MUSIC OF THE POST-PARADIGM: American Spring 2012

THE AMERICAN SPRING OF 2012

Liberty hangs in the balance at every moment, never still and always moving to maintain a footing. A nation at a crossroads has historically proven to be a less than pretty sight.  The 21st Century, arriving with the epic and viceral collapse known as 911, has continued a tidal wave of collapse trajectory through the first decade and now, in the year 2012, is taking hold. In America lines have been drawn and distinctions have been made.  Those few with most are drawing their battle plans, hording their riches and seeking to influence those who can change the law do change the law in favor of limitations that restrict democracy, freedom and liberty.  Meanwhile, the many with little have little.  But they do have a name.  They are the 99%.

We are the 99%.

We are men, women, children.  We are doctors, housewives, janitors, war veterans.  We are artists, poets and car mechanics.  We are ranchers, farmers and schoolteachers.  We are mothers, fathers and grandparents. We are journalists, watchkeepers. We are the anonymous and the known. We are everyone, everywhere. We are in America. We are in France and Spain and throughout Europe.  We are in all countries of Africa.  We are the people of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Palestine, Israel. We are in Australia, Brazil, Chile, Hungary, the U.K. We are in every city of every state of every country and we are of every nation. We are the 99%.

The 99% understand how the concept of infinite growth has come and gone, the paradigm exhausted. One is reminded of the only graph used by Michael C. Ruppert in his speeches on Collapse to illustrate the dramatic spike in world population, a trajectory in line with its main and finite ingredient and catalyst, oil. Burn-off from the era of petroleum man is collapsing our ecosystem.

Now on the streets and in the neighborhoods and cities of America we are headed into spring followed by the long, hot days of summer. Crimes are being committed, liberties are being removed and there is a giant contraction taking place fueled by the greed, fear and the arrogance of the few.

Do not go back to sleep.

THE NIGHTCLUB AT THE END OF THE WORLD (NEW)

NEW is a space conceived by Michael C. Ruppert from the cabin of his Lifeboat Hour, a weekly radio show hosted by Ruppert and aired by Progressive Radio Network, Sunday at 9p Eastern. Ruppert points out how NEW and the Lifeboat Hour is not all bad news, that it is an original mix of music with madness, laughter with loss, skills with sorrow, community with calamity, love with grief, and joy in the moment.

Musically speaking, Ruppert is fond of playing cuts from a Venice, CA music project called the New White Trash (NWT), of which Ruppert is a founding member with Wade De Void, Andy Kravitz and others. The theme of the NWT is ‘Music of the Post-Paradigm’. The NWT manifesto reads like this:

Mining a new groove, and with a kind of rough grace, DOUBLEWIDE, the 37 song, 2 CD set from the NEW WHITE TRASH, chronicles the slide of the former American middle-class down a steep and slippery slope to the New White Trash, a place impartial to race, religion, creed or color.

The New White Trash (NWT) demographic is the outcome of the former middle class being folded in with the working poor and, for good measure, the unemployed and uninsured.  The NWT defines and represents a majority of people whose common bond includes and exists beyond the demographics of age, race, location, education. The people of the NWT are the new ‘have-not’s’, and by its nature and size, this vast swath of population (99%) is now squarely at odds with the 1% who own, operate and dispense our corporate universe, big pharma, big food, big oil, big defense and big government included. ‘By the people for the people’ is receding.

The Post-Paradigm Era describes the vacuum left by the sudden disappearance of the former American middle class.  It is in this vacuum we now find ourselves, tumbling in turmoil as home losses mount, bank balances shrink, and shelters are jammed with the likes of you and I. The good old days are done and dusted. That party is over. The coming chaos of the post-paradigm era will lead to a radical and immediate rethinking and remaking of America or it will lead us to complete devastation.

As Woody Guthrie filled a musical vacuum by acknowledging the pain and the suffering of the Great Depression, the New White Trash fills a bigger and more insidious vacuum left by a rampant, programmed consumerism that serves only corporations and their shareholders. 

This is a new breed of American music in which the message is clear: You’re f**ked.  But now what?  

NWT portrays a post-paradigm, ‘less beautiful’ America, brought to life through music, media, theatre and message – those of, love,need and a desire for social justice. ‘Drop it down’, ‘don’t dig too deep’, ‘we charge extra for this’, ‘take these’, ‘we can’t escape from’, all are the language of the NWT.  And for good reason.

If you got no credit and you got no cash, you’re NWT.  If you got more going out than you got coming in, you’re NWT. If your 401k is MIA, if you’ve filed for bankruptcy, if you find yourself living in a trailer or back with your parents, if your unemployment has run out, if your roads have holes and local schools are closing, if you lost your health insurance to a pre-existing condition, you are the NWT. If you bought the hype and borrowed on a dream,and now your house is gone and you’re selling your things, you’re the NWT. If you’re pissed off, yet you keep a sliver of love in your crossed heart and at least a post-ironic smile on your lips, you’re NWT. If what you had is gone – just like that – then you know you’re running with the New White Trash.

 The NWT offers what popular music does not: it recognizes and acknowledges all those who are being marginalized and dropping off the radar screens of “official” life. It is not all depressing. In fact, the NWT celebrates the joys, simple pleasures and love that are often re-discovered only in the darkest times.

NWT was produced by and at the Venice Arts Club. Other music produced by VAC promotes a similar tune and travels a road populated with the familiar themes of the Lifeboat Hour and the NEW. The VAC supports Ruppert’s effort for truth and social justice and gives a nod to his journey and his vision by presenting a gathering of relevant songs from our collection. Thanks for tuning in.

THE NEW WHITE TRASH – ‘It Would Be Strange’

NEW WHITE TRASH – ‘Running With The New White Trash’

FELL MUSIC – ‘Dangerous Ground

FELL MUSIC – ‘American Lite’

FELL MUSIC – ‘Somewhere South’

THE CHEETERS – ‘Bombshell Breakup’