like society, at the end of the day, the characters never learned it and started from scratch the next episode. Well, as I feared, with the debut of season 4, this aspect has almost completely disappeared from the show.

The show has now devolved into one giant over-arching storyline about the Freeman's losing their money. The result of this is characters acting against their previously shown moral standards, re-hashed storylines from previous episodes, and an overall lack consistency when compared to the past 3 seasons. Want examples? Fine.

Characters acting against type: 

Robert Freeman, War Pilot

In episode 4.5 Grandpa is shown as a coward who doesn't want to contribute to the black cause. Although shown as a moron occasionally, Grandpa was never a coward (in this regard) and did fight for the cause. He was shown fighting in the war admirably during "Wingmen" and was shown being an overlooked, but equal contributor sitting next to Rosa Parks in "Return of the King". Although he occasionally acted stupid in these episodes he NEVER was a coward who didn't fight or care (although he was smart enough to get his rain-coat once.) ;-)

Rehashed Storylines:
In episode 2.2, "Tom, Sarah, and Usher" dealt with a famous personality coming in-between Tom and his

Chris or Usher, same storyline.

wife's relationship. It dealt with the man that Tom was VS the type of man that turned on his wife. Tom's famous competition was always suave, sexy, and had an amazing voice, all of which brought him fame. Episode 4.1 was literally a rehash of this concept told in almost identical fashion but subbing out Chris Brown for Usher.



Inconsistency to past seasons:
As previously mentioned, although there were lessons to be learned from each episode, the characters in the show never acknowledged or absorbed them. This seems to be the opposite with this season. Grandpa would go nuts and spend tons of money on women, discover they were only out for his money, and then do it again several episodes later. Riley would hang out with Remmy, discover it was a horrible choice, and go back to his house the next episode. My point is, by inserting a narrative that takes place across many episodes (or the entire season as the case may seem) is entirely disjointed from the past 3, celebrated seasons. Change is not ALWAYS bad, but when entering what even the showrunners insist is the 4th and final season, why insert a different design of storytelling?

Who wrote episodes 2 &3?

I tried to watch Season 4. I gave it 6 episodes and a fair shake. Angela Nissel (who wrote episode 1 and 4 of the new season) seems to be a good writer, she just doesn't seem to be the right writer. However I do wish that Rodney Barnes (who wrote episode 5 "Freedom Ride Or Die") would have done a better job. I'm honestly very taken aback that he would portray Grandpa as a coward. With that said, it does feel more like the rest of the series than any of the others thus far and it is an interesting concept (though spoken of before in the series) to explore the fact that direct, non-violent resistance is in essence, counter-intuitive. Also, if you're keeping track, that accounts for who wrote episodes 1, 4, and 5 of the new series. Who wrote episodes 2 and 3? No one knows because the names haven't been released. Strange huh?

There is nothing controversial about this season. The show didn't require controversy to be good, don't get me wrong, but it did thrive and have the most to say when it was exploring controversial subject matter. Now the show is little more than the family living through the latest of Grandpa's "Get Rich Quick" schemes as they fight to keep their house. As Huey often said about things he didn't understand and or agree with: "It's a damn shame." And it truly is. Some shows can survive the loss of A creative voice, but no show based entirely around one writer can suffer the loss of THE creative voice.

The Boondocks is dead. Long live The Boondocks.

Rodney Redbottom is in production!!!!

Lately I've only been updating my blog about once a month due to being in pre-production on my upcoming short flick Rodney Redbottom. RR is a short, dark-comedy about a young kid and his estranged relationship with his Grandpa. It's a cautionary tale about the danger of making assumptions without asking questions. In it, young Charlie discovers that his grandparents were into bondage. Told through the eyes of Charlie as an old man, we explore regret and the strangeness that accompanies the thought that all grandparents have sex... some kinkier than others. Think Jim Jarmusch meets John Waters.

It's an incredibly ambitious (if I do say so myself) movie that I have pooled nearly the entirety of my friends talent to construct. Without name dropping every single person that is involved in it (I don't want to leave people out and hurt feelings) I will say that the project would be entirely impossible if it weren't for the help of William S. Abramson (financier), J.C. Reifenberg (DP and all around badass), and Olivia Banks (Producer and Partner-In-Crime).

Expect a teaser-trailer for the flick in the upcoming month, the full trailer following in June, and a mid-Fall premiere. Until then, enjoy the free-downloadable full-res one-sheet for the project right here!!!!!

Also, a big thanks to the one and only John Roecker for the help with the tagline!!

16Bit VS 24Bit Audio Comparison, & Our Bigger Issues To Worry About

16Bit Vs 24Bit Music:

The Pono, a handheld 24Bit Music Player

A lot of noise is being made about high-quality, high-def audio recordings and whether or not the huge file sizes associated with them are worth the headache or not (for a detailed breakdown of Analog VS Digitally encoded music and the filetypes associated with them, click on this past blog from me). Recently, Neil Young has finally unveiled his consumer friendly 24Bit media playback device named the "Pono" and has reignited the debate about quality VS efficiency in music distribution, but can the consumer actually hear the difference? Well, I'm here to let you find out yourself and afterwards I'll show you why the entire debate is pointless when compared to an even bigger problem in the music industry.

Young promoting the Pono on Letterman

The primary question at play in this debate is can the human ear actually differentiate between CD quality 16Bit audio and "High Def" 24Bit? Well, the answer according to a double blind study is no. However artists such as Neil Young, Bobby Weir, and Flea wholeheartedly disagree. Audiophiles prefer the analog medium of vinyl, but for reasons I'll get into in a moment, even a lot of them don't care about the 16vs24 debate.

So, science says one thing, artists say another and although both have valid opinions and reasoning, what it will come down to is one thing:

"Can YOU hear a difference?"

The Test:

I'll save my opinions until after the test, but before we get there it is important for you to understand the limitations of the system you are listening on. If for instance you are operating a computer/device that plays back in 16Bits, then listening to the 24Bit stream is meaningless as your computer/device is downsampling them to 16. Also, make sure that you have the FLAC codec installed in your system or you cannot listen to it, I recommend downloading VLC.

For this test I sampled 30 seconds of multiple versions of Metallica's "No Leaf Clover" from a vinyl recording of their live album "S&M". I chose this track and section for several reasons. First, sonically it displays both strings and orchestral music via the San Francisco Symphony alongside heavy guitars, drums, and singing. This gives the listener an all around "view" of what both loud and soft music sounds like. Secondly, I chose Metallica because I believe they won't ask me to take the music down (I mean, its 30 seconds of a song). Plus, I'm pretty sure Metallica has had enough of giving their fans shit about their music digitized ;-)

 

24Bit HD Version:

24Bit/96Khz Version of No Leaf Clover

16Bit HD Version

16Bit/96Khz Version of No Leaf Clover

16Bit CD Rated Khz Version:

16Bit/44.1Khz Version of No Leaf Clover

Hear the difference? Personally I cannot. I have listened to it on Sony 7506 Headphones (industry standard), my DIY HiFi Tube Preamp surround system, and through standard shitty speakers. Although my systems sounded totally different, the quality between the versions did not. So even if there is a difference there, it is minimal at best.

So why would I call this a Red Herring????

The Real Problem: The Loudness Wars

These all sound amazing because they were ripped from the vinyl copy, NOT from a CD. Yes, technically CD's do have a higher potential dynamic-range (Dynamic-Range is the range of acceptable or possible volumes of sound occurring in the course of a piece of music) than vinyl, but the record-industry is embattled in what is known as the "Loudness Wars".

Dynamic Range Comparison of CD VS Vinyl

Every record label wants their music to be louder than the competitors, therefore CD plants compress their music, resulting in making the recording sound louder. Unfortunately, the downside result of this is less dynamic range meaning that there is less of a difference between quiet and loud sounds. Whispers are no longer as quiet and yells are no longer as aggressive... better yet, think of it this way:

Imagine that a song is a roller-coaster that is designed to have climbs to increase tension, and then descents to electrify you. Compressing a song effectively limits the entire emotional breadth of the experience by turning the peaks and valleys into a much flatter surface while maintaining speed. Thus, the differences between loud and quiet sounds are greatly eliminated.

Due to the physical constraints on vinyl, compression is not possible. This results in the consumer hearing the proper version of the song, not what the record labels want to drown you out with. Amungst many other things, this adds depth and clarity to the entire song.

To give you an example, let's compare the CD ripped at CD quality FLAC, to the Vinyl ripped at the same Bitrate, but with the higher Khz allowed by FLAC compression.

Notice no level peaks

Notice the peaking levels

16Bit CD Version:

16Bit/44.1 CD Rip of No Leaf Clover

16Bit Vinyl Version

16Bit/96Khz Vinyl Rip of No Leaf Clover

Now to me personally I can hear a night and day difference between those two. If you can too, then perhaps ripping your own music is for you...

You Can Fight This (If You Really Care To):

Most people don't care to take good sound this far, if you don't, skip this section. If you do, read on.

Unfortunately this loss of quality due to the unscrupulousness of the record industry effects anything you download or purchase that is not a physical copy. To be repeated, this not only effects your CD collection, but almost every MP3 that you have ever downloaded from a store. But do not take this as my bashing MP3's. MP3's can be good quality when ripped at 320Kbps from your own source material. So how do you do this?

$500 Pro-ject Debut Carbon With USB

Well, it's not easy and requires money to do it from scratch. It requires purchasing a damn decent turntable/needle combination with a USB output or a 24Bit soundcapture device (M-Box) for your computer, recording the source signal and then outputting it to your preferred filetype and size. Or you can download an already ripped version of the album via torrent...

I AM NOT A LAWYER, but if you own an album, you ARE allowed to rip your own version of it. Therefore you ARE allowed to own a digital rip of a vinyl if you own the vinyl, and seeing as there is an ever growing online community of people doing exactly that, it is easy to find high quality ripped downloads of music that people have already made. Downloading music you own IS a legal grey-area, but one that I am comfortable living in if someone has already done the leg work for me. Simply import your audio file into a program such as Audacity and choose yourself whether you are comfortable with 16Bit, 24Bit, or even MP3 quality.

To reiterate: I AM NOT CONDONING THE DOWNLOAD OF MUSIC YOU DO NOT OWN. But I PERSONALLY am OK downloading albums I already own, regardless of whether it is legal or not.

And for you to choose your own option wisely, on top of the already provided examples of audio, here are some examples to compare and contrast of No Leaf Clover ripped from both CD and Vinyl to a MP3 format.

If you enjoy vinyl, buy this damn set. It's genius.

320Kbps MP3 From Vinyl Version

320Kbps MP3 From CD Version

192Kbps MP3 From Vinyl Version

192Kbps MP3 From CD Version

96Kbps MP3 From Vinyl Version

96Kbps MP3 From CD Version

In Conclusion:

Does 16Bit or 24Bit matter? Well, you now have a way to decide for yourself. Personally to me, it doesn't make a huge difference, but the one thing that I CANNOT and WILL NOT tolerate is over compression of music due to the greed of a corporation. If you're lucky or privileged enough to even concern yourself with this subject, then you should be worried about over-compression first, and which high bitrate works for you second.

Between the two bitrates, I choose 24. Why? Because with how cheap hard drive space is becoming, I have the room to deal with it. Can I tell the difference? Not really, but one day I may own a $20,000 system where I can and for now, it doesn't put me out to collect in the highest possible quality. But in this choice, I am fully OK with admitting that it is complete overkill for the amount of difference gained.

So to hell with the scientists, to hell with the artists, listen here and "choose wisely".

Can I Still Allow Myself to Watch Woody Allen Films?

Prelude:
Lately I've been at an impasse. I really, really love alot of Woody Allen films, but at the same time the dude might be guilty of some really fucked up charges. I have really struggled with this fact since Dylan Farrow's public letter was published, so much so that I have abstained on watching any of his films since. This blog-post is not written to sway you in any way, shape or form. It was written solely by me in an effort to work out whether or not I should allow myself to watch and or enjoy his work.

Every film buff has a Woody Allen phase. Admit it. Whether you like him or not, at some point you have made it a point to catch several of his films in quick succession due to either your adoration of his work, or attempting to figure out what all the fuss is about.Which ever side of the fence you fall on, you cannot deny the fucker is one hard-working son-of-a-bitch. "Midnight In Paris" is not only my favorite film of 2011, but is the only film I have ever seen on the small screen (caught it early while working at Sony) that I then went to the theater to watch again that night.

Before analyzing the situation, there are a number of barebones facts that are undeniable about the situation, here are the pertinent ones as I understand them.

Mia Farrow is a fucking crazy ass bitch
Immediately after publicly accusing Allen of this horrible crime, Farrow was still aggressively pursuing

her role on his next project "Manhattan Murder Mystery". To continue a relationship in any way, shape or form with a man who you believe has actually sexually-assaulted your daughter means you are either batshit crazy, a fucking liar, or the most self-centered bitch on the planet. Hell, she even testified on behalf of Roman Polanski (who was also charged with having sex with a minor) during his trial. Does this mean the incident didn't happen? Fuck no, it just means that regardless, Mia Farrow is a fucking crazy ass bitch. The insanity doesn't end there either, Farrow continued to let her children around Allen after even after she found out he had sex with Soon-Yi, her stepdaughter, which brings me to the next point.

Woody Allen is a fucked up dude

Directly before the accusation of the molestation of Dylan, Woody Allen already had sex and a relationship with one of her daughters while in a relationship with Farrow. Yes, both people in this were probably of legal age (due to her not having a birth certificate it was assumed she was between 18-20 years old) at the time, but it was still his girlfriends daughter. Further, he publicly stated that “I didn’t feel that just because she was Mia’s daughter, there was any great moral dilemma. It was a fact, but not one with any great import. It wasn’t like she was my daughter.”. Does that prove that he molested Dylan? Nope, but it does prove that he is one weird motherfucker who doesn't have issues with fucking someone who looks up to him as a father figure.

Was Allen indeed being treated for obsession over Dylan?

Taken from the custody transcript

In researching this case I discovered again and again reports that Allen had been in treatment with a "Dr. Coates" regarding treatment for his "inappropriate behavior with Dylan". Well I decided not to re-read what a bunch of fucking bloggers wrote and rewrote (scum of the Earth if you ask me ;-) and read the statement myself. According to the papers, he was not being "treated" for it, but the subject did arise while in therapy. According to Dr. Coates, the subject of Allen's preferential treatment of Dylan did indeed come up, but that he "did not see it as sexual". Basically the doctor discussed with Allen that he should not dote solely on Dylan and that doing so was creeping people out. What I find strange here is that the doctor recognized that he preferred the child, but did not believe that the attention was sexual in nature, something I would suspect someone of his profession is trained to do.

Dylan's claims
It is beyond a shadow of a doubt to me that Dylan believes she was molested by Allen at seven years old. How do you approach this claim as being potentially untruthful and not be a piece of shit? You could attempt to explain away that Mia could have brainwashed her into believing this, but jesus fucking christ, now you're questioning someone who has been through an insane ordeal. I feel dirty just writing these few lines on the subject, but then again, this is an exploratory piece. I myself have written briefly about being young and told that I watched a gun be held to my mothers head resulting in confusion of not being able to tell in retrospect what I have seen VS what I was told I had seen. To this day it is debated what actually happened. Is it a possibility that she is mistaken? Yes, I think I can speak with some very limited understanding to the effect of having people tell you what you saw and how that can cloud a young mind. Does that make it the case that it didn't happen? Shit no it doesn't.

The older brother insists it didn't happen
Moses Farrow is 8 years older than Dylan and denies that there was ever any inappropriate anything that happened during their years with Allen. Think about that for a second, that makes the kid around 15 years old when all of this was going down. I remember damn near everything from 15 years old. That either means that Moses is lying for Dad for his inheritance, being honest and nothing happened, or that he's technically retarded and never noticed anything. The first two seem like logical possibilities, but the dude seems well spoken enough to eliminate the third.

Conclusion:
That's a Readers Digest version of the nuts and bolts of it. Allen has a history of doing some weird freaky

The Whole Fucking Mess

shit and has not had problems with who he does it with, even if she's a daughter-like figure. Dylan was only 7 and impressionable, both from a nut-bag mother and a fucking weirdo father. I put a certain amount of stock in what Moses claims as he doesn't seem to be doing more than protecting his fathers name and he would have been a correct age to notice things of that sort from Allen. The custody paper's far from speak kindly about Allen, they even go as far as to say that he was detrimental to the children whether he committed the crime or not. Regardless, that cunt Mia Farrow put her children into harms way so I'd say she shoulders quite a bit of responsibility.

Did he do it? Fuck me, those are some murky waters. Dylan's insistence on the subject seems damning, but there isn't much more past that. Hell, there's even quite a bit of evidence to the contrary... so the dude very well might be guilty of an unimaginable crime. But this is America, and we are supposed to believe in innocence until proven guilty, and even the judge in the fucking custody case couldn't handle making a ruling on whether he did it or not. I have no idea if he did it, I wish to fuck I did.

To be completely honest, I thought that after researching this subject I would completely be against watching Woody Allen films ever again. But what it comes down to for me personally is that it's just not right to judge someone on one persons claims when there isn't a body of damning body of evidence to support it. After all, the weird bastard never has been accused of this before (as is usually the case with pedophiles). Perhaps I'm writing this and looking for an excuse to still watch Woody Allen's films, but I don't believe in my heart of hearts that I am. With all of the weird history, accusations, and drama in mind I choose to continue to watch his films, but I have the nagging suspicion that everytime I do, I will fell just a little bit dirty.

AntiCurrent Archive Vol 8: William Elliott Whitmore- The Death Valley Sessions

For the eighth edition of the "AntiCurrent.com Archives", a collection of rare albums I'm releasing through this blog, I'm releasing the third of three collections of demos for one of my FAVORITE artists of all time.  Click here to view all past AntiCurrent.com Archive Albums.

Whitmore Live in Australia

This is my third blog dedicated to the raw material of William Elliott Whitmore, and believe it or not, the well is still aplenty to draw from. The last time I saw WEW was in Sydney Australia at the Annondale Hotel. Now, for those of you who don't know, EVERYTHING is WAY more expensive in Australia. A bottle of whiskey at the store will run you around $80, and a 6-pack can run you into almost $20. No, this did not stop me from buying shots of Jameson at the bar before and during the gig, but it did definitely slow me down to the point of it being the most sober I have ever seen WEW.

Whitmore is famous for drinking with the audience at his gigs, this usually results in his taking multiple shots handed to him from the crowd. Unfortunately, either the crowd didn't know this or the cost of $15 a shot was too steep for them to care because he sat there basically sober the entire time. Whitmore sober is a fantastic player, but give him just a little booze and a little more of the Tom Waitsian emotion pours from his soul. As such, I passed him a few shots of Jameson from the crowd and he called me crazy for spending that much money on him and told me to wait around after the show and he'd buy me a few back. An incredibly sweet offer that I unfortunately didn't have time to take him up on.

If you recall my last blog on the subject of Whitmore, my good friend cried upon witnessing the depth and emotion of his performance, well this night was no different. During the time I my fiance was stranded out in Australia and the only way I could visit her until her K1 Fiance Visa went through was to come and visit, which I did several four times last year (our ordeal is detailed here). As I was set to leave for the States the next day, combined with his lyrics of love and lost, Liv began uncontrollably sobbing. That's how powerful this lone guy on a stage's presence is, he literally has the power to make people sob at his performances.

Front Cover

As to The Death Valley Sessions, once again, almost no information is available about the demo session past the point that he sold homemade copies of it on his 2002-2003 tour. There are a few websites reporting that he recorded this shortly after graduation High School while having a brief period living in San Francisco, but I have seen no real documentation as to this. Regardless, I believe it was indeed recorded in Death Valley. The album is far and away the best quality collection of demos that have leaked thus far from Whitmore, but I have been searching for a real copy of it for years so that I can make a high quality FLAC encode, and not listen to the low quality 128Kbps version that I am unfortunately supplying here.

On top of amazing early versions of what has become staples of his setlist, this album also features the swirling sounds of the desert itself. I highly doubt that such high quality versions of these songs were recorded outdoors, so more than likely someone recorded the exterior ambient sounds of the desert and laid them overtop of the recorded tracks, but I suppose anything is possible. The stand-out songs on this demo to me are the Old Lady Duet's Pt. 1 & 2. I left these titled as such due to my belief that this is how they were labeled on the original CD. Track one is a heartfelt, very melon-collie take on "My Old Kentucky Home" where the slight cracking in the old woman's vocals is as endearing as it is sad. The second is a take on "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" which is again as heartwarming as it is sad.

Back Cover

Once again, this demo album is yet another intimate look at the raw genius that is William Eliott Whitmore. Do yourself a favor and relisten to his song "Lift My Jug (Song for Hub Cale)" off of this demo, then off of the "Jarrett Mitchell Demos" (which I previously published here), and finally to the final version of the song on his studio album "Ashes to Dust". Doing this is an excellent way to watch WEW craft this song from a well written diamond in the rough, into an amazing, absolutely astounding song that is still manages to be rough around the edges in the best of ways.

As always, go and purchase his actual music, see him on tour, and meet the man himself. These releases are not meant to be the only material you take from the artists, but are intended to give you a deeper understanding and appreciation of some of the best talent that has ever been seen musically on this planet.

Download The Entire Album and Cover Art Here:
ZIP Archive

The tracklist is:
1:  Introduction
2:  Instrumental
3:  Does Me No Good
4:  Pine Box
5:  Lord Only Knows
6:  Old Lady Duet
7:  From the Cell Door to the Gallows
8:  Diggin' My Grave
9:  Lift My Jug
10: Old Lady Duet 2
11: Our Paths Will Cross Again
12: Instrumental 2

EDIT (8/18/14):
I was contacted by a nice lady named Bailey who shed some light on the sessions and where they're from. MANY THANKS!!!!

"I thought I would tell ya a little about the  WEW recording you posted on your blog. You can purchase that album. It is apart of a book called after the gold rush by Jeremy Deller. The woman you hear on a few of the tracks is Jennie Olson. You can also purchase the 9 picture disc album for 500€"-Bailey Fryschnormeier

EDIT (5/28/15):
I really dig how much love there is for Whitmore out there. I was recently contacted by a very nice man from London named Martin who further shined information on this session and provided a hand written letter from WEW:

Hand written letter & tracklist

"...I do have something concrete to add to the proceedings with regards to "The Death Valley Sessions", anticurrent vol 8.  As your other poster reported, the album is part of an art project put together by Jeremy Deller, check it out HERE.

Before i managed to source a copy of the book with CD I actually asked William if he could let me have a copy.  Generous as always he sent me a CDR with hand drawn artwork and a note giving track listing and explanation of the project's background.  I've scanned the relevant documents and attached them to this e-mail and I hope you find it of interest." -Martin Nisbet 

Deathlok and I

My desk. Seriously.

I'm an avid fan of the multiple incarnations of the Marvel Comics character Deathlok, so when people I know got word that they are introducing the character into the new Marvel Television (and potentially cinematic) universe, I got flooded with people telling me the news and people asking me what my opinion on the subject is. So I decided to write a little rundown on the character, his history, and my thoughts on this new version. I'm going to concentrate this article solely on the Michael Collins version of the character written by Dwayne McDuffie as not only do I find him the most all around appealing, this new television version seems to be using him as the predominant source of inspiration for this new version.

My History with Deathlok:

Issue 4

In early September of 1991, I was 6 years old and living on Crawford Street next door to my babysitter Katie. She is an amazing woman who is near and dear to my heart to this day, more a family member than most of my family. As such, she would take the money my parents would pay her to watch me and spend a decent percentage of it on toys, gifts, and other things for me. On September 1st 1991, Issue 4 of the second incarnation of Deathlok written by Dwayne McDuffie had just came out, and as fate would have it, I entered the Stop & Go grocery mart, and begged Katie to buy me a copy of it, and being the amazing person she is, she did. That day I got into comics, and in particular, the Michael Collins version of Deathlok. I now have a massive collection containing the entire collection of the Collins Deathlok as well as a 9.2 CGC'd copy of Deathlok's first appearance. I still have that original issue as well.

A Synopsis on Michael Collins (Deathlok 2.0*):

Michael Collins Deathlok

Michael Collins was a computer programmer who lived a healthy normal life with his Wife and son. He was a pacifist who was put to work on a program that he was told was to help humanity. In truth,  he was helping design the Deathlok project, the creation of the perfect soldier. When he found out about the companies twisted plan, they killed him and stuck his brain in the Deathlok unit which was comprised of corpses, components, and an artificial intelligence system that was programmed to only obey its commander. Upon discovering that he is now a conscious that is alive inside the cyborg, he then hacks the AI he is sharing a body with, takes control of the Deathlok unit, and escapes the facility. Afterwards he begins searching to find his human body so that he can again rejoin his family.
*Yes technically Collins was Version 3, but John Kelly was in the body for 1/3rd an issue of Marvel Comics Presents #62

A Breakdown of the Book:

Deathlok combined Miniseries

What I love about this book (in particular the 4 issue mini-series leading up to the characters main-series) is it's amazing writing. Collins changes the unit and installs a no killing perimeter inside the machine. You are dealing with the most efficient unit of death that has ever been created, with a pacifist who does not believe in violence stuck inside it. Furthermore, the way in which McDuffie deals with showing the reader how this is happening is a constant witty battling dialogue between Michael and the computer, thus creating a story that is a brilliant amalgamation of the 4 types of narrative conflict all wrapped into one:

"Man VS Man"- Collins VS the person who put him inside the machine
"Man VS Self"- Collins confronting situations where he should kill people to accomplish his goal.
"Man VS Nature"- Collins becomes homeless and impoverished after the event takes place. and
"Man VS Society"-  Collins is literally made of bodies alla Frankenstein, society judges him where ever he goes.

The comic then went on to explore racial, gender, and societal issues that were not tackled by comics at that time, all without being preachy to the reader. I stress the word "explore" because it never told the reader how to feel, but offered up a raw look at the topics.

The Genius of McDuffie:

Dwayne McDuffie

McDuffie was a brilliant writer who went on from this project to have a huge career in comics, and eventually was hired to write on the amazing Justice League cartoon. When it became Justice League: Unlimited he was promoted to story editor and producer and went on to be the guiding force of the series. After this success he was later hired to takeover the same role on the Ben 10 series. His last two major projects was adapting the amazing "All-Star Superman", the only Superman story I have EVER cared for, and "Justice League: Doom". "JL:D" was McDuffie's chance to take a slightly darker spin on his television creation and was a GENIUS piece of cinema. The Blu-ray for which has a far too short career retrospective on him that is highly interesting. McDuffie finished writing "JL:D" just before his untimely death at 49 years old. He was by far, my favorite comic storyteller of all time.

The New TV Deathlok:

Newest Deathlok

Mike Peterson (this new TV version of Deathlok) seems as if he strongly takes from this version of the character since his past encounters on the show have all shown he is a decent man who just wants to take care of his son. He seems to be a good person put in a horrible situation, plus, to be blunt about the subject, he's black and named Mike. Collins has thus-far been the only African American version of him. Remember that so far in Deathlok's history the character has been stuck inside the dead body of another person, that is not the characters true body you are looking at when seeing Deathlok. This fact will obviously have to change as the show will want to display the actors face in part.

My Concern Over The New Deathlok: 

Leaked Production Photo ;-)

Although the show runners have obviously wanted to do something with his character from the beginning, it scares me that they jumped toward Deathlok as their choice out of desperation for ratings. Mike's character arc thus-far has been all over the map. First he was a hero who had his powers given to him via the centipede serum, then he presumably was locked away, only to still be found out to still be a super-soldier who was under SHIELD training, then we watched him get blown up, then he reappears with no arm or leg and ready for the Deathlok treatment. Just seems as if they are trying to succeed by establishing what is not working. A little all over the map for my taste.

Also, if Centipede had been implanting explosive devices inside their soldiers, why didn't they do it to Mike when they initially gave him his powers as they did to EVERYONE else?

Why A New Deathlok Is Ultimately a Good Thing:

Deathlok 1st Appearance (Luthor Manning)

I'm never someone who cries fowl anytime something bad is done with a character I love, nor am I assuming this will be a bad version of him, I merely have my concerns going into it. Do I wish that the long gestating movie rumored to be directed by Paul McGuigan (Sherlock, Lucky Number Sleven) would happen? Fuck yes. But this almost entirely puts the last nail it its coffin. But the thing about Deathlok is that although it is a character inside the machine, the Deathlok unit itself can host ANYONE inside it. This leaves room for multiple versions of the character within the same universe effectively meaning you can reboot the character again and again within the same universe and choose whether or not you acknowledge the prior versions.

As a matter of fact this is the best thing that could happen to the character regardless of how good or bad the portrayal is. If it's good? They will either port the character over for a standalone movie or at the minimal keep him involved in the universe. If he is bad? It puts the character back in peoples mind for a few more years and makes him ripe to reboot within the existing universe. Either way, I shoot my series of shorts and they will be put forth as one cohesive narrative by years end. That put's me on track to do my own original film in 2015, so by 2020 I should have enough projects under my belt to convince Marvel to let me have a go at the character in 2022 ;-). Just kidding.

Well, actually not at all.

A Casting Call of a Somewhat Different Nature....

I know how this will sound, but no, I am not making a porn, I am beginning casting on my first short movie. Now, this film will display no nudity and will be done tastefully, but the subject of bondage is heavily explored in a dark-comedic fashion. Think John Waters meets Jim Jarmusch.

The story is about a young boy discovering that his Grandparents are into bondage, and the awkwardness of coming to grips with your Grandparents sexuality. Thus, this flick is in need of extras within the BDSM community, so I figured this was as good a place as any to post an open casting call for anyone involved this subculture.

The perfect fit for this project is someone who owns their own S&M gear and is comfortable on camera wearing it.

Unfortunately, as this picture is entirely self-financed there is no pay involved, but this is an amazing opportunity to accurately represent your subculture and get your name out there on the big screen! I've been working within the entertainment industry for the last 5 years and the first rule of this production will be to have fun, but rest assured, this is a serious project that will be treated as such. Food and private areas to change will be provided on set. Please feel free to email me with any questions.

Below is the open casting call as written by my producer and life-mate Olivia Banks:

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Greetings BDSM community,

I am writing to you in regards to the latest short film that my crew and I will be producing in late-March/early-April of this year. The main theme that is addressed is S&M and we are currently searching for extras with experience and their own gear. I am the producer, Olivia, and am speaking on behalf of the writer/director Josh Roush and myself.

‘Rodney Redbottom’ is a dark-comedic short that (tactfully and respectfully) portrays a young man’s adventure into discovering that his Grandfather was heavily into  S&M. Our team consists completely of North Hollywood community members which is why we are hoping to collaborate with you!

We are looking for a diverse group of 10-15  volunteers to be involved in non-speaking roles throughout the film. The reason we are approaching the BDSM community is because we feel we can reflect a more honest portrayal of the subculture by using actual members that take part in the subculture. We want our extras to be comfortable with the equipment, costumes and environment. We are also hoping our extras will provide some of the costumes and equipment to increase the realism and diversity of the movie (not to mention ease the budget cost).  The filming will take no more than one afternoon in early April.  It will be a fun and rewarding experience for all, particularly if members are seeking exposure in the film industry.

If you believe your members might be interested in participating, or if you know any BDSM groups, troops or organizations, please contact us on RodneyRedbottom@gmail.com We await your response and hope to work together in the near future.

Regards,

Olivia Banks

Producer 

AntiCurrent Archive Vol 7: William Elliott Whitmore- The Jarett Mitchell Demos

For the seventh edition of the "AntiCurrent.com Archives", a collection of rare albums I'm releasing through this blog, I'm releasing the second of three collections of demos for one of my FAVORITE artists of all time.  Click here to view all past AntiCurrent.com Archive Albums.

AS I said in my previous edition of AntiCurrent.com archives, I discovered William Elliott Whitmore organically by watching him open for The Pogues. Wishing to introduce more of people to him, on May 2nd 2009 I had a close-knit group of my nearest and dearest attend his show with me at The Knitting Factory (RIP) in Hollywood California without having yet exposed them to his music. The opening band, which we also discovered and quickly came to love was Los Duggans, a punk/metal/bluegrass hybrid band with an amazing standup washtub bass player.

By the time came for Whitmore to come on, we were all drunk. My friends were largely in the back at the bar and I was coming and going from the front row of people and them, presumably annoying everyone in between. 3 songs in I went to the back to refresh my drink and I found my best friend at the bar crying. Now, being a punk-rocker himself I assumed the worst. Someone had died, his girlfriend left him, his sister was in a car-crash, something. No. This badass of a dude was SO moved by the performance he was watching by an artist that he had never heard or heard of that he was literally shedding a tear due to William Elliott Whitmore's incredible performance. This is the time of sorrow, joy, happiness, and triumph that the dude can bring just by performing a few of his songs. I never have, and will likely never again see a performer who can illicit such an emotional reaction just by doing his job. It is truly incredible.

About 3/4 of the way through the performance, someone bought WEW an entire bottle of Jack Daniels. He grabbed it from an audience member, and being the eternal badass that he is, took a few swigs and said "share and share alike my friends" and passed it out into the audience for all of us to drink. I of course had a swig, but so did my friend at the time. She had never before, nor never again drank whiskey, but the emotional weight of the gesture caused her to drink it without thinking twice.

Fast forward to the end of the show and Whitmore has just went off stage. Like, he walked off stage into the audience and proceeded to shake every hand and meet every person that wished to do so. My drunken friend then decided that she desperately wanted to meet him so we approached. Although she was annihilated, and I was no shade of sober, he was incredibly gracious at our sloppy praise. We took a picture and she immediately went ill. He asked if she was ok just as she turned and vomited in the trashcan next to him. He laughed and said "Shit, we've all been there before." and shook my hand and left for the bar. We carried her to the car, got in and all recounted our miscellaneous stories about what an amazing dude this was.

Now, from my pieced together history of what William Elliott Whitmore's catalog was before he released his first real album "Hymns For The Hopeless" I believe that "The Jarrett Mitchell Demos" otherwise known as "Born in the USA" and also "Calendar Club of Danger and Fun" was the first of his self-released collections. This is debatable based on what I have read. HERE it states that this album is known as "CCoD&F", however on Wikipedia it states that these two albums are entirely separate. IF I am not mistaken, this first self-release was later followed up by "Legalize Freedom" (Which I previously released), and finally "The Death Valley Sessions" which was demo only available on his 2002-2003 tour. "The Death Valley Sessions" is the next of the AntiCurrent.com Archives that I will make available.

The personal highlight of this album for me is "Gravel Road". Now there are three available versions of this song, but this is the first and by far, most raw. Something about the lack of quality of recording and just a barely in-tune guitar and his growly amazing voice speaks to the very depths of my soul. Live this song is amazing as before he regales you with it, he will tell you the story of packing black-powder under a bowling ball and launching it like a cannon hundreds of feet into the air, only to find it on his property years later.

Somehow WEW turns a sub-par recording, one guitar, and his voice into what is one of the best demo collections of any artist of all time. As always, go and purchase his actual music, see him on tour, and meet the man himself. These releases are not meant to be the only material you take from the artists, but are intended to give you a deeper understanding and appreciation of some of the best talent that has ever been seen musically on this planet.

Download The Entire Album and Cover Art Here:
MP3 Zip Archive

The tracklist is:
1: Grey Skies
2: Marrow
3: Livin' Like A King
4: South Lee County Brew
5: Gravel Road
6: On The Chin
7: The Prairie Yields
8: Diggin' My Grave
9: Going To The Moments
10: Black Iowa Dirt
11: Lift My Jug
12: Let's Call It A Night
13: Have Mercy
14: Red Buds
15: Shotgun
16: Never Forget

A Year Of Hell For a Life of Bliss (How We Dealt With A K1 Visa)

Well, today is the day. My baby finally fucking comes home to me. It's been a long, hard year and I couldn't have made it without my friends by my side. I owe a debt to each and every one of them that I can only hope to one day repay. They all got me through what was easily the roughest patch of my life.

Liv and I

What happened? My incredible life-mate went with only a bag of clothes to Sydney to visit her family at Christmas for two weeks, and was stuck there for an entire fucking year. Most people and most relationships could never weather a storm such as this, but we managed it. In a testament to how big of a badass this girl is, after initially (and completely reasonably) freaking out, she had a job and lodging within weeks of this horrid news. She is the hardest working, most talented, never-say-die person I have ever encountered in my life and will be proud to call her my wife in the coming months. 

For those of you who do not know, my fiancé took said vacation home for Christmas last year and was not allowed back in the country. To add to the kick-in-the-ass of this, I had just signed the lease on a house for us so that we no longer had to sleep in my buddies bedroom. This kept me from simply moving to Australia, which I assure you was my knee-jerk reaction. She was out here visiting on the ESTA Visa Waiver program, and our plan was for her to get visit family, get a Holiday B2 Visa and return to me in two weeks time. That never happened. She was denied the visa due to her having a boyfriend in the United States and them suspecting her of traveling over and potentially attempting to marry under false-pretenses. Basically, a bunch of fucking bullshit. Once flagged as "being denied" you are no longer allowed to travel abroad on the ESTA Visa Waiver, basically FORCING you to get some type of Visa if you are to ever reenter the country.

The consulate made their ruling on the fact that we were unprepared for her interview. So for those of you who may see yourself in this predicament, I will outline what we went through with as much clarity as I feel comfortable in doing. Our rationale was that since they denied us, we merely needed to make a stronger case in order to proceed. So she went to work on a plan to come and visit the US on an ACTUAL holiday. We bought her music-festival tickets, were going to take a planned cross-country trip, and it all had the benefit of being legit. Money was spent. However, her being denied once put us on a blacklist and they almost immediately denied her second attempt at the B2 Holiday Visa without so much as a look at her documents. Gotta fucking love America sometimes.

At this point we were fastly running out of options and we began to consider the K1 Fiance and K3 Marriage Visa (K3 isn't ACTUALLY the marriage visa, its a type of expediting a husband/wife into your country, the CR1 is the actual Visa). But this is a HUGE step for a couple and we decided we needed some time to consider it. During this time, we also decided that it would be in our relationships interest if we were to see each other (it had been 3 months up to this point). However, I had just got us a house to rent so I was flat broke. Once again, my amazing counter-part stepped up to the plate and bought me airfare to come and visit her.

On my first trip to Sydney

This was amazing of her, but the three week planned trip didn't allow me the time off work to still cover my bills in my absence from work. Thankfully I have some pretty kickass bosses and we worked out a deal: I was allowed to work extra hours to build vacation time to use during my absence. Throughout this year, I made 4 trips to Australia for at least two weeks at a time. When I wasn't there, doing a freelance gig, or on a movie-set, I was at my desk. Eating, breathing, sleeping, showering, at work. I would work until 2AM, catch a 3 hour nap, wake back up at 5, take a shower, and then guzzle 60 OZ's of coffee each and every day, seven days a week. I did this for an entire 9 months, living under my desk in order to be able to visit my love. This resulted in 6-8 weeks of absolute torture to my body, and occasionally my mind, followed by 2-3 weeks of vacation. I'm firmly convinced that the back and forth has aged me more this year than the last ten years of my life.

32 Page K1 Packet

So in late August I purposed to her and the day I returned from my trip, we filed for the K1 Fiance Visa. The entire packet was over 32 pieces of evidence and forms documenting who we are and every nook and cranny of our relationship. Ever the impatient one, the day we got out NOA1 (stating the government has received your request) I also filed ten additional pages for an expedite based on my money situation. I cannot and will not go into the entire criteria I used to get this expedite, but much of it was claiming a severe potential-financial loss due to my constant inability to be at work. This was true, if I was not at work, it stood to reason I might not be able to make money. It was also true that I was missing out on freelance gigs left and right out here due to the situation.

Many people get upset when you "clog" the system with expedites, after all, everyone wants to be first due to impatience. I suppose this is a valid concern, but here is my logic: Fuck 'em. In this kill or be killed world, I would not fault anyone doing anything they could to procure their significant-others happiness. If that means they beat me to the punch, then I should have tried harder, lobbied more, worked smarter, or just refused to say die. Survival of the fittest in every way, keep up or get left behind. Admittedly a cold way to be, but when the options are sink or swim, failure is no option.

I was checking out our CVC (California Visa Center) receipt number daily which allows you to track the process from submitted to accepted. 3 weeks later our expedite was approved (although looking back at historical averages for visas at the time we probably only saved 3-5 weeks) and we received out NOA2 (stating that the packet had been forwarded to the National Visa Center) about 2 days after. At this point we thought that we were on the fast track to getting the approval for the visa, however, due to issues within the government (I believe the Texas Visa Center had recently sent in an abmormal amount of approved visas to the NVC) we still had weeks to wait.

The NVC instructed me after the 5th time that I called them that I should wait 4 weeks to hear from them and they would tell me as to it's acceptance in their system. Basically the NVC just forwards out approved petitions to consulates throughout the world, but they do so in the order received and no preferential treatment is available. I had them SWEAR to me that they would email me the second it was approved. They told me that they had my email address on file and they would automatically email me when the visa was processed. Well... they didn't. Bastards. They caused me to sweat an entire extra week that our application had been lost so when I called on the third week they said, "Oh yeah, that was sent out a few days ago, we don't always email people when that happens". My recommendation? Call them twice a week regardless of whether they want you to or not. It can be VERY hard to get someone on the phone there, although it can be an hour wait at most times. Why press them? Because you NEED their assigned NVC number as soon as possible for the next step.

This pic personifies our relationship

Next up is the medical screening for the fiance. Now for most countries, there are 1-2 doctors that can perform this per major city and most of these doctors refuse to set up an appointment until you have your NVC number (due to this now being your MAJOR tracking number). The importance on getting then the NVC number is due to how few doctors VS how many applicants there are for the screenings. Wait times can be up to a month and in most cases you CANNOT schedule your final interview without having already passed it. Getting your NVC number to them as soon as it is assigned could shave weeks off of your appointment. Also, receptionists are one of the few human elements in this process. If you pester them enough, or give them a good enough reason, you may be able to bump up your appointment a few weeks if you are selective with your words.... we got ours within the week.

Once you have your medical screening finished, you book your final interview appointment. At some consulates, this can be expedited. At the Sydney consulate we were dealing with, this was next to impossible. We sent emails, faxes, and phone calls to attempt to expedite our appointment for valid reasons. However they didn't seem to even read our correspondence. They went ahead and booked the interview 3 weeks ahead, and two weeks into waiting finally responded to our request saying that we were already booked in the next possible appointment. Lovely, thanks guys....

Initial approval

Have a duplicate of absolutely everything you submitted throughout this entire process with you when you finally attend your date. For us this was about 60+ pages of documentation at this point. Be ready to be grilled about everything from what you will do as a vocation to what your significant-other will be wearing to the wedding. They honestly have to have and INCREDIBLY valid reason to turn you down at this point, so be comfortable with your truth and don't stress. Just answer their multitude of questions and you too will walk out with a little sheet of paper with your name scribbled on it saying you were approved. They will mail you out your visa the following week.

So that's it. An entire year of both our life's were completely put on pause in order to be with one another. The entire visa process took 4 months with expediting, a far cry from the typical 6-8 months. Did it suck? Fuck yes it did. At times we both went through bouts of depression, anxiety, paranoia, severe sleep-deprivation, etc. But it was worth it. We both now know how incredibly committed we are to each other, and have came out stringer as a result. I love this girl and am firmly convinced that no one in the world could have handled this ordeal with as much dignity and grace as she has. Today I am whole again.