The biggest news over the weekend might have been a sleeper: the sudden discovery of Jasiri X by the Blur-gho-sphere, as evidenced first on What Would Vannevar Bush Blog? and then shortly on Infinonymous.
WWVB has all the lyrics. A sample:
And downtown it's a bunch of new buildings
Glass and steel cathedrals the cost a few million
They make billions to treat a dudes illness
With medicine and pharmaceuticals so who's dealing
But the schools are failing screw children
Just make sure the office has a see through ceiling
Pitt University and CMU killin
classes cost thousands I don't see you fill em (at WWVB)
This contribution by Jasiri X (MySpace) is added to a long history of municipal protest folk music:
Jasiri's last single release garnering significant notoriety was 2010's What if the Tea Party Was Black. He just needs a good hook writer. America's Most Livable Irony, what? How about, "White Pittsburgh / Black Pittsburgh." Come on kid, we'll make a record. Wiz Khalifa, Mac Miller -- these things work best in threes and fours.
No seriously, expect someone of Jasiri's artistic talent, uniqueness, and sense of civic responsibility to gain significant attention from outfits like Pop City Media, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council in a matter of weeks or months. There's no reason to keep this all to ourselves.
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What else?
P-G on-duty battlecat Joe Smydo went stately forth and delivered that newspaper's Quarterly Blowing Off of Steam over Luke Ravenstahl.
This time, that work took the form of a litany of stories about mayoral absences at and around specified events and incidents. Here was our favorite part:
Months ago, the Post-Gazette switched its online publishing options to divide up its articles onto different pages as a default (in order to garner more net pageviews and pump the advertisers, we assume). It's been mildly irritating, and we had been considering airing a grievance.
But no longer! The sheer style points credited for launching into a series of tales of an unfortunately timed ski trip here, a similarly timed vacation there, another little mystery or two and then PLEASE CONTINUE TO PAGES TWO THROUGH FIVE UNITL YOU REACH THE STOP SIGN -- as a blogger, Post-Gazette, we salute you.
What else is there...
Looks as though the landowners of active gas fracking sites are doing fairly well with royalty payments, a fact which has translated into $100 million last year in tax revenue for the state (to gain just little perspective, that constitutes 2.5% of the state budget deficit, which is estimated to have been about a $4 billion shortfall.) ... The P-G editorialists proper are all like, here here! here here! when it comes to Highmark / UPMC and Big Healthcare ... Rick Santorum will be in or around Pittsburgh on Tuesday or Wednesday to raise money at a crucial moment in his campaign to become Mitt Romney's running mate.
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Just like to point out that there's nothing all that sudden about the discovery of Jasiri's latest. Our very own Chris Young blogged about it like three months ago.
ReplyDeleteChris - Man that still seems like way too little mainstream attention, given the stakes. Don't you think he'd make an excellent panelist for CityLIVE? You have a certain amount of clout in that production, right?
ReplyDeleteBram, I emailed Jasiri X about where you might get a shirt/hoody, and he sent me this http://steeletowne.com/.
ReplyDeleteKeeping it real.
Vannevar
Jasiri isn't a sudden discovery to many of us in certain communities. He's been a activist, and artist for a long while now. Good to see his efforts in the city spread to many eyes and ears. Peace!
ReplyDelete