Morning News to Keep You Ranting - 07/18

Good Wednesday morning! Here are all the Independent news and views that will keep you ranting throughout the day!


Presidential Politics -


Gov. Gary Johnson: 

Gary Johnson: It’s Not Just A Two-Man Race

"There are other good reasons you might want to be giving Johnson some thought. 

• He’s the only candidate who will be on the ballot in all 50 states and Washington D.C. who shows no interest in bombing Iran.
• He’s the only candidate willing to violate the politicians’ version of don’t-ask-don’t-tell and say out loud what they all know, that the war on drugs is a useless waste of money.
• And he’s the only candidate promising to cut the federal budget — actually cut it, not just slow its growth — in his first year in office."

Dr. Jill Stein:

Jill Stein Green Party Presidential Acceptance Speech

     Dr. Jill Stein recently won The Green Party presidential nomination. Jill Stein is an activist (in the medical community, environmentally, and also involved in her local Occupy Wall Street) from Massachusetts who has been involved in politics since 2012.

Also before the Green Party National Convention, in front of the National Press Club, Jill Stein announced her choice for VP - Cheri Honkala. You can watch Cheri Honkala's speech to the National Press Club, here:

Cheri Honkala is a poor people's advocate from Philadelphia, PA

Mainstream Media Watchdog - 

Green Party Harms its Own Cause

     The Baltimore Sun yesterday made the same tired attempt at saying that the Green Party would be a spoiler. Their particular angle was that the Green Party would 'tip the scale' in Romney's favor and that this would hurt the environment. The President, however, still drills off American shores and still buys oil from foreign countries. So, the question is, is he any better for the environment then Mitt Romney will be?

For more on President Obama's record on the environment, please see this piece from Time Magazine: "Is Obama Bad for the Environment?"

Third Party Vote Could Hurt Romney 

     Recently the website UtahPolicy.com looked at recent Gallup Poll results. They claim from looking at this poll data that, "But, the same survey shows those who would vote for a third-party candidate would do so at the expense of Mitt Romney."

     They also claim that, "Americans most likely will not vote for a third-party candidate in 2012. But, if they do, that vote will likely hurt Mitt Romney." They present this argument WITHOUT presenting the margin of error for the polling, without actually providing any previous poll numbers for Romney, without looking at any gaffes that took place prior to or during the polling. Also, they make those claims without acknowledging who was being voted on, Democrats? Republicans? Independents?

(All of this ignoring the 5% of people polled who said they wouldn't vote.)

     So, when you see this kind of thing presented, please remember to consider what is, and what ISN'T being said.

Tours & Festivals - 

Warped Tour -

Today Warped Tour hits Scranton, PA at the Toyota Pavilion. You can find more information here.

Mayhem Festival - 

Today Mayhem Festival hits Oklahoma City, OK at the Zoo Amphitheatre . You can find more information here.

Trespass America Festival - 

Today Trespass America Festival is off, it will resume tomorrow, 7/19 in Milwaukee, WI at The Rave/Eagles Ballroom. You can find more information here.

Summer Slaughter Tour - 

Summer Slaughter will kick off in two days, 7/20, at the House of Blues in West Hollywood, CA. You can find more information here.

Meat Loaf - 

Today Meat Loaf's taking a day off, but he will be back on the road in New Brunswick, NJ on 7/19 at the State Theatre. You can find out more information here.

PLEASE be careful out there guys!

If you have any indie festivals, tours, concerts, shows, venues, bands, etc that you would like covered and promoted, please feel free to email me at LongHairedPoet@gmail.com

Activism - 

Student Power Convergence

     The Student Power Convergence is gearing up to meet in Columbus, OH from August 10th - August 14th. If you would like to participate in organizing the convergence, or if you would like to attend or donate to the convergence, then please visit the website - StudentPower2012.org - and donate, sign up for the weekly call or register to be a part of the convergence.

If you would like to donate to my going to the convergence, you can do so on this blog page by clicking my donate button.

Community-Wealth.Org (A Project of The Democracy Collaborative at the University of Maryland)

     Community-Wealth.org "focuses on the role community economic stability plays as an essential foundation of civic practice and democratic life."

According to them:

"Across the United States, democratic, community wealth-building institutions have begun to multiply dramatically in number in recent years. Although many ventures are small in size, a number have already become a major presence in their communities and have implications for longer-term community change. The various efforts differ from traditional corporations, on the one hand, and small individually-owned businesses, on the other."

     If you have a small business, are a part of a Collective, help run a municipality or a university, this is something you should check out.


 Band of the Day - 


Eyes of Torment - 

     Today's band of the day is Eyes of Torment. Eyes of Torment are a Metal band from Atlanta, Georgia that were the Mayhem Battle of the Bands winners. They have had the opportunity to play at Mayhem Festival and now will also open the Summer Slaughter Tour when it stops in ATL.

Check them out here.

Featured Candidate


Andrew Groff (Running for Senate in Delaware)


Ballot Access: Yes

Message from Andrew Groff's website:

"We are a grass roots organization. People of all ages and background, people of all faiths and heritage and political views. We do not have millions of dollars in contributions to ply the airwaves and print media. We want to meet as many people as possible. We desire to share our message and invite participation by as many as possible. We do not believe we need to compromise our ideals just to “look like” other traditional campaigns. Our message is about people coming together to creatively develop and define the policies we need as a state and country to pass along to our children the strongest, most prosperous, most peaceful, vibrant and clean country as we can.  As in Scouts, “always leave a place in better condition than when you found it”. We could use a lot of that now. 

It is never too late to do the right thing. No vote is ever wasted. Join us."

     Andrew Groff wants to reinstate Glass-Steagall (reregulate banks), he wants to repeal the PATRIOT Act and he wants to overturn the part of the NDAA that takes away our right to a fair trial.

     You can read more about him at his website, here.

That wraps it up for this Wednesday edition of Morning News to Keep You Ranting! I hope you all enjoyed.

If you have any comments, questions or concerns, you can leave them in the comment section or email me at LongHairedPoet@gmail.com or reach me on Twitter @JAFThrasher

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/07/16/2898206/gary-johnson-its-not-just-a-two.html#storylink=cpy

My Take on Mayhem Festival 2012 Atlanta

On July 14th, 2012, I woke up at 3:30 in the morning. I had worked a twelve hour shift the day before and I was preparing to work as long as a ten hour shift on that day.
     I ended up only working six hours, and by two or three o' clock I was heading towards Atlanta with my cousin. After a long ride that didn't go the way I had planned/hoped, we got to Aaron's Ampitheatre at Lakewood and got our tickets. Actually, we had a way to walk and I've been hobbling. I don't know if I'm just sore from work, or if I hurt my foot or toe. Either way, we got our tickets. I had ordered mine online and my cousin was buying his at the box office.
     Now, I'm used to Warped Tour, so I booked it to where all the Warped Tour stages are at the ampitheatre only to find a locked gate with trucks on the other side.
     I don't know if this is true of all dates or just Atlanta, but Mayhem's battlegrounds is Warped Tour's parking lot and Warped Tour's battlegrounds is Mayhem's parking lot.
     So, my cousin now taking the lead, we booked it over to the other gate, hoping to find some booths, some tents, some music, some METAL! And we did. The first band we came across was The Devil Wears Prada rocking at the Jagermeister stage.

   

     Now, I'm not trying to annoy any fans out there, but I wasn't impressed. Now in full disclosure, while I own Plagues and I enjoy it, I'm not a big fan of TDWP. What I caught of their show didn't impress me. I didn't witness Mike Hranica using any crowd control, which I'm a sucker for. And sure, you could argue that  crowd control isn't the job of the vocalist or anybody on stage (has any band ever had just a crowd controller?), but still, bunches and lots of lead singers, especially lead singers that are popular and famous (even if just in their scene or genre) are utilizers of crowd control.
     But then again, as I said, I'm no big fan of TDWP.
     So we went off to check out all of the booths. At the Century Media booth they were offering a free download card, which I accepted. At the Whitechapel booth there was no one I recognized, shirts I couldn't afford and a donation box (dude just got married). It was Clown or Slipknots booths, or both, that had a HUGE line, so I guess it was a good thing I didn't want to buy anything or get anything signed.
     After some time had passed, we went to the Sumerian Stage, wondering what that had in store for us, not recognizing the band, a Upon A Burning Body.
   

     Simple put. It was killer. All the elements lined up right. Sumerian Records had a small and intimate stage, there was room to mosh and headbang and all of that good business, Upon a Burning Body was loud and hard and Danny, the lead singer, used some great crowd control. So we rocked out to that set. Jumping up and down, throwing up horns and headbanging all while trying to avoid pits. Metalhead as we are, neither my cousin or I have ever felt a desire to thrash in the pit.
     We stayed till the very end of Upon a Burning Body and then I pulled out the program. Next was Anthrax closing the Jagermeister stage. We headed back that way. I was curious. I've always considered myself a thrash fan - I like Slayer, Testament, Exodus - And Anthrax is supposedly considered one of the Big Four of Thrash, coincidentally I don't like three of the four of the 'Big Four.' Still I was curious and there were no other bands playing, so we checked them out.
   

     And they weren't bad. Maybe a little stuck in the 90s, but they weren't bad. Me and my cousin ended up bailing a little early because I wanted to grab a drink and see the local band before heading over to the main stage.
     After paying almost an hours worth of work for a bottle of water we headed back over to the Sumerian Stage, I was curious and hopeful, I wanted to see a local band, a band I could see again and for cheap, a band I could cover and talk to, bring it HARD at Mayhem. I sat down across from the stage to rest my legs and feet before the show (remember, there is pain/discomfort coming from that region and I'm trying to go as hard as I can as long as I can).
     When the crowd starts to build and my cousin sees people getting on stage, we hurry over to get up close to the stage. I wouldn't know this until the end of their set, but they were Eyes of Torment, and they brought the show down.
   

     Their lyrics and the way Will presented them were mindblowing. This was the type of metal show that turns your bones into adamantium and your skin into mithril. I know I'm not only listening to metal but feeling METAL when my face scrunches up into a kind of cross between a scowl and 'something stinks.' You know it's a Metal show when you're stomping around your little piece of dust like you own the place and that's what Eyes of Torment did for me. They had me windmilling so hard and so perfect that my glasses flew off my face.
     And I wasn't the only one who liked them. When they got finished with their set the whole crowd was chanting 'One More! One More! One More! One More!' But whoever was running the Sumerian Stage wouldn't give it to them, or to us, even though they earned it and we deserved it.
     So, after having been slighted (but brought back up by reassurance from the band) my cousin and I went over to the Main Stage where As I Lay Dying was wrapping up their set before Motorhead came on.
   

     Motorhead was good. I remember one absolutely wicked drum solo. They are classic and they will always be classic. Those MotherF*ckers probably remember jam bands and remember Woodstock. I kind of felt that in their show more then anything.
   

     And Slayer brought it. They got the crowd going. They were definitely the appetizer and the foreplay in my opinion though. (NO DISRESPECT TO SLAYER)
     To be honest I spent most of their set sitting or laying in the grass, somewhere between conscious and unconscious.
   

     But then Slipknot came on, and after I forced myself to get up and take some pictures from the Ampitheatre (I'd bought an actual seat, but decided to only enter the ampitheatre to take pictures, I felt better/more comfortable on the grass) I knew I'd have to stay on my feet and rockin' for this show or I'd regret it. I felt it in my bones. And I was right. Slipknot brought it all home for me. They played a lot of good songs - Psychosocial, Wait and Bleed, Stomp It Out, People = Shit, Before I Forget, Snuff - I mean, the set was amazing and Corey Taylor, talking about crowd control, I remember when Bruce Dickinson said you have to shrink the whole arena, the whole ampitheatre and make the person in the back think you're talking to them (I think it was in Sam Dunn's documentary Metal: A Headbanger's Journey) and that is EXACTLY what Corey Taylor did to/for me at Mayhem Festival this year. Eyes of Torment baptized me in the Metal, but Slipknot, Slipknot said to me, you are one of us, you are with us, stand proud and tall with us, and we will never fail you.
     And that is part of what Metal had always been about for me. Even though Slipknot didn't play my favorite song - Pulse of the Maggots - they still killed it, and over all, I had a spectacular time.

Thank you to all the bands and fans who came out. To all the organizations and things.

To Kevin Lyman & John Reese

And to my cousin, even though he never reads my blogs. He is my Brother in Arms and my best friend. We've grown up together, fell in love with metal together and these types of shows and events are only half as fun without him.

Long Live Metal!

Rock Hard!

Mayhem Festival Atlanta 2012 Photo Album

On July 14th, 2012, I went to the Atlanta Mayhem Festival. It was pretty rad. Below are the pictures I was able to get. I hope you enjoy them : )

So on the way down we saw this Red Bull car. I'm not sure where the driver was going, but I thought it was pretty cool

When we finally got there, The Devil Wears Prada was rocking the Jagermeister stage.

This guy was rockin' at TDWP with us, and I loved his shirt. Shout out to the guy with the DIY Slipknot lyric shirt. "What have you got to lose, except your soul?"

Do people mix those? (Too young to know)

Giant Rockstar inflatable. I was so thirsty I would've drank the whole thing!

The Sumerian Records Stage before Upon A Burning Body came on

Danny from Upon a Burning Body Opening the set HARD!

Anthrax at the Jagermeister stage

The Whitechapel Tent

Slayer!

The Slipknot tent

Back at the Sumerian Records Stage before the local band - Eyes of Torment (CHECK THEM OUT!) took the stage.

Representing the Georgia Metal Alliance

Me rocking my 'Too Much Metal For One Hand' Horns in the ATL heat.

The crowd at the ampitheatre at the opening of it.

Motorhead!

Crowd during Motorhead

SLAYER!

Slipknot

I'm not done covering Mayhem yet this summer. But this ends a chapter, for sure. I was tired, beat and exhausted. I had woken up early, worked a shift and then went to Mayhem. And it was worth it!

"If history is violence and sex, I'd rather not pay my respects. If I've caused offense, I'm just trying to talk sense. Forgive me if I'm too direct or politically incorrect." Jon Foreman