Folk Music: Taking the National as Personal

On March 30th, 1981, John Hinckley, Jr. attempted to assasinate Ronald Reagan in public, outside of the Hilton Hotel in DC. Hinckley committed this act in order to win the love of Jodie Foster, who he had developed an obsession with after experiencing the film Taxi Driver, which was actually shown in full during the Hinckley's trial.

There has been a lot written about Hinckley, mostly bad, accusing him of being a psychotic who had a repeated history of stalking and possible conspiracy to murder. This is not far off the truth, in the real world. However, taken into the world of folk tales, Hinckley becomes something more: a hero in love, willing to kill to earn his dream girl. Pretty screwed up, right?

Chris Clavin wrote a whole song thinking otherwise. Within is a bevy of folk tall tale and romantic love, combined with economic dreams of status through possession and action. So let's look at Chris Clavin's "John and Jody." If you have a heart, consider buying the album. It's only $5 and helps an artist get out of debt. But examination begin!

Message Board Dynamics: Assessing the Plan-It-X Debacle

For a long time, I've done nothing but sing the praises of Plan-It-X records. Founded by Samantha Jane Dorsett (may she rest in peace) and Chris Johnston, it has been the home of various bands with varying levels of success, with the general idea being that no one should sell a CD unless they believe in the music and that if it ain't cheap, it ain't punk. A FAQ is available here, but let me quote a piece for ideology:

Q: WHAT IS THE POINT OF PLAN-IT-X?
A: we release music we love. music that we want other people to hear. plan-it-x records is not about making money. we are about getting punk music heard. punk rock is more than a business, or at least it should be. we sell all our cds for $5 postage paid. we still make enough money to feed ourselves and release more music. CDs only cost about $2 to make. think about that the next time you buy a $10 cd that's supposed to be d.i.y.