cobwebs, dust, and a dream of a tall, willowy, british blonde

sorry for the cobwebs and dust. too much on my plate physically and mentally speaking. writing is an outlet but of late, aside from a lyric for my band the occasional request for a contribution I haven't written much. i just feel the need to write last night's dream before i forget it.

dreamt i lived in this apartment building. huge apartment building. i met this tall, willowy, british blonde woman, a meatier uma thurman, if you will. gorgeous and pretty much lost in the city. she seemed odd, but needed a place to crash. i offered mine.

we spoke of loss, loneliness, alienation, britain and music all night. we slept together. for a while we were happy. the next day, my family and friends came over and i introduced her. some people, which i haven't seen in years, were there as well. she was listening to local bands and whatnot. some of my friends were talking to her and listening music with her. the cojoba kids were back in pr and getting a show together. it was good to see taina and javier again. also the balún kids were around too. talking to her about music. philip padilla was there as well. i went outside to run some errands.

i dreamt i was driving again. first off, went with my brother with his old college. of course it wasn't actually his old college. it was near the real location, but it was another building altogether. we park and he told him to approach a car that had some of his friends who somehow were still studying there. they approached and started talking with my brother about old times. all the while they were bringing automatic assault rifles inside the car. i asked my brother what the fuck was going on. he told his friends off. off they went along with their weapons. i drove to supposedly an old workplace of mine with some cart and some goods to deliver. i told my brother to drive off. i would meet them back in my apartmant.

i went to the building's service entrance and there was a huge ramp leading several stories up. i went there and the entrance was blocked with debris and locked, no longer used. en employee went out another door for her smoking break. she recognized snd seemed surprised to see me. i asked her if she could let me in so i could deliver what i had in the cart. at first she seemed reluctant, but she let me in. i walked in trying not to be noticed, left the cart and the goods there. i think i stole something from that building. i don't know what. data? what? don't know.

i went back to the apartment and my family and friends were ready to go out. my willowy british friend was dressed and ready to go. i showered and got into a new set of clothes. when i was out and ready to go she told me she'd rather stay. wanted to skype someone and probably wanted to have sex afterwards. ok. good reason to stay at home. anyway, she skyped someone in my room and i changed into something comfortable. afterwards i heard her humming some popular song. a ballad maybe.

i was looking for her and i found her in her room. she has transformed in thie mechanical thing. a sort of cyborg. her face machine line. her arms are legs, still human. there was sawdust on her. i stood there wondering what the fuck was going on. suddenly and without warning, she jumped over me and i began transforming into some kind of machine as well. my features machine-like, my arms and legs still human. just like her. i started to realize what i have become.

and then i woke up. 'til next time.

Gracias. Nalgada de Oro, Isabela Music Club, Descojon Urbano Jul 29 2010

En si se pudiera concentrar todo lo que acaba de pasarme en la noche de hoy es esa palabra: gracias.

A los que asistieron y que tuve el placer de ver y compartir despues de mucho tiempo. A Nalgada de Oro, a Isabela Music Club por compartir la tarima con nosotros. A Ariel, Rafy y Carlitos que fueron unos campeones. A El Padrino que trato con lo que habia disponible pero se hizo lo que se pudo. A La Respuesta, Monopolio Records y lFrecuencias ALternas por apostar al talento local. En verdad fue bueno compartir y tener varias pequen-as conversaciones que en realidad me impactaron mucho.

Una de ellas siembra la semilla para futras colaboraciones. Gracias Luis por hablar la clara. La otra fue la conclusion de la noche. Puedo decir con toda franqueza que hoy puedo morir feliz. La gente se divirtio, los muchachos se divirtieron y yo me diverti. Como se lo dije a Andres, se los digo a ustedes: si hoy muero, muero feliz y muero con un sentido de que he logrado lo que me he propuesto y nos divertimos en el proceso.

En realidad lo siento por las dificultades tecnidas, por no tocar las canciones que pidieron y por no poder complacerlos. Falta de tiempo y esa noche definitivamente le pertenecia a los chicos de Nalgada que se pasaron. Isabela Music Club tambien se tiro la mision empezando mellow pero poco a poco me gustaban mas y es bueno ver a los Hermanos Velez, junto a Joy y a Gabriel hacer lo suyo.

Los que no pudieron ir, se perdieron una noche especial, pero eso pasa. Y si, los extran-e.

No se que el futuro depara y no puedo hablar por el resto de los muchachos pero puedo decir de mi parte que tocar y ensayar junto a Ariel, Carlitos y Rafy fue muy divertido y bueno. Si se repite bajo Descojon Urbano u otra cosa, eso esta de parte de todos. Pero esta noche fue muy buena. Gracias.

De nuevo, gracias.

Ahora se pueden ir a otro rincon del Internet. Yo tengo que dormir algo antes de escuchar un lindo seminario de 5 horas man-ana.

cuponeando

Hoy me depositaron el dinero del plan de asistencia nutricional asi q raudo y veloz fui tempranito a ver cuanto me rendian. Como vivo cerca del centro de todo (o al menos eso dice su propaganda) fui a uno de los dos establecimientos donde puedo gastar la partida designada a alimentos.

Pero antes hice una parada obligada en un cajero automatico para retirar la partida designada para efectivo. Con parte de esta desayune (nunca vayan de compras con el estomago vacio), guarde el resto para el taxi de vuelta (extran-o tener un auto) y me dirigi a hacer la compra. Donde fui no habia mucha seleccion pero ya lo se para la proxima vez.

El resultado fue algo basico: 4 galones de agua, dos litros de diet coke, 2 litros de jugo de cranberry "light", 10 latas de sopa de pollo "saludable", 2 paquetes de leche imperecedera, 10 paquetes de comidita para el almuerzo, 2 cajas de cereal y 2 paquetes de 4 botellas de smoothies de dieta.

Todo esto para lograr una dieta balanceada (ja!) y no tener que gastar en comer afuera. Me sobro un 30% de la partida asi q la dejare para cuando vaya al otro lugar de compras y si tiene algo que me apetesca. Vamos a ver que mas nos depara la vida en este nuevo lugar.

Calor de puta madre! Tambien extran-o el a/c.

Plus Ca Change

Switching frequencies. Dealing with inconveniences. Operation Deadweight Part 2 in Effect! Will go incommunicado for a bit. Lots of love.

The triumphant return of Nalgada de Oro

Was this the actual movie the guys took their name from? Mebbe. Mebbe not.

About a little less than twenty years ago, most of you weren't probably born or were wee lads and lasses, people used dial-up to access electronic bulletin board systems or BBS, and the only way you could score porn was through your dad's porn mag stash or if you somwhow acquired it/stole it from your friends. Music was mostly on CD, but there were some vynils available, and eMpTyV was actually playing music videos, starting their descent into "reality" tv hell. Most of all, there were local bands doing original music, be it punk rock, hardcore, thrash, all sorts of metal and all genres in between.

In that same period - in the midst of abusing my vocal chords, programming cheap synths, samplers, drum machines and generally annoying and amusing our audiences and each other in Descojon Urbano - we met an amazing bunch of people and bands that we had a blast playing with in several of the seediest dives this God forsaken island has to offer. Actually we played some dives that were not so seedy, but those being the exception let's not allow that fact to get in the way of a good yarn.

Among that amazing bunch of degenerates (I say this as a term of endearment, don't you fucking dare to start getting your panties in a bunch. It's quarter to 5 am and I don't give a shit about offending delicate sensibilities. I don't anyway.) was a trio of local youngsters who called themselves Nalgada de Oro. They took their name from a Mexican movie they found at a video store. They were funny, surreal, brilliant in a goofy kind of way. Words fail me to describe them and when you can't easily pigeonhole someone in this era of categorization, labels, and marketing bullshit, that is good. Alternative could be used in the true sense of the word. Unfortunately that word has been prostituted and watered down beyond belief.

Unlike most bands, they had the good sense to break up once they decided it was time to pack it in. Lead singer and guitar player Jorge Gonzalez went on to became a well-known playwright both in stage and radio. Bass player Marcelo Gomez went on to form La Murga (another brilliant band on it's own right) and later joined his brother Memo in La Experiencia de Ton-ito Cabanillas and then left to finish his studies abroad. Drummer Bernando Dominguez played in La Murga and then joined Burning Face, and has been there ever since. They were unique, brilliant, catchy, fun, goofy and they didn't have any recorded material of their songs. Until now.

Well, not now. Very soon. The boys went into the studio and after almost 20 years of their first appearance, they went into an actual studio and recorded their tunes. And you will be able to see them live on July 29th at La Respuesta in Santurce where they will release their record upon an unsuspecting world. They will play along with some guests, which should be announced shortly.

The only thing I have to say about all of this is: the date has been set. God help us all. See you there.

bad ass happenings

Well, things are not so good in the job front, but I finished making the basis of a new O.P.A.L. track last night. Will upload today and see if some good old buddies of mine want to take a stab at it. There's a lot of phonecalls and emails going back and forth in Maison Morituti. Let's hope that things go according to plan, which they rarely do, but I'm doing my part and setting my gear again. Promises will be made when able to deliver them. Aside from that, it's a fucking hot summer and I want a vuvuzela so I can annoy the fuck outta people at random intervals. So who can score me one? It is indeed the summer of hate in the year of our Clusterfuck 2010, and I'll keep you posted where this leads me.

LS also has some evil plans and I'm in them. That's good.

I worry about the future of Mandriva Linux. That's bad.

I am now the meaning of everything

So what you've been missing? I reached the tender age of 42. Spent it with some friends and my girl at The Office Irish Pub. Dio is dead, Gary Coleman is dead, Willie Miranda Marin is dead, one of the Golden Girls is dead, Betty White is very much alive and one of my favorite bass players of all time, the great Mick Karn, has cancer. BTW, go to his website and donate what you can, if you can.

Been working way too hard and trying to get some stuff to get ahead, but Clusterfuck 2010 is in full effect. Right now, I'm on foodstamps and receiving subsidies for my phone and my electric bill. Trying to look for a way out of this situation, but it's not happening, so far. Caught some really good movies like "Unthinkable", "La Horde" and "Pontypool" and revisited an old classic "Near Dark". Fucking hellish heat and I've got a pile of laundry to look after, so I'll see you later you buncha crazy kids.

Dear Ubuntu: I Have Some Concerns

Dear Ubuntu: I Have Some Concerns

Here's a rant from a Ubuntu user concerned with recent developments within the Ubuntu community. For what it's worth, I find that his points are valid.Read on....

Weekend Update. Yeah, that's it.

I guess it's been a good weekend. Saturday went to the UMET to attend a National Hispanic Journalists Association UPR chapter talk about Digital Journalism which wasn't that bad at all. Me, the resident brainiac, was very familiar with what the speaker was talking about, but nevertheless learned a few new tips and tricks to get the job done. The campus itself was nice looking and the wi-fi was decent. Well, being a weekend after all. Poor NAHJUPR guys with the strike going on at the UPR had to move things there.

Got my BlackBerry whole again. My carrier's store replaced the little ball that acts as a cursos free of charge. Woohoo! Also visited some places to drop some resumés. I don't like my job but I have to stick with it until the next opportunity appears. Lots of shitwork and management is not the best for the task, but oh well. I haven't reached the desperation point yet, but now I am getting very concerned about the need for more cash to handle bills and basics.

Beltame and May the 1st came and went. I spent Saturday at the UMET and got pretty bushed when I got home and I'm not quite a pagan nor a commie, so no Beltane nor May 1st celebration for me. Sunday also happened to be the first rain shower and thank god we got one. The heat was hellish. Dropped by my parent's for Mother's Day and check out Dad. Dad's condition is about the same and there's nothing I can do about it. Fucking hell. Mom was alright and gave me some dinner, but I couldn't eat the whole thing unless I wanted to fall into a diabetic coma. So I ate what I could and got back home. Anyway, everyday is Mother's Day.

Tomorrow I have a nice little talk to give to some college staff about Joomla usage and Tuesday to a community up there in the mountains. Oh well.

Don't remember if I wrote this here or not, but had a really interesting and intense talk with Santos about religion and spirituality. I admire him because not only is he a killer dj and a great doctor, he cultivates that side of him as well. And no, he doesn't fall into the cliché of a religious fanatic. The things we spoke and his openness about it almost got me crying, something that's hard to accomplish these days. Sorry kids, I'm not an atheist. Raised a Catholic and went to Catholic school, but lost my faith, so that makes me an agnostic. I still believe. I just don't quite want to follow the rules of the Catholic Church, or most christians, anyway.

Organized religion is social and mind control and one of the oldest cons around, but I also recognize the power of faith and spirituality and I have to respect that.

Finally got some e-mail from Tom Joyce, one of my college buddies from PSU. Connected him to Jon B and Tom D as well. Good to be able to exchange e-mails with him to see how he's doing.

Christ! 16 more days and I'll reach one more year in this planet, much to the chagrin of those lovely people who can't stand me. Cheers, bitches!

A mighty shout out to djr who's somewhere over NYC, to my lovely lady LS who still loves me and hasn't given up on me and to the usual suspects who make this existence worth living.

Anyway, work awaits tomorrow. Laundry in the dryer. Fun, fun, fun! Hope your weekend went well.

Tabula Rasa (Everything in it's Right Place)

Here's my problem: I do have too many accounts in too many social networks. Facebook, Gtalk, Buzz, MySpace, Yahoo, Twitter, etcetera, ad nauseaum. I also had a blog in which of course I can write longer rants for all of you to read and laugh at. Well, maybe I don't want to spend all day writing basically the same thing to all of them and I don't want to trim the number of networks because there are different people that I reach through each one of them. Odd, but true. Some of you don't like one and in the other and all that.

Well, along came apps like ping.fm, hootsuite, tweetdeck and the like that allow me to more or less centralize the whole deal. What some media types would call create synergy, what military types would call reach total spectrum dominance. Well, some of you who happen to be able to reach me through more than one of those channels find it annoying. I could say I feel your pain but I don't want to lie. As adults you can block me out one or more channels, and that's fine. Your loss really. Haven't lost any sleep because of it.

But something made me change my outlook, partly motivated by a very polite request from someone known all around me to be one of the meanest, rudest cunts on and off-line. It's ok. He would take it as a compliment and I mean it as a term of endearment as well. Also, he happens to be one quite a killer web designer/graphic artist and is one of those people who I actually look forward to have an argument when the situation calls for it. Partly because of him, but mainly because another reason. Bear with me, there is a point to all of this.

Somehow in my quest for synergy or redundancy, depends on how you look at it, I let this blog go. Granted, I've been blogging unofficially since 1998 and on this platform since 2001 and it's home not only to a handy dandy collection of links of articles that hold my interest, but also of my very own lengthy rants about whatever my sick little brain might come up at any given time. Not that they were or are particularly entertaining nor enlightening, but at least for me they are a necessary cathartic exercise for my neurons, my writing skills and whatever passes for my soul these days.

I could blame all of it on blog fatigue and/or good old lazy-itis, but yeah, the blog was becoming sad just being a collection of tweets and links from said tweets. I came to that realization early this morning. So, I woke up unusually early today to try to change the looks and test-drive the draft feature in blogger, which is quite nifty and gives blogger's default template a much needed face-lift. Of course, there are alternatives to change them, one of which I'm using right now, but people are generally lazy and couldn't be bothered.

Anyway, after playing with several layouts, I was about to get the day's brunch when his polite request came. Thought about it and said "why not?" and got into it. So, in the kind words of Bill Maher, I say "new rule": short, sharp, succinct observations and/or conversations to twitter, facebook, etcetera and lengthier rants of whatever my mind would find interesting at the blog. Mind you, I'll still post linkage here, but with the handy BlogThis! tool, I can add some color commentary to it, whenever possible. So Say We All!

Of course, I reserve every right to change my mind about everything in any given moment, but let's see what happens now.

To Alf: I hope you're happy, you fucking content nazi. All my love always.

some light reading for the holidays

here's some light reading for the holidays! enjoy! here and here. enjoy!

now seriously guys and gals...

i am grateful for the love and support of my family, friends & loved ones. u know who u are. this has been a challenging year. i love u all.

Presentando el nuevo logo de la Policia de Puerto Rico

Presentando el nuevo logo de la Policia de Puerto Rico que representa su eficacia en la lucha contra el crimen. Despues de todo si Milhouse es el gobernador de turno....

On Sacrifice...

O.P.A.L. - Sacrifice Live At San Juan Noise Fest V

I have a very personal belief that art is both a means of expression and a con (mainly it's business side, and that is usually the subject of another rant). Anyway, it's my belief that for the last twenty years both in the U.S. and Puerto Rico we've seen efforts to suppress that expression. Whether it's a group of "concerned" citizens, or let's just come out and say it: religious zealots or conservative self appointed guardians of morality, who feel entitled to push their religious and political agendas down our throats, damn the opinions of others, much less our hard earned right to freedom of expression.

The funny thing about these people is that they hide behind the bible or their twisted sense of morality to suppress acts of artistic (and non-artistic) expression and are willing to censor them or manifest their 'shock and horror' about them, while they let similar or worse crimes go by unnoticed. Worse, they act 'concerned' while worst things are done by them on a daily basis.

Why am I writing about this? Well, the piece above is about sacrifice. Whether we sacrificed our rights for a false sense of security against a (mostly fabricated) enemy or worse yet, sacrifice our freedom to give an unaccountable few lots of power over our lives. Personally, the American (and to some extent the Puertorican) Dream, whatever that is, went downhill in the last 30 or 40 years. Nixon, Reagan, the Bushes, Romero Barcelo, Rossello and now Fortun~o have come to represent all of those forces who stifle expression and freedom. Whether it's the progressive dissection of our constitutional rights for the past 30 years, whether it's getting upset at a bunch of kids attempt to capture life at their housing project on video, it's all there. Captured in fourteen minutes fifteen seconds in a sound collage.

William S. Burroughs did it way before all of us with his cut-ups in his literary work. Sampling became it's logical successor. We steal shamelessly, but we try to steal from the best. This time, elements from Hunter S. Thompson´s Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas, Jello Biafra´s No More Coccoons, Les Tambours Du Bronx, the audio from the video from the boys of the Chavier housing project itself, and an improvised song from a toddler. We added noises, feedback and put it together in one nice little package for your listening pleasure. I think it's our little fuck you to everyone who gets on a high horse and try to justify outright censorship and repression, whether by religious, moral and or political means.

Thanks to Carlos, who was crazy enough to join me on this one. Jorge, for inviting us to play and we created a piece fitting for his, according to him, last stint at helming the San Juan Noise Fest. Angelito, for recording it for posterity. Last but not least, the other artists who played and the staff at Executive Manolo.

Anyway, here it is. Listen to it. Download it. Write about it. Let us know about it. Take care.

movies and dreams about gf's potus and the self-playing cz-101

disclaimer: i do have a gf. i love her and my relationshihp with her is peachy, but what my subconscious plays when i'm asleep is a whole different ballgame.

anyhoo, watched "hacia la oscuridad" last night. really intense colombian flick about a kidnapping. brutal. also watched epitafios and capadocia and last night chapters were good and both full of lesbionic action. so i fell asleep afterwards rather quickly.

had two dreams last night.

on the first one, I was an aide/advisor to the president of the us. sadly the president wasn't obama. it looked like a cross between actors sam neill and bruce greenwood. then again, sam neill played the antichrist as president on the omen 3 but this dream had no satanic overtones. however, there were some light security incidents in a building we were visiting in washington and i was sent to investigate and coordinate with their security. on the way i ran into two people. one of them twice.

the one i ran into twice was an old acquaintance of mine who i haven't seen in years. he was on a wheelchair in my dream and i spoke with him awhile and asked him about his mother and how they were doing. in real life i have nothing to do with him and last i heard he's suffering from a disease which i will not mention because i wish to respect his privacy and his loved ones. i'm sorry that he got it, but he is a prick who treat his friends and loved ones badly. oh well. in my dream we spoke twice and whatnot, but i had to keep my investigation going.

the second person i ran was a beautiful african american lady. in my dream she was an ex girlfriend and she was walking around with her new boyfriend. we ran into each other, said hi and apparently we ended up in good terms. she introduced me to her new man and we all got along fine. apparently we broke up because of my work schedule, but it was all good. i did wanted her advice on the current situation so we agreed to meet up later to discuss this....

then cut up to the second dream.

i was in puerto rico in a car somewhere in PR#1 speeding down Cayey. i was a passanger in this car and driving it was this cute blonde yuppi-ish mexican girl. she was making jokes and making fun of everything while we were speeding down the highway. apparently she was my current gf. we were driving to my house and while we were driving i was wondering what the hell that girl saw in me and i asked her and proceeded to tell me.

meanwhile i was explaining to her that i somehow found out a model of my first ever keyboard a casio cz-101 and that somehow this little synth had a newfound capability somehow it could play whole songs by itself by pressing one key and we started singing to Depeche Mode's Enjoy The Silence but the keyboard played some weird but cool arrangement of it. we stopped at wallgreen's at 65th avenue late at night and in my dream there was a chinese restaurant right across. so i went there looking for the bathroom. and then i woke up.

and here we are. happy halloween!

grrrr.......

good morning! had to cancel this morning's appointment because the fuckers at the lab didn't deliver the results i needed for this visit

El problema está definido. ¿Soluciones?

El problema está definido. ¿Soluciones?

Gracias al foro de pulsorock, se ha generado una interesante discusión sobre el ensayo que escribí sobre el problema del rock en Puerto Rico. Es bueno que la discusión se haya generado y que muchos de tanto los sospechosos usuales como otros usuarios aporten al tema. Alguien me preguntó si esto significa si realmente me importa o me interesa la situación en particular.

A pesar de mis altas tendencias misantrópicas, me importa el hecho de que exista una escena activa de rock/electrónica en Puerto Rico. Yo he sido testigo de que aquí hay muchas bandas tan buenas o hasta mejores que muchas del exterior. Ahora, la cuestión es ver cómo estas bandas progresan del estado inicial y logran salir y darse a conocer.

¿Soluciones? En estos momentos en que la 'industria musical' pasar por la tan llamada 'crisis', que no es otra cosa que la gente ahora tiene más alternativas que someterse a un modelo artístico y económico obsoleto que básicamente explota al creador de contenido de la peor manera posible y al público exigiendo precios ridículos por su producto, la autogestión es algo vital. Sí. Vale la pena repetirlo. No es nada nuevo. Casas y sellos independientes siempre han existido. La cuestión es
que ahora, a pesar de que algunos quieren convertir esto en otro término de mercadeo que perderá su significado y desvirtuará su propósito original, el ser independiente no sólo es vital, sino pone a la banda/artista en mayor control de su catálogo.

Claro, todo ésto conlleva una responsabilidad, sacrificio y un compromiso mayor de parte de la banda/artista, pero a la larga rinde dividendos en términos de dónde, cómo, cuando y con quien el artista decide mover su producto.

Las disqueras o los medios grandes cada vez se vuelven más obsoletos, más lentos, más irrelevantes. Muchos argumentan que para lo único que éstas sirven son para medios de distribución y promoción de los medios. Actualmente yo ni podría estar de
acuerdo con esto. Conocemos demasiadas historias de horror de gente que firma con disqueras grandes con esas mismas promesas y una vez el contrato está firmado, los masters y los derechos de las canciones están en manos de la disquera grande, suceden cosas como por ejemplo, que por alguna reestructuración o alguna excusa similar el artista no recibe la tan prometida promoción y distribución de su producto. O se hace a medias. Y el artista se queda con el disco en el aire o simplemente no se mueve.

También está la famosa caza del público. O sea, como dije anteriormente y si no lo dije en el ensayo anterior lo digo ahora, muchos músicos lo quieren todo en bandeja de plata y tienen expectativas irreales de lo que sucede en éste negocio. O sea, tú no esperes que el local se llene si no promueves tu presentación como debe ser. El Internet no es todo en la vida. También es bueno repartir hojas sueltas, invitar amistades, usar todos los medios a tu alcance para moverte. Si tanto les interesa mover público, siempre es bueno tener a gente que le gusta tu música y reclutarlos como tu "street team". Gente que te ayude a mover y promover la banda.

Bueno, total a la hora de la verdad y a la postre, si tú quieres en realidad apelar a la masa, por lo menos a menos de que toques baladitas con guitarra distorcionada y/o el ritmo que esté de moda en el momento, no apelas a la masa aquí en Puerto Rico. Si en verdad quieres apelar a las masas y ser toda una "estrella", apela al más bajo denominador común. De lo contrario, la batalla por tratar de llegar a las masas es cuesta arriba. No es imposible, pero se requiere de más esfuerzo y sacrificio.

SyFy: No Sir, I Don't Like It!

SyFy: no sir, I don't like it.

Ok let me start this one stating that I love science fiction and to some extent fantasy. Along with music, technology, RPG's and comic books, they ruined whatever chances my family ever had for me to become proficient at any sports-like activity and turned me into this angry, opinionated geek you all know and love. Or loathe. And I love them for it.

On to the Sci-Fi Channel. When I started watching it, of course, I was a happy little camper. A nice little cable channel dedicated to fantasy, sci-fi and horror. Some classics along with new series, syndicated reruns and original content. Hell, they had and sometimes put out or bring to the U.S. some really great stuff like, say, FarScape, Battlestar Galactica, Dr. Who, Torchwood, etc. I cringed a little, but was helpless to admit that adding World Wrestling Entertainment's ECW to their roster was an odd choice, but hey. I mean, it's people in costumes beating each other up with some lame soap opera-ish backdrop. Just like them comic books of old. I can actually picture Vince McMahon or his lackeys pitching the idea to the Sci-Fi head honchos. Add some crappy reality shows (the term just makes me cringe) and some so-called original movies that not even would go direct to video and voila! You've got a cable channel.

My problem with SyFy, as the channel is now rebranded, is that some of their decisions regarding programming and direction of the channel are not the best and brightest. In fact, some of them reminded me of the ones made by the current head honcho of programming of WAPA-TV a local affiliate, who decided to eliminate some of their best local productions that were actually giving the channels what they covet the most - ratings - to sub it for canned programming because they "wanted to cater to women. and women buy more advertising than men". Of course, this move was also an excuse to get his wife's crappy talk show that had no ratings in a prime-time spot and the move backfired on him when people exposed it for what it was and got the crappy talk show cancelled.

Syfy did their own boneheaded moves. Let's start with FarScape, a visually striking good sci-fi show, originally produced by Channel 9 in Australia, then picked up by Syfy. When the show's future was threatened and a massive campaign was launched to save one of their actually decent shows, management ended the thing. I mean, some webpisodes have been done and a three hour miniseries is scheduled to appear this year, but no word yet. Their milking of BSG and every single offshot of the franchise is a merchandiser's wet dream, but as a fan it's quite frustrating to try to milk every single drop of it in long periods of time. And don't mention their treatment of the StarGate series to their fan base. I'm no SG fan, but I feel their pain. By the way, tell whoever decided to do that Marvel Super Heroes reality show that it gave me a lot of laughs. At their expense.

Well, I mean these kind of moves are not exclusive of theirs. Lord knows they lost me as a viewer when eMpTyV became the Reality Show channel instead of Music Television. HBO lost points with me when they messed with Deadwood and decided to shorten The Wire's last season. Let's not forget about Fox's management of Firefly.

Now the Sci-Fi Channel's latest is to change the name. I mean it's basic marketing 101. When your product is not performing up to spec in a crappy economic landscape, you want to hold on to every money spending demographic that you can find with your crack team of market researchers. So they came up with a shorter name. So it's hip. And easier to remember. For whatever demographic they decide can spend their money watching their programming. Come to think of it, they can trademark this. Milk more money. And it's easier for my DVR to locate and search their programming. Brilliant! I'm sure there were high fives that day when they came up with it.

I still don't like it. Sorry. It's silly. Retarded. To the levels only seen in Mike Judge's brilliant Idiocracy. Dumb. Like the reality crap they are trying to push. Stupid. Like eliminating any show that not only has a loyal fanbase, but it is actually good. Retarded. Like buying whatever cheaply produced movie that even direct to video makers won't touch with a 30 foot pole. But hey, it's Syfy!

Christ, Spike sometimes has more and better science fiction related stuff than SyFy! Funny, Spike itself survived a rebranding from The Nashville Network to TNN to it's current nome de guerre, but played it smart. SyFy has not. So far.

I am sure my dear friend Alfonso Gómez Arzola in his blog is preparing a well-written response to this. Originally, in my fantasy world, he would be in charge of levelling SyFy's corporate HQ with all sorts of weaponry given our mutual hatred of stupidity in all it's forms. To my surprise, he disagrees. I look forward to his response. And your comments.

El Problema del Rock en Puerto Rico, Parte 665.5869

Aquí no pasa nada

El problema del rock en Puerto Rico, parte 666.5986

José E. Román


¿Qué nos pasa Puerto Rico? O sea, en este caso no pregunto sobre la existencia o no de valores en nuestra isla. El punto es nulo a esta alturas. Basta con ver las cifras de delitos diarias. Y eso que éstas son alegadamente manipuladas por aquellos responsables de mantenerlas para crear la apariencia de que todo está bien. El punto de esta longaniza no es ése.

Me refiero a una de las quejas constantes en Puerto Rico. "Aquí no pasa nada". "Aquí no traen buenos conciertos". "Aquí los conciertos son caros". Blah, blah, blah, etcétera ad nauseum. Hay varios problemas, o como dirían los maestros del doublespeak que harían a Orwell temblar del miedo, existen varios "retos". ¿O excusas?

Quiero establecer que por rock en este ensayo, incluyo el rock en todos sus variantes y la música electrónica también, que son los géneros en los que me he envuelto. Bueno aquí les va.

1. Somos una isla caribeña. Analizen esa frasesita de cuatro palabras con todas las connotaciones que ésto implica. Logísticamente hablando sale más caro traer a bandas del extranjero aquí. Pasajes, estadía, equipo, etcétera. Añádanle a eso los costos de correr una producción, alquiler de local, licencia de promotor, promoción, etcétera y esa es la justificación de los productores locales para clavarnos a la hora de pagar una taquilla en una presentación. Claro, ellos tienen perfecto derecho a lucrarse, no son una caridad y tienen perfecto derecho de poner el precio que ellos crean para ir al espectáculo.

Y como todo esto es una inversión con cierto riesgo, los productores obviamente van a traer a grupos que hayan pegado aquí y les garanticen una entrada de dinero. Por eso es que, para dar un ejemplo, vemos a Los Enanitos Verdes o a Air Supply 17 mil veces al año o en el Día de San Valentín, lo primero que llegue. Añadan a esto el hecho de que al vivir en una isla caribeña, la gente le encanta la rumba, la sandunga y todos esos lindos ritmos afrocaribeños que son parte del DNA cultural y tradicional en nuestra isla. Ergo, algo como el rock, la electrónica, etcétera, es algo extraño para la mayoría del público.

2. El rockero promedio en Puerto Rico es un "quedao". Admitirlo es el primer paso. Aquí los medios y los productores se han encargado de apelar a cierta demográfica y mentalidad específica a la hora de presentar espectáculos. Claro que hay que hacerlos rentables y que atraigan a un público masivo, esto es un negocio, pero tal parece que los equipos de producción de muchos de los promotores locales se han quedado en esta dimensión desconocida musical que se quedó entre los 70 hasta vagamente a principio de los 90 y de ahí no salen en la gran mayoría de las veces. Bueno, a veces salen (ver número tres) con resultados mixtos. Pero una vez logran su objetivo traen a la misma gente ad nauseaum per secula seculorum. Al escuchar lo mismo, lo mismo, lo mismo, la cosa no se mueve, ni progresa.

3. El rockero promedio en Puerto Rico no auspicia y no es un mercado rentable. Gente que ni siquiera paga de tres a cinco dólares para ver una presentación de bandas locales a la que ellos van a ir. O sea, no estamos hablando de gente que no vaya a la presentación ni de gente que de casualidad llegan al local y se encuentran que hay bandas esa noche. Son gente que prefieren gastar mucho dinero en su sustancia favorita de su predilección, legal o ilegal, que pagar 3 o 5 trapos de dólares a bandas que ellos supuestamente van a ver. O simplemente van a ir por el fichureo. Irónicamente muchas de estas criaturitas pagan de 10 a 20 veces el precio de esos espectáculos para ver unas "estrellas de rawk" de afuera que traen aquí por lo menos 10 o 15 años después del cénit de sus carreras. Los locales no van a permitir que toquen bandas si el público que viene a verlas no consume y lo que hace es traerle problemas al local cuando se forma alguna peleita pendeja adentro.

4. No hay una comunidad de música como tal. Sí hay páginas de bandas, de disqueras, etcétera, pero todavía no hay un comunidad cibernética ni fuera de ésta, donde se pueda intercambiar, ver o hablar de música. Se han creado algunas iniciativas como la gente de Discos de Hoy, que su mercado de pulgas era lo más cerca a esto fuera de la red. Páginas como pulsorock.com y frecuenciasalternas.com están en polos opuestos de la cosa.

Pulsorock tiene un número grande de usuarios, pero excepto con enterarte de shows, no hay mucha interacción en sus foros en cuanto a discusión seria de música se refiere. Y la cosa en Pulsorock usualmente es más interesantes con cosas que nada tienen que ver con la música. Primero aclaro que ya no soy parte de Frecuencias Alternas, así que creo que podría más o menos objetivamente comentar sobre eso. Buen show de radio, buena producción. En el portal de Internet presentan artículos y discusión de música, pero falta interacción por parte de la comunidad. O por lo menos no hay mucha presencia comunitaria en el proyecto cibernético todavía. Claro, para ser justos hay que indicar que esta versión cibernética de FA recién acaba de darse un reboot mientras que pulsorock, en alguna forma u otra, ha estado desde 1996. Hace tiempo que no visito prhc.org a ver si todavía siguen activos. La última vez que visité la comunidad estaba bastante activa en cuanto a participación y discusión de música, pero por el mismo nombre, se limita al punk, hardcore y sus vertientes. Si todavía están activos, saludos.

5. Muy pocos medios donde se pueda mover la cosa. Alfa Rock, Radio Universidad y The Buzz son estaciones que incluyen bandas locales en su programación. Hay presencia en MySpace, en blogs y páginas de Internet de las propias bandas, además de los foros mencionados. El rock en Puerto Rico, por lo menos el que no son baladitas pop con guitarras levemente distorcionadas, sigue siendo algo subterráneo que se transmite o por Internet o por el muy mentado "word of mouth". Y es lo que lo mantiene vivo por acá.

6. Falta de movimiento por parte de las bandas. O sea, muchas bandas todavía tienen esta mentalidad de juntarse, tocar, tocar y tocar y esperar que el ejecutivo de la multinacional baje del cielo con el mejor contrato del mundo para firmarlos y convertirlos en superestrellas. A menos de que tu objetivo en la vida es hacer una bandita con tus panas, montar par de covers y una que otra original y joder, que es razonable, válido y simple, tener una banda requiere tiempo, esfuerzo, sacrificio y dinero. Es algo cuesta arriba, pero posible. Hay bandas y artistas que tienen grados postdoctorales en autogestión y que han logrado hacer lo que muchos de los aspirantes a estrellas de rawk quisieran hacer. Producciones, giras, presentaciones, sus propios estudios de ensayo y grabación, etcétera. Ahora, como ellos mismos te dirían, no es nada fácil.

Sé que describir el problema del rock en Puerto Rico en seis razones principales parecerá simplista, pero para mí esas son las razones principales de porqué estamos más atrás que las bolas del perro. Preguntas, problemas, dilemas, abajo por favor.

A sort of FArewell

Actually I should change it to A most definite FArewell. Anyway, if you really must know, I left Frecuencias Alternas for good and took my articles with me.



Sorry you won't get dirt from me about this. They produce an awesome radio show and blog and I honestly wish them the best and much success in their career. I just don't want to tag along for the ride and my work there is done. They have a whole lotta talent at their disposal so I am confident you'll have enough FA to last a lifetime.



So what's in store for good ole me? There are several things that I need to do and some of them include this blog and my domain. I am still working out the details but in the wise words of Robert Fripp: I am now an independent mobile unit. And in the kind words of bluesman Andre Williams: agile, mobile and hostile!



Yeah I'm also learning to blog from my mobile's email, so this is also a test. Watch this space for details. Over and out.

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