HOLLYWOOD AND THE COLD WAR

(1) “The Blacklist”—Hollywood avoids subject—The Way We Were (1973), The Front(1976), Guilty By Suspicion(1991), The Majestic (2001) a)origins: Hollywood’s vulnerability: American Communist Party’s toehold in Hollywood,1930s-40s—300 members, approx. 1% of all studio workers: 145 screenwriters, 50-60 actors, 15-20 producers-directors. Writers most vocal and energetic in supporting labor rights, civil rights, war-time support for Russia, our ally. (b) films written by Communist writers—most patriotic WW2 films:30 Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)(Trumbo); Action in the North Atlantic(Lawson) 1943; Objective, Burma, 1945 (Bessie and Cole).

(2) HUAC attacks: Oct. 1947, holds Washington hearings on “Communist subversion” in Hywood; friendly witnesses: Gary Cooper, Jack Warner, Ronald Reagan(Pres. Screen Actors Guild and secret FBI informant. Unfriendly: The Hollywood Ten—8 writers:John Howard Lawson, Lester Cole, Alvah Bessie, Ring Lardner,Jr., Albert Maltz, Samuel Ornitz, Adrian Scott, Dalton Trumbo; 2 directors:Herbert Biberman, Edward Dmytryk; plead First Amendment protection; judged to be in contempt of Congress. Sentences vary from 6 months(2) to 1 yr.(8). Further results: Waldorf Statement(Nov.1947): Studio Bosses agree to purge Communists and sympathizers. (a). HUAC—Round #2 1951: seek forgiveness by “naming names.”

(3) Blacklist in Action: “Aware” published by Vincent Hartnett (Francis Hennessy in The Front; Motion Picture Academy By-law: no Communist or anyone who refuses to cooperate with investigations eligible for Oscar; other loyalty oaths; screen credits: Friendly Persuasion (1956),“fronts”—“Robert Rich,” Oscar for The Brave One (1956) best original screenplay—actual writer-Dalton Trumbo. The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957). Oscar goes to Pierre Boule(book)—real authors Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson. (a) Death and the Blacklist—John Garfield, Philip Loeb (“Hecky Brown” in The Front )

(4) End of Blacklist: 1960—Dalton Trumbo hired to write Spartacus(1960) , then Exodus(1960) but many careers never recover. (5) TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK: The Case of Elia Kazan or “Selling Your Soul For A Swimming Pool.”

Slightm stoopid

Ocean Beach, CA’s Slightly Stoopid, who are already coasting into their second decade of rock n’ roll at the ages of 26 - 27 years-old, are set to release their fifth album, Closer to the Sun, on April 19. Fusing acoustic rock and blues with reggae, hip-hop, and punk, Slightly Stoopid have cemented a signature sound and created a legion of die-hard fans in the process. The band, whose D.I.Y. nature has seen them thumb their nose at more than a few major label record deals over the course of their career, will release Closer to the Sun on their own imprint, Stoopid Records/Caliplates Recordings, in conjunction with Reincarnate/BMG. As Miles Doughty, one of the group’s two front men explains, “It’s all about the grass roots style – you’ve got to tough it out, got to get your hands dirty touring and making music. We have 100% creative control of what we do, and we’ve worked way too hard to have other people telling us how to do it. It’s working, so we don’t feel we need to change.”

Recorded at Total Access studios in Redondo Beach, CA, Closer to the Sun is loaded with 20 new jams that both refine and cement the group’s trademark sound. The album, which flows through a seamless mix of dubbed out funky blues, rock, and reggae, and a few clashes with old school punk, re-enlists production alumni and soundboard manipulators Miguel (Sublime, Long Beach Dub, Unwritten Law, Skunk Records), Philadelphonic/G-love & Special Sauce resident producer Chris D, and Dub Reggae legend (and King Tubby protégé) Scientist for the follow up to 2003’s Everything You Need.

The album’s first single “Somebody” is a blues romp peppered with a timely sample of the late ODB from Wu Tang’s “36 Chambers” (eerily recorded less than a month prior to the late hip-hop luminary’s overdose, and scratched by the infamous D.J. Field Marshall). The solid bass lines of the band’s newest weed anthems “This Joint” and “Fat Spliffs” lend deep grooves to hip-hop rhythms. In fact, reggae legend Barrington Levy, who appears on “See It No Other Way,” said, “I took this song back to Jamaica and my kids wouldn’t let me take it out of the tape deck.”

Boasting dual front men, Slightly Stoopid possesses a unique dynamic and kinship. They share a multitude of influences, from the acoustic leanings of Cat Stevens, Tom Petty, Django Reinhardt, and the Grateful Dead, to old school reggae and dub artists Augustus Pablo, Lee Scratch Perry, Yellowman, and UB40. In addition, their more modern influences such as Sublime and G-Love certainly shine through, and hint towards the band becoming the natural heir to the close-knit musical lineage which spawned them.

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Back In 1995, while still in high school, Miles and Kyle caught the ear of Sublime vocalist Bradley Nowell, who then signed them to his own Skunk Records label. Staying true to the D.I.Y ethic of punk rock, the band released its first two albums independently on Skunk. With minimal distribution (primarily in Southern California), the Skunk label released the punk-tinged debut Slightly Stoopid (1996), and the heavier-produced reggae leanings of the band’s surf inspired Longest Barrel Ride (1998). After a couple of years of hard core gigging, and between recording a legitimate new studio album, Slightly Stoopid delivered a live CD from an hour long live acoustic set from San Diego’s Rock 105 through their own Stoopid Records imprint. Titled Acoustic Roots: Live and Direct, it featured both players on acoustic guitars and vocals, and was recorded live, one take with no overdubs. Then in 2003, Slightly Stoopid released Everything You Need, their first legitimately produced studio album since 1998. A departure on some levels, Everything You Need was the culmination of the band reaching a new creative plateau, forging their own brand of music without abandoning the philosophy of where they started. According to co-front man Kyle McDonald, “Miles and I both love music, and we have been friends since we were one and two years old. We are just like brothers, and it’s really nice to be able to make music with your family. We’ve been listening to music together all of our lives, have been playing together since our mid-teens, and are in our 11^th year as a band.”

On the live front, the band’s fans, who are known as “Ese Locos” or “Stoopidheads,” flock to nearly 200 live shows a year. Slightly Stoopid’s touring schedule typically has them locked into two-plus hours of improvisational jamming, five days a week. Along the way, they have supported such acts as The Marley Bros, Sublime, The Roots, G-Love and Special Sauce, Blink 182, Toots and The Maytals, N.E.R.D, Pennywise, and The Warped Tour, to name a few. The group’s diversity appeals to a wide demographic of music fans. “Our live shows are fun, and we get every sort of person you can imagine in one room,” Kyle reveals. “And a lot of them are crazy. We’re all about having fun - we interact with the crowd and get ‘em riled up.”

Slightly Stoopid remain a group devoted to the pursuit of the perfect mix of lifestyle and sound. With Closer to the Sun, Slightly Stoopid have created a soundtrack to compliment their quest for the most crucial mix, and prove that hard work, perseverance and staying true to their roots is their path to creating genre-bending music with integrity.

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CONTACT:

Lesley Zimmerman

Lesley Z Media

310-476-4414

lesley@lesleyzmedia.com

Lesley Z Media

(tel) 310-476-4414 * lesley@lesleyzmedia.com * www.lesleyzmedia.com

Punk Is Dead

The basis of cultural change is rebellion. Rebellion stems from a mass of people ardently denying the status quo others in their country strive to maintain. Revolution is the point where two opposing forces meet. Without status quo there is nothing to rebel against, and without rebellion, the status quo cannot have a clear idea of what is being maintained. Only through this symbiosis of contrast can a culture obtain a complete understanding of itself.

But what happens when rebellion is an intrinsic facet of the status quo? An example of the fusion between rebellion and status quo can be seen in the commercialization of Punk music and mentality in contemporary American society.

In the 1970’s, musicians determined to create their own artistic environment cultivated Punk. Bands like the Ramones, the Talking Heads, the New York Dolls, and Television (to name a select few) saw an overtly homogeneous wasteland in the music of their time. These artists rejected the idea that only well-trained musicians could create inspired, pertinent music.

This mentality of rebellion-through-music also appeared in Great Britain. The Sex Pistols, with reckless performances and inflammatory, politically charged lyrics, led a youth-culture rebellion (albeit short-lived) against the dogmatic monarchy and its supporters. The Pistols’ brief life in the mainstream proved that music could harness power to be reckoned with, that music could channel the energy of dissent in a form that couldn’t be ignored.

Punk has since been synonymous with rebellion. As time progresses, though, it becomes increasingly clear that the example set by Punk is purely an example, and no more.

The appeal of rebelliousness does not go unnoticed by corporations. Starting with Green Day, and leading to pop-punk bands such as Sum 41 and Blink 182, Punk has been absorbed into the status quo. Punk has become part of what it sought to dismantle. The fact that so many Punk musicians capitalize on what Punk used to fight is proof that the usefulness of Punk as an instrument of change is long gone.

This is not intended as a criticism of contemporary Punk. Every musical genre has its place in the culture, because it reflects a distinct, significant sentiment shared by many. Personally, hearing a Britney Spears song causes me to wish I was deaf, and seeing “Punk” in the same sentence as “Blink 182” makes me cringe, but I recognize their respective importance simply in that they are important to others.

What is distressing about the commercialization of Punk music is that not only the music but also the subversive mentality is commercialized. This trivializes the very idea of the dissent intrinsic to Punk thinking.

This commercialization of nonconformist mentality appears in other aspects of American culture. Many of the locations in an episode of Jackass are middle-class suburban areas. By doing outrageous things in places that are stereotypically mundane, they are seemingly subverting these places as well as the values they represent. The idea that creativity and subversion can flourish in stagnant places appeals greatly to people who live in such places.

Many people imitate the show. The other night, I watched a dozen people guzzle gallons of milk until they puked. Years ago, this sort of thing wouldn’t have occurred to anyone, and if it did, it’s doubtful they would act upon it. It seems like a stupid, pointless thing to do, as do many of the things seen on “Jackass.”

“Jackass”, the film, grossed $39.7 million dollars in ten days. So how subversive is this mentality, when so many people pay their money to see it? Where the acts of the people on “Jackass” were once shocking and strange, they are now mechanisms of profit.

What in the past have been tools of dissent are still treated as such, even though they are in no way distinct from what they attempt to undermine. When a form of rebellion exists only as yet another enterprise, it is safe to say that its subversive implements are obsolete, and a new form of rebellion must be adopted.

Listen to Punk rock, but don’t for a moment believe that it has the capability and the power it once did. The time of Punk’s importance in this area has come and gone; a replacement is in order. If people continue to live in a past that isn’t theirs, attempts to subvert will amount only in reinforcements. Punk is good music, but today’s Punk culture is first-and-foremost another instrument of profit. This must be understood: this generation must eventually take part in a social revolution, and Punk has no place in the equation. Only by rejecting movements neutered by age and capitalism can progress be made.

(This essay was originally published in “The Prattler,” Pratt Institute’s student paper.)