Jay Funk Dawg

I'm not sure of the whole history of Jon's politics lately, but I know he's been a "ardent" Bernie Sanders supporter having recent put on a fundraising event here in NYC I did hear some rumblings that on Phish tour phans were critical of his positions. He just posted this and I think it captures a lot the sentiment of how people are feeling about the upcoming US election. Apparently people are saying "He's come around." ---- So, lastly, having read and posted Shylas piece along w/the RS interview of Jane Sanders, and then the Thom Hartmann piece on the Supreme Court, and having read and mulled over hundreds of different opinions about all the different events that have transpired throughout the election season thus far, and having been an ardent Bernie supporter not just since he announced running, but for almost his entire career, not because anyone should give a shit what I think, but because this is social media and I feel like writing this where people can see it because it tests my convictions....here's where I'm at: I could have never considered it before knowing for sure whether Bernie would be on the ticket, any ticket, or not. Now that he's out I have to say publicly that when push comes to shove I'm going to put aside my disgust and vote for fucking Hillary Clinton. Here's why: I've trusted Sanders for 30 years and for 30 years I've watched him exercise sound judgement and be on the right side of history the vast majority of the time. Way more than anyone else I've observed in politics in my life. There are a lot of people I respect saying we should vote for her, but I could care less what even they say. It's the fact that Bernie is endorsing her himself that makes a difference for me. I've trusted him this far. Why would I decide not to trust him now just because he's saying something I hate like hell to hear and have to consider? The fact is, as dirty as her hands are as a politician I truly do not believe Sanders would give her his endorsement if he didn't feel as a country we would be at least in safe hands with her as president. It's clear he believes we would definitely not be in safe hands with Trump, and for me that's a no brainer to agree with. Hillary and the DNC are probably lying their asses off to Bernie about doing any of the things he's fought to get her to publicly state her support for. Whatever...she's a fucking professional liar, but the fact remains that if she does become president it'll be as the head of a party who's platform clearly has his permanent finger print on it which is not going to just go away. With Sanders remaining in office with a much louder voice on a national level now than ever before, and especially if we who supported Bernie do our job by keeping up pressure and momentum of the progressive agenda he just got on the map, Hillary will end up a one term president if her overtures and accolades turn out to be only lip service. I'd much rather have a president that Bernie and his supporters can continue to exert influence on throughout their tenure as president than not. From the momentum that's been started and the influence of Bernie on down ticket candidates over the next few years we may have a real chance to turn around the house and senate and get not just business as usual dems, but progressive dems and independents in there too. If that's happening Hillary has to adjust accordingly. With Trump or anyone else in there Bernie's, and by default, our hand in what happens is much weaker, and possibly negated altogether. It sucks he lost the presidential bid, but to lose his influence and the influence of all the support he generated for progressives too would be throwing the baby out with the bath water. Of course, if she were to continue to go out of her way to give the progressive wing of the party the finger like she has been recently with her VP pick and hiring of Shulz on the heels of the DNC rigging against Sanders scandal that could translate into a Cruz presidency or something equally insane by 2020, but I'm still not willing to take Trump in the short term. I just can't do it. I can't imagine allowing a guy who picked Mike Pence as a running mate to choose Supreme Court justices. That would just be way too willful a dereliction of duty to my self conscience to ignore. I simply don't have the capacity for denial required to pretend I could suppress the level of self hatred that would eventually arise in me as a result of having actually supported that agenda. It could be grounds for suicide! So that ain't happening on my watch, especially when there's an alternative that Bernie can find it in himself to actively support. It's got to be harder for him to endorse her than for anyone else, and like I said, I really believe him when he says he believes she's qualified. As qualified as him? Not by a long shot! But qualified enough for him to actually say so? I don't think he'd say it at all if he didn't think so. I trust that if he thought she'd be as bad for the country as Trump he'd say so, and that's not what he's saying. I know Trumps presence in the race adds urgency that he might not have otherwise, but I still don't think he'd endorse her strictly out of fear of Trump if she was equally to be feared? But I do think the fear of Trump is serious and should not be taken lightly. That guys a fucking idiot! I mean, we are staring into the abyss when we're considering actually handing that guy the keys to the kingdom. We don't need our own version of Nero or Caligula! He's the beginning of a whole new level of incompetence and insanity. I mean, the thing that's so messed up is he was actually not the worst the GOP put up this year! He might have even been the best and he's already way scarier than W was. Trump is just as stupid as W, but way meaner spirited. Just add religion and you have Cruz! I just don't want to head any further in that direction. I don't want worse than W and I just do not believe Hillary is worse than W or that if she were, Bernie wouldn't say something. Finally, though I'd rather vote my conscience than have to go the LEV ( lesser evil) route, and I truly don't believe anyone voting 3rd party is to blame for any potential Hillary loss, I'm also not going to kid myself and pretend that there's a viable third party right now that could win, or that the third parties available that I could vote for wouldn't be siphoning off more votes for Hillary than for Trump. So, for me, realistically it's down to Hillary and Trump, which is a giant disappointment on the whole, but between the genuine horror show potential of Trump, and my trust in Sanders judgement, and the potential for Sanders influence to remain much higher with a Clinton presidency, I'm fucking taking the plunge and doing what I think is the most sensible option left. I'm not "with" her, but I'll vote for her because it's the best chance we have to keep Bernie's influence as high as possible. There. I fucking said it.

that guys has hits for days - enjoy!

House of David Gang headlines OLG Stage at Woodbine Park Beaches Jazz Festival on Fri. July 22nd “NuFunk Day” at Toronto International Beaches Jazz Festival Friday, July 22nd, 2016 at Woodbine Park OLG Mainstage featuring: House of David Gang: Toronto’s nationally touring Reggae Collective followed by Tortured Soul: Internationally touring live soulful house trio + special guest DJs FREE, 7PM Start Hosted by NuFunk.ca House of David Gang (Toronto, Ontario) www.houseofdavidgang.com Dubbed Canada's "Reggae Warriors," House of David Gang is an authentic reggae band that delivers late 70s and early 80s-style Jamaican reggae originals and the classic roots reggae songs of greats such as Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer, Gregory Isaacs and Dennis Brown; mixed with folk, soul, calypso, afrobeat and hip-hop influences. It is fronted by vocalist King Selah and drummerJahlin Edwards with guitarists Terell Jarvis and Jay Cleary, bassist Uncledropsi rounding out the modern incarnation of The Gang. The band takes its name from the House of David, an after-hours spot on Queen Street West that was a hotspot for artists from the city's burgeoning Rastafarian and reggae. Currently riding the success of their recent remix album “Reggae Warrior Remixed,” which contains 12 remixes from producer/DJs from all over the globe and which has garnered some impressive radio play including BBC Radio 1. Here's a 13min preview of the band's new Remix Album "Reggae Warrior Remixed" out on NuFunk Records

Crazy that this was 20 years ago. I think my top musical memories are: The Tragically Hip Ani DiFranco Porno For Pyros Screaming Chetah Willes Gandarvas SpaceHog The Hip were on fire that night, Trouble at Hen House had just come out and they played a lot of that material. Porno for Pyros were also great, Perry Ferrell was really in his element. Ani DiFranco was very captivating as well. I knew one of the Drost brothers, he ran a studio & rehearsal space for a few years after Eden Fest in Toronto. He explained to me that he and his brothers produced the festival. To get the final permits required for the noise they had to give the local city council 20,000 tickets for free to be given to people in the community.. instead those tickets were later sold by scalpers right outside of the venue posing as staff. He explained that since they were Americans the local area law-makers over-charged them and fought with them on everything including staging and fencing. Security broke down and thousands snuck into the festival over fencing and through forest areas. I'd love to hear more stories from anyone else who went, I'm trying to refresh my own memory of what really happened, it was really crazy out of control free-for all festival. Here's an Allan Cross article that goes into the wild stuff: http://ajournalofmusicalthings.com/twenty-years-ago-week-edenfest-great-success-even-greater-disaster/ there's full line up list over here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edenfest

Bernie Worrell's Wife Shares Seething Rant Condemning George Clinton http://liveforlivemusic.com/news/bernie-worrells-wife-shares-seething-rant-condemning-george-clinton/

big ups brother Townes

Not sure if it's available on the Canadian Netflix, but I saw a part of the new Jaco Pastorius documentary D

If CBC doesn't air it, I'm sure there will be some type of pay per view...

I saw online there was a Live Nation presale yesterday ... so probably wasn't much of anything left today anyway... I was after the Kingston shows, as that's the only dates I'll be back in Canada and I got shut out within the first 1 minute ... although I tried for another 30mins. Of course that might be a very popular show since it's the last and a hometown one at that. Stubhub has lots of tickets for this one: $600 - $2,400 apiece

Missed the pre-sale... hoping to score tickets to Kingston show... I'll be back in Canada at that time, might be a pretty emotional show... still gotta get my hip fix! I've only seem them twice.. once in Halifax with Rheostatics ('97) and at Eden fest ('96)

There's an interview with Dweezil over here; http://www.inquisitr.com/3102101/ahmet-volleys-dweezil-rebuts-plot-thickens-in-zappa-family-feud/?platform=hootsuite

Anyone following the drama between Dweezil and Ahmet Zappa? At first it seemed like the Zappa family was behind new Alex Winter "Who the Fuck is Frank Zappa" Kickstarter Documentary, but both Moon Unity and Dweezil have come out saying they have nothing to do with it. Then this New York Times article drops saying that Dweezil has been forced to change the name of his band / Tribute show to his father. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/30/business/media/whats-in-a-name-just-ask-frank-zappas-feuding-heirs.html?_r=0 Then this: and today Dweezil's reply: http://www.dweezilzappaworld.com/posts/1982286-response-to-my-brother-s-open-letter Reading into this, it does seem like Gail, Zappa's widow, created a situation that would lead to some conflict (i.e. each family members getting different percentages) and outside of the Rykodisc reissues, I haven't really heard much of Frank, it doesn't seem like Zappa Family Trust has really done much to keep Frank's legacy thriving. Dwezil's Zappa plays Zappa has probably done more for Zappa than anything the family has done in recent memory. anyone read or hear anything about this??

Screening of new LSP move at the Royal on Sunday May 15th, check the trailer! here's more info: https://www.universe.com/events/lee-scratch-perry-s-vision-of-paradise-tickets-NK05PL

This is one of the best Dub albums... also considered one of the first.. I don't think it was discovered until it was reissued ... one of my favs!

Embrace Presents in association with Nufunk Concerts Saturday, May 14th, 2016 7:00 PM Lee Scratch Perry & Subatomic Soundsystem w/ House of David Gang, Kidd Rasta & The Peacemakers plus guest Selector Kevin Laverty Danforth Music Hall - 147 Danforth Ave. Facebook / Online Tickets Producer, mixer and Grammy-winning reggae dub artist, Lee “Scratch” Perry has been overturning tradition and confounding conventional wisdom for more than five decades. In the process, the widely acknowledged father of dub reggae became arguably the first creatively driven, "artist-producer" in modern recorded music. In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Perry on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Born in Jamaica in 1936, Lee Perry began in the music business in the 1950’s and by the 1960’s became known for his innovative production techniques as well as his eccentric character. His first single "People Funny Boy" in 1968 was notable for its innovative use of sampling as well as a fast, chugging beat that would soon become identifiable as "reggae". Concurrent with his own releases with the Upsetters, Perry produced numerous reggae artists at his Black Ark studio, including Bob Marley and the Wailers, The Heptones, and Max Romeo. After the demise of the Black Ark, Perry spent time in England and the U.S., performing live and making records with a variety of collaborators including British producers Adrian Sherwood and Neil Fraser AKA Mad Professor, The Clash, and Public Image. These collaborations continue to this day, with Keith Richards, George Clinton, Steve Marshall, Andrew W.K., Dub Is a Weapon, and many others. Lee “Scratch” Perry, now into his sixth decade as a pop-music provocateur, has few peers when it comes to fresh ideas and their implementation. He remains one of the world’s most imaginative sonic architects. Lee Scratch Perry & Subatomic Soundsystem at Coachella 2013 with Support from House of David Gang www.houseofdavidgang.com Dubbed Canada's "Reggae Warriors," House of David Gang is an authentic reggae band that delivers late 70s and early 80s-style Jamaican reggae originals and the classic roots reggae songs of greats such as Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer, Gregory Isaacs and Dennis Brown; mixed with folk, soul, calypso, afrobeat and hip-hop influences. It is fronted by vocalist King Selah and drummer Jahlin Edwards with guitarists Terell Jarvis and Jay Cleary, bassist Snappy Homefry and keyboardist Desi Fingaz rounding out the modern incarnation of The Gang. The band takes its name from the House of David, an after-hours spot on Queen Street West that was a hotspot for artists from the city's burgeoning Rastafarian and reggae community from the late 80’s until the mid-90’s. After finishing their extensive two month Western Canadian tour this past summer, the band is now focusing on recording new material, working on their new album “Slum” at Slamm Productions in Toronto with the support of an Ontario Arts Council Grant, scheduled to be released mid-2016. While keeping their classic reggae foundation, the direction and feel of the album maintained its roots as well as experimenting with new elements and sounds. The band has also recently released a psychedelic music video titled “Rock & Roll Queen”, directed by Phallon “ZiF” Dunn. With their new album “Slum” and a documentary in the works as well as more music videos to come, House of David Gang is definitely a band to watch out for in 2016. Kidd Rasta & The Peacemakers https://www.facebook.com/kiddrastaandthepeacemakers Selector Kevin Laverty

been spending way too much money on vinyl lately, that kept me from RSD... I'm saving up for this show in Toronto, I'll be in town Turning Point Presents Sunday, May 15th, 2016 Flipside: Dj and Collectors Vintage Record Sale Gladstone Hotel - 1214 Queen St W Facebook / Venue Info

Not it the cards to go see the play... I hope there's some way to see it beyond this production.

Weir's personal manager told me the story isn't exactly about the drug convictions. He said the last show Weir did in Toronto was at the DOCKs, and the owners failed to pay their international performer withholding fees to the Government. Although this fee was taken off the band take of the show, Revenue Canada had flagged Weir as those fees were not paid. The Docks ended up under new management and the business entity "The Docks" dissolved.

lots of love buddy

Found this circulating on Facebook

It's interesting that it's not the original line-up.. just Slash and Duff added to GnFnR 2.0... this might show more that this is a cash-in for Axl, Duff and Slash... i'm SO glad they added a guy on congas. makes all the difference.

This Saturday!

I've got floor tickets to the NYC show at Radio City Music Hall. Can't wait!

This one is coming up quick! Here's a track from the new album:

Here's some more news from ClearyNN.. John Mayer secret jam John Mayer, ThunderCat, David Ryan Harris, Steve Jordan and Zane Carney secret jam session at Hotel Cafe 3/20/2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwAMXFEFs9w