Yeah, I know Open Source Everything is too radical for the masses and will never manifest in my lifetime but I feel its rumblings. I can imagine that some day we will open source food, water, shelter, electricity, transportation, education, art, music. Love. More than feeling, I’ve been riding the rumblings ever since I ran away to join the punk rock circus. Busy playing music, we didn’t talk politics all the time but knew we were teetering upon the precipice of revolution. It fueled us. Fed us. And now, is a quantum leap or perhaps even a new paradigm upon us at last? Did our caterwauling lead to anything?

As we lament the glacial pace of change, it seems we can’t keep up as it pertains to media. The subject of vinyl arose this past week.  People’s feelings about vinyl reveal their feelings about change. Adapt or die, right? But, resourceful to the bone, we find ways to make the old new again. I kept my turntable but moved around so much it was impossible to hold onto all my records. I still mourn the loss of some LPs like deceased friends. Apparently, there is a resurgence in vinyl. Check out the Vinyl Engine. Our friends, the scintillating Petunia & the Vipers just released an album and I hear that young people are only interested in vinyl these days. They may acquire mp3s but when it comes to buying, crave cover album artwork and liner notes. Just like we did!

And then there’s video, which has evolved to the point of digital. I don’t regret the demise of tape, revel in the mobility of the camera, to the point of one-in-every-cell phone, hence the rise of citizen journalism, Arab Springs, etc.

The subject of videotape and the schism between several old school punk rock camps roared to the fore recently when a Mongrelzine article quoted my Zellots band mate Christine deVeber as saying Continue reading →