Yesterday evening (Friday August 3rd) I attended both the Amoeba Music, San Francisco instore with super skilled turntablists DJs Platurn and Golden Chyld (pictured left) and also the San Francisco Bay Guardian's Best of the Bay soiree at the de Young Museum in nearby Golden Gate Park.

I hadn't been at the de Young Museum since it moved locations to its impressive new state-of-the-art facility in October 2005. Come think of it, I hadn't been in Golden Gate Park for about as long. And after seeing reports about the "homeless problem" in the park on local TV news and reading all the recent newspaper reports, which made it sound like there were homeless people camped out under every bush in the park's confines with dirty syringes poking out of everywhere, I was anticipating stumbling upon a sort of New Jack (tent) City, which didn't happen. Instead I only witnessed a small gathering of poor, unfortunate homeless down by the Stanyan end of the park (not far from Amoeba).   

But anyway, regarding the homeless situation in SF -- I really see both sides. I feel bad for residents (especially those with little kids) who have to endure such things as street people pissing in their doorsteps or leaving dirty needles in their front yards or near playgrounds in the park. But I also feel bad for individuals who have substance abuse problems or who are mentally ill and who have no option but to live on the streets (dating back to Reagan as Governor of Cali). And never do I forget the fact that most of us are just one paycheck away from joining them.

Michael Moore's latest film, Sicko, just out in theaters, may -- as its detractors so quickly accuse it of being -- be biased and one-sided, but you know what? I don't give a damn, because, like all of Moore's films to date, it is still a hell of a unique work: one that tells the side of the downtrodden, ill-represented majority of this economically unbalanced society in which we dwell. It is a story that long needed to be told and the fact that someone as high-profile as Moore, whose films get so much attention and so many viewers, is a wonderful thing that hopefully will lead to changes in the current corrupt medical insurance system in the USA. Sicko also brings to my mind some of the other great expose documentaries that have been produced in recent years and that are available on DVD -- which means you should be able to find them in Amoeba's DVD section.


Some of my personal favorites include OutFoxed, which takes a humorous but scathing look at Rupert Murdoch's Fox News network (an easy target for sure...but a well worth looking into one), presenting some of the shameless attempts at "fair and balanced" reporting that the TV "news" station practices.

Other documentaries in the whistle-blower style include Robert Greenwald's must-see 2005 documentary Wal-Mart: The High Price Of Low Cost (see clip below), which exposes the retail giant for the shady, exploitive, corrupt employer and corporation that it really is -- one that has the audacity to wrap itself in the image of the American flag when its practices (ranging from exploiting medicare, destroying small businesses and communities within the United States and exploiting overseas workers) are the most un-American that any entity could possibly execute. This documentary exposes the retail giant from the perspective of its hard-working employees and along the way exposes facts such as the high crime rate in the under-protected Wal-Mart parking lots.

The new compilation WAR II (the turd hunt continues...) is the sequel to the 2003 anti-war compilation WAR: If It Feels Good Do It. It is just being released and will be available exclusively at Amoeba Music's three locations (Hollywood, Berkeley, and San Francisco) and online through Hip Hop Slam's online shop. It features Public Enemy, Steinski, Braintax, Backyard Bangers, DJ ALF, OkiZoo, the DJs of Mass Destruction, and others. 

Like the first WAR compilation, this hip-hop collection is also produced by the DJs of Mass Destruction, featuring this blogger along with DJ Pone, Shing02, DJ ALF, DnZ, & Dawgisht -- all of whom will be performing live on KFJC on Saturday afternoon, June 23rd on DJ Trinity's show on 89.7FM (noon - 3PM) with an estimated performance time of 1PM - 2:15PM (West Coast time). 

KFJC in Los Altos Hills is a legendary Bay Area college radio station that for years has been broadcasting over the Bay Area (its signal is pretty good) with quality radio -- including lots of live studio performances. This will be the second time the DJs of Mass Destruction perform on DJ Trinity's show. In fact, we turned part of the last KFJC performance (2003 release party for WAR: If it feels good do it) into a music video featuring Bush/War footage mixed with the KFJC performance. The video originally appeared on the enhanced CD  section of the 2CD Amoeba Music Compilation Vol. V set. This video, which was produced by Hip Hop Slam's Nausea Girl, can be viewed below. The video at top of this page, produced by ALF, was made for the new WAR II: the turd hunt continues. The audio track for the video is the opening track on the 14-track new WAR II CD.