alessioIRIDE

hey mien, speaking of Russia: I just took an exam about these things and I can tell you that the situation is embarrassing. Let’s be clear... in the West there’s very little democracy left, and not that I’m some fanatic for democracy and freedoms, not just in Russia. If you think that Putin is ex-KGB and nobody raises any doubts because Russia is now an open market country, hence free, hence democratic, the same reasoning applies to China, which in a few years, as soon as it discovers oil, if it hasn't already destroyed the world with their damn coal, will screw us all over big time. In short, it’s clear, now more than ever, that the whole American struggle for democracy was just a race for imperialism. As for whether they actually vote for Putin, I, like you, believe it’s plausible when you consider that in all the countries of the former union, openly non-moderate parties are doing quite well (the communists in Sachsen or the Nazis in Poland... it sounds like an oxymoron, but the Nazi party (or movement) actually has the most support in Europe. Round and round things never really change, but at least back then it was more thrilling. There were two poles clashing, now it feels more like a practice match or a little table football with friends on Thursday night. I’ll stop with the socio-political rant and leave you with wishes for happy holidays. ciao mien

uxo, have some fun for me too... but what am I saying? finally I have some time and I can pick up some of my unfinished readings, then I unplug a bit and distance myself from the sad city where the trash reaches the first floor (in some cases almost the second)... the sunken dumpsters are so ugly they’re almost artistic ;) happy holidays to everyone

I don't really know them... well, if Fest says Minutemen then it means there's something good... I'll look into it. bye

nice review... I don't really like circles, I find them a bit basic.

just think that the only reason that sets me apart from the other faded singer-songwriters around here is the banal text of "let's rebuild the berlin wall"... a classic theme that any teacher would say: <<good job Francesco. the idea is nice, but the execution sucks. try harder next time>>. Meanwhile, after nearly twenty years, there are quite a few Germans and others, like me, like people from the East, who would really like to go back to living behind the wall and imagine how nice and exciting it must be to buy a new pair of jeans and how much better it was to work miserably rather than wipe the old people's asses in Italy. I know this comment has nothing to do with the review... always great, you're a safe bet mien... but as soon as I read Berlin or wall, I spring up like a spring. bye

I have to see it.

I assign the status of intellectual even more rarely than that of artist. In Italy, it often happens that we put true intellectuals to the media’s pillory or make them feel alien, while we embrace and hold on to the phonies because they certainly can’t shock our miserable lives. It's surprising how Pasolini, but also Carmelo Bene [a much more negative figure (in the common sense, but not for me) than Pasolini, who still moved for the common good], have been rehabilitated after their death, given that now they can’t tell anyone to fuck off. I agree with you on reducing to art everything that brings us improvement, but this implies a problem (not for me): the frauds, that is the ugly, are subjective just like the beautiful, and so if an established artist communicates nothing to me, but maybe has a large following, can I easily discredit him and tell anyone he’s a buffoon? I believe I can, and I have a nice list of writers and musicians... anyway, I think what is most lacking in our little Italy is an intellectual with guts. Now they all seem so polite, gagged, no one raises their voice. I always have the feeling that when someone, in 2007, has the chance to speak, they experience it more as torture than as an opportunity.

I was at the computer, but my Italian was already asleep... bye

Well, even the discourse on enrichment is subject to the will of one's self to be enriched by that specific work, and then always considering this index, that of enrichment, which I partly share, one must be careful not to arrive at totalizing conclusions... for example, perhaps the most famous, the degenerate art banned by the Nazis. In my opinion, art is everything that, in a certain sense, makes you better, but your becoming better can also pass through being worse. I mean, who tells me that looking at a work with a negative meaning can't, after I empathize with that negative sense, make me a better person? Then: I share your varying tastes and I'll use Joy Division as an example, which is one of the groups that fascinates me the most. They choose a very negative name, that which referred to the areas of concentration camps where the women suitable for rape resided, and they communicate in a very melancholic and decadent manner what the sense of their lives is. Add to this, also considering how it happened, Ian and his references, I have never truly grasped them and I doubt they exist, regarding Nazism... well, they aren't a good example and maybe they had, rather they used to have, the desire to shock... but who cares! "Disorder" is one of those songs that always manages to stir me, but to avoid a didactic approach to the meaning of that art and to avoid repulsive behavior, a minimum of culture is required. I don't know if I'm being clear, but for me, art can and perhaps must be devoid of morality. Perhaps what you say, that enrichment, that investigation, must be brought by intellectuals who read within the situation to explain and contribute to improvement, but finding an intellectual, especially here in Italy where we kill them, is not an easy task... indeed, generally I prefer intellectuals to artists.

I completely agree, black... many would have exploited the name and acquired status in a much worse way, but there’s always time to ruin everything. In my opinion, no matter how many tours and little shows they do, a new album would definitely be a fall from grace!