Farhad,

http://www.videosift.com/video/Guitar-Masters-Andrs-Segovia-plays-Asturias has clocked 100 votes!

They sounded like Andre the Giant...fantastic. I would love to get a hold of some of that.

continued...

Here is a report on the Venezuelan Supreme Court's decision regarding RCTV:

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=2307


From the Guardian:

http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1180195714.html

Television's role in the coup against Chávez

Saturday May 26, 2007
The Guardian


Dear Sir,

We believe that the decision of the Venezuelan government not to renew the broadcasting licence of RCTV when it expires on May 27 (Chávez silences critical TV station, May 23; Comment and Letters, May 25) is legitimate given that RCTV has used its access to the public airwaves to repeatedly call for the overthrow of the democratically elected government of President Hugo Chávez. RCTV gave vital practical support to the overthrow of Venezuela's elected government in April 2002 in which at least 13 people were killed. In the 47 hours that the coup plotters held power, they overturned much of Venezuela's democratic constitution - closing down the elected national assembly, the supreme court and other state institutions.

RCTV exhorted the public to take to the streets and overthrow the government and also colluded with the coup by deliberately misrepresenting what was taking place, and then conducting a news blackout. Its production manager, Andrés Izarra, who opposed the coup, immediately resigned so as not to become an accomplice.

This is not a case of censorship. In Venezuela more than 90% of the media is privately owned and virulently opposed to the Chávez government. RCTV, far from being silenced, is being allowed to continue broadcasting by satellite and cable. In Venezuela, as in Britain, TV stations must adhere to laws and regulations governing what they can broadcast. Imagine the consequences if the BBC or ITV were found to be part of a coup against the government. Venezuela deserves the same consideration.

Yours,

Tariq Ali

Tony Benn

Colin Burgon MP,

Dr. Julia Buxton, academic,

Ruqayyah Collector, Black Students’ Officer, National Union of Students,

Jeremy Corbyn MP,

Jon Cruddas MP,

Megan Dobney, Regional Secretary, SERTUC

Billy Hayes, General Secretary, CWU,

Gordon Hutchison, Secretary, Venezuela Information Centre,

Kelvin Hopkins MP,

Chris Martin, Director, The War on Democracy

Joni McDougall, International Solidarity Officer, GMB,

Gerry Morrissey, General Secretary, BECTU,

Kaveh Moussavi, University of Oxford

John Pilger,

Harold Pinter,

Professor Jonathan Rosenhead, LSE,

Keith Sonnet, Deputy General Secretary, UNISON,

Hugh O'Shaughnessy, writer and journalist,

Rod Stoneman, Executive Producer, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,

Jon Trickett MP,

Gemma Tumelty, President, National Union of Students,

Cllr Salma Yaqoob.

Hugo Chávez and RCTV
Censorship or a legitimate decision?
by Salim Lamrani

The government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez chose not to renew the license of the audiovisual group Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV), which will expire May 28, 2007. This decision, which is completely legal, created a lively debate in the international press, which has become a mouthpiece for the Venezuelan opposition and immediately denounced a case of "censorship." [1]

RCTV is a private group whose principal activity consists in denigrating the policies of the Bolivarian government. Chávez has accused repeatedly, and not without reason, the nation's four main TV channels (Globovisión, Televen, Venevisión and RCTV, which control about 90 percent of the market and enjoy a de-facto media monopoly) of carrying out a "psychological war" against his administration.

For their part, those media have given overt proof of a hostility bordering on fanaticism toward the Venezuelan president, ever since he came to power in 1999. They have never stopped questioning the legitimacy of the government and casting doubt on the popular support he logically enjoys. The private media constantly invite to their programs oligarchic oppositionists and putschist military officers who proclaim subversion and the overthrow of the constitutional order. [2]

Marcel Granier, president of the 1BC Group, which controls about 40 radio and TV channels nationwide and owns RCTV, denounced what he called a violation of the channel's rights. "This position is illegal, violates rights and attacks freedom of expression and human rights," he complained. Nevertheless, Venezuelan law stipulates that broadcast signals belong to the State, which has the right of concession, while the infrastructures, the materials and the sites of the channels are private property. [3]

The Venezuelan government immediately responded to the accusations of RCTV's president: "Marcel Granier has devoted himself to stomping on the rights of the users [...] in the belief that he is above the rule of law, which renders him unqualified to operate an open-signal TV network." According to the government, Channel 2 will hereafter be the patrimony of the entire people, not just of small groups in "the media oligarchy." [4]

But it is not RCTV's recalcitrant opposition that led Venezuelan authorities to decide not to renew the concession of the nation's oldest channel. The main reason is this: RCTV participated in the coup d'état against President Chávez on April 11, 2002. "The determining role of RCTV during the coup d'état of 2002 must be remembered," stressed William Lara, Minister of Communications and Information, who added that "that irresponsible attitude at RCTV has not changed." [5]

RCTV's participation in the constitutional breakdown of April 2002 was so extensive that its production manager, Andrés Izarra, who opposed the coup, immediately resigned so as not to become an accomplice. Testifying before the National Assembly, Izarra stated that on the day of the coup and in the following days he received a formal order from Granier "to not broadcast any information about Chávez, his followers, ministers, or any other person who might be connected to him." [6]

[snip]

The article/sources continues here: http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=11970

Perhaps he should watch the Herzog documentary "Grizzly Man" a few times.

Expect to see this guy on the news "Famed shark diver Andre Hartman was killed today by GUESS WHAT?"

If I was to be stranded these are some of the artists I would want to have on my MP3 Player.

Richie Hawtin
Pink Floyd
The Orb
Portishead
Opeth
Mum
Andres Segovia
Erik Satie
Rob The Viking
Air

However this is inherently hard for me since I love alot of music to begin with.

I didn't say that they were in the wrong... the Los Angeles Police Commissioner did.

L-A police Chief William Bratton says he wants to know why hundreds of rubber bullets were fired at protesters during Tuesday's clash between police and immigration reform demonstrators.

Bratton tells K-T-L-A T-V he is concerned that 240 so-called "less-lethal" rounds were fired, with no actual arrests made.

LAPD Chief William Bratton spoke to KNBC reporter Robert Kovacik Thursday morning, saying he won't "sugar-coat" the conclusions of investigations into police action against demonstrators at MacArthur Park on Tuesday evening, during a rally for immigrant rights.

"I won't sugar-coat it. It is what it is," Bratton said.

The order was made in English only, and some reporters and protesters said they either did not hear any orders or could not understand what the police wanted them to do.

Andre Birotte, the LAPD's inspector general, said his office would focus in part on why officers used foam rounds on reporters and marchers that videotapes seemed to indicate were not posing a violent threat. According to the LAPD's manual, "less-than-lethal" devices should used only on "violent or potentially violent suspects."

shocking, reminds me of Escobar

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9s_Escobar

Reality check. Andres is brilliant, yes. But it's still a guy playing guitar the regular way. Jake's video was a big success because he played his instrument in a non-conventional fashion, making viewers go 'Wow! I didn't know that ridiculous ukulele could make such beautiful sounds'. It was all about the 'surprise' factor. I see nothing 'surprising' in that video. And I don't think it's worth leaving the sift either. Just my 2 cents of course...

Congrats Rembar!

Great posts from college life! The Pachebel sift was awesome. But dismal in that it surpassed the great Andres Segovia. Still, anything but Jake Shimkimburoican'tbebotheredtorememberhowtotspellit

Screw Jake and this guy!

Andres Segovia for the world!

Williams is great but I prefer Andres Segovia's version!

http://www.videosift.com/video/Guitar-Masters-Andrs-Segovia-plays-Asturias

I love this play and the movie adaptation.

A Streetcar Named Desire is a famous American play written by Tennessee Williams for which he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1948.

The play is considered in modern society as an icon of its era, as it deals with a culture clash between two symbolic characters, Blanche DuBois—a pretentious, fading relic of the Old South—and Stanley Kowalski, a rising member of the industrial, inner-city immigrant class.

In 1951, a movie of the play, directed by Elia Kazan, won several awards, including an Academy Award for Vivien Leigh as Best Actress in the role of Blanche. In 1995, it was made into an opera with music by Andre Previn and presented by the San Francisco Opera.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Streetcar_Named_Desire_%28film%29

I miss Andre...

anyways, pro wrestling is terrible and cheesy. But in the 80s, the Hulkster / Andre the Giant (RIP) rivalry was inescapable in the States. And regardless of how one feels about it, it was a very big pop-cultural point in 80s american history, along with Max Headroom, Iran/Contra, New Coke...