The Google Bus Song : Another Perspective On The Class war

The Google bus song was written right here in Oakland, California. Inspired by the news headlines that revealed the class war in San Francisco, early this year. If you don't know, The Google bus is a private shuttle for silicon valley employees, including Apple, Yahoo and the notorious Google company. The argument started when the public started noticing the Google bus picking up their employees at public bus stops in San Francisco. It immediately drew a line between "the haves" and " the have nots." And people started speaking out. It kinda reminds me of the Dr. Suess story, "The Star- Bellied - Sneetches." Remember that one?

Anyway...

The song writers, aka CACHEBOX wrapped the issue in hip hop satire and put out a youtube video on Baylando records. I know them both. Kuda from Harlem, New York and Kool Kyle from here in the bay area. The song is genius all by itself. Especially because it was released during the Google bus protests that were happening in the streets of San Francisco. What I like about the song is that it opens up a dialogue between the two sides. The "common public" and the "employees of Google." The poor versus the rich. The song lyrics really point out the difference between the two. 

Here is an excerpt from the SFgate blog:

“The Google Bus Song” includes lyrics like “Got on that Google bus, avoid the traffic rush/High-speed Wi-Fi, lots of legroom, and the seats are plush” and “Haters need to go home and practice code.”

The facts are real and the publicity this video has received includes the PBS NewsHour, NBC, ABC, SFWEEKLY and a few more.

And while all of this was going on...
My friend Kuda was trying to find a place to live. Not just him. His wife and two year old daughter, too. (Oh My GOD, his daughter is soooo cute!) It was a bizarre mix of feelings trying to be happy for the success of the video while at the same time trying to help keep him and his family from being homeless. We discovered how incredibly difficult it is trying to find affordable housing for a family in the bay area.  I was under the impression that it "takes a village." But what I found out was that nobody really gives a shit;  sans a hand full of people. Everyone else is dealing with the same struggle and class war. The landlord dice roll is vicious at the level of "affordable" housing. And within a month of the song's release and success, Kuda was priced out of the bay area. I watched him and his family leave a couple days ago. Meanwhile I am getting emails from friends telling me they saw the video on this news station, or that one. All excited that they know him. But unable to really help him out ya know. Strange. One friend A J Curtis, a DJ on U.C. Berkeley's radio station KALX, (former KUSF DJ before they were bought out) was interested in the story and brought us both onto his show. And we had a very interesting talk about the whole class war going on in the bay area. He may be looking for housing, too. So yeah, it's real. This gentrification process is being flamed by the success of silicon valley employees. They make good money, which jacks up the price of rent and then poor folks are forced out into the street. And it seems that the tech craze has got everyone preoccupied. You know, eyes glued to phone screen. Like ALL the time. We are losing our peripheral vision here.  And subsequently, we are going to lose more artists. Because artists have always lived at the "affordable" housing level. Unless they are super stars. There is no middle class anymore.


So keep in mind the attitude we are developing as people of the bay area.
It may be different than what you think it is...


your friendly cyberhood
Uncle Samurai

Post Gentrification Turrets

The Walking Phone ZOMBIES: Did I miss a meeting on being an adult?

Smart Phones are awesome!
It's like having a computer, a cd player, a camera and a phone in my pocket!
I love having music to listen to...but not too loud so that I can't hear someone else's footsteps or a car. Unless of course it's a Prius. Which is also a reason to keep my phone in my pocket and my head up and eyes alert. I don't want to get smashed by a Prius. That would totally suck. And since I am already compromising my hearing with my ear buds, I feel it necessary to constantly check my surroundings using my eyeballs. My eyeballs are also awesome. They keep me from running into things all the time. All the time! In fact it's pretty much guaranteed that if I use them, I won't run into stuff.
SO far, so good. Right?

But when I look around, all I see are people walking with their eyes locked into their phone screens, with their heads bent. Texting. 

And I have to ask myself:  Did I miss a meeting on being an adult?

It's like a multi player game of side-walk-chicken. I admit, people's peripheral vision has become very sharp in the process. But the fact that everyone is looking down with their heads slightly bent is kinda Twilight-Zoney. It's weird. I see parents using their own children as seeing eye dogs!  WTF? And it is something I cannot get use to. I saw a lady near the Bart station walking while typing on her ipad. This particular Bart station has a history of muggings. I think any metropolitan train station has a history of muggings. So when I saw a lady almost get hit by a car while walking with her ipad, I noticed something strange. She barely even acknowledged the car who skidded to a stop in front of her. She just walked out into the street without looking up. It was a cross walk, but you still need to look. She kept walking to the other side of the street and I noticed the driver was on his phone, shaking his head. Probably telling the person on the phone what just happened; some stupid lady walking and typing on her ipad (almost getting hit by someone driving and talking on the phone.) I am pretty sure I heard Darwin laughing somewhere beyond the clouds. I wasn't laughing, though. I was a block away when all this happened. I was actually in a state of disbelief. I have read about muggings in this area, but I never knew WHY muggers chose this area. That lady was SO distracted that not only did she almost get hit by a car, but... she didn't see A BLACK MAN was approaching her on foot. Luckily for her, it was me. And she didn't even see me until I said something to her. I said very articulately, " Hey...you might want to pay attention to your surroundings in this area. There have been muggings and phone snatches. " I said this as I was walking, so as not to startle her. I should have screamed BOO! But I didn't. If she had dropped her ipad, I would have felt bad. And probably arrested for attempted robbery. You know how it is. Being black. It would have been a tactical error on my part to make her drop her ipad for any reason. I just wanted to help, really. She was a sitting duck out there. A robber has an advantage of surprise if you don't see him/her casing you from a block away.
I hope she understood. I really do.

I'm not trying to be a do-gooder, nor am I attempting to win an award for outstanding citizen. I just see a bunch of people who are REALLY spacin' out big time, man. If the consequence of spacing out is a concussion or a robbery or both, then that's a problem. Even the news is starting to issue broadcast warnings for people to start paying attention to their surroundings.

I have yelled, " Hey,  get out of the street!" to more adults than children. People are meandering into the street on their phones. I see them do it right in front of me. Their phone rings; they answer. They politely walk away from people on the sidewalk so that they don't disturb them (which is a courteous gesture), but they walk right into the street. Without looking. The nearest and most convenient place of privacy. And they stand there and talk and gesticulate. And then all of a sudden, as if out of no where: SCREEEEETCH!! HONK!!! BEEEEEEP!!

(blink blink)

(Sigh...)

I don't know what the remedy to this phenomenon is. People don't appreciate being reprimanded in public for anything. Especially if they are actually doing something stupid. Like talking on the phone in the middle of the street. Children aren't allowed to do this. Because it is dangerous. Most people tend to ignore my warning until a car comes. So I don't really know what the solution is here.
I just have to see it all the time.

What I do know is this: So far... in the history of our existence here on earth, there has never been a time when everyone on the planet has had a satellite communication device. So I understand it's kind of a new thing. I am sure that in the future, people will eventually adapt. Until then...it's looking pretty awkward out there. A dumbing down effect is in order. Since the dot com venture capitalist game started in the 90s, people have become addicted to technology. We are adults. We are all guilty. We were all told things when we were young that apply to this very topic.
" If you sit too close to the TV, you're gonna go blind and stupid! "

So...people. 

Beware of the walking phone zombies. 

Be aware.

Your friendly cyberhood 

Uncle Samurai

(Don't Drink)The Ripple Effect of Modern Media and The Internet

There are 7 billion people on the planet earth. I don't have time to count them, so I will assume that the people who did are doing a fine job. I know what 70,000 people look like on TV. I have seen 7,000 people first hand at a concert. But I can only imagine what 7 billion people look like. The point I am making is that there are a lot of people on earth. And the reason I am stating this fact is because most people cannot actually conceive 7 billion people in their mind. Because 7 billion is a frikken GYNORMOUS number!  Right?

Right.

Now, any time there are a large group of people gathered in one place, a very small percent turn out to be evil little greedy selfish crooks and theives. I don't know why, either, but it remains a fact. Every city has gang problems. Every small town has its hoodlums. Every nation has politicians. But it is always a small percent of the population. And usually the majority of a population must coexists with this minority. Which means there are more good people than bad people.

With the above mentioned, here is my theory on how the ripple effect of modern media and the internet work:
 We are all basically looking through the glass eye of the media via cell phone, TV, or computer. And I am not sure if you fully understand what this means. If you don't know, it means we are all subject to the same published opinion within a matter of minutes. There has never been a time in history when everybody was on the same page. And now we are. That time is now. There is a relatively small group of people always publishing horrible tragedies, murder, rape, war and crime. Consistently. They make a living at it. They get paychecks for it. We call them the news. The people that write their checks lie hidden somewhere out of the picture. They hire the news to find and print god awful tragedies. And a very large group of people read it everyday. And much like a giant rock thrown into a pond, the news ripples out through the people. Us. Me and you. The only difference between now and say, 50 years ago, is that THE WHOLE WORLD IS CONNECTED ON THE INTERNET, now. Which means this rippling effect is more like a giant asteroid hitting the ocean. The more people involved; the bigger the rippling effect. And if you know that ahead of time, you can bet on the fact that every horrible news story is going to have a long and drawn out rippling effect. We are still discovering that it is very easy to control people with fear.
911 is a good example.
We are STILL reverberating in that particular rippling effect. The fear is overwhelming and has cost millions their lives. Since we can't predict horrible atrocities, it is impossible to prevent them all from happening. That will always be frustrating. We can't really be a hundred percent preventive. There will always be a few that slip through the cracks of preventive measure.
But...
Instead of reacting like a typical Jerry Springer crowd, inciting irrational, emotional and contagious hysteria (which we know, inevitably, only benefits the war machine CEO's of the world), we can observe our free will.
Two words: Free will. Even the Bible guarantees us that. And I'm Buddhist. But I'll take it.
It's the one thing that reminds us we can think for ourselves. And when we do that, we realize much more than what is shoved in our face by the corporate controlled, algorithm enhanced media. The first thing we have to realize is that, like I mentioned earlier, the good out number the bad by a huge number on this earth. So the ripple effect actually has to be manipulated by this small group of people for it to seem so devastatingly large and lasting. There is a difference between reacting in anger and being inspired to defuse and fix problems created by a small group of selfish assholes.

The bombings on Monday April 15th in Boston, Afghanistan and Iraq will most likely be used to instigate a negative rippling effect...by the small group of greedy selfish WEALTHY control freaks of for financial gain.
Take time to consider what kind of  peaceful and loving world you want to live in and keep recreating that world in spite of these tragedies. This method is the reason why we are all here today. And it is a proven method we can always count on.

When we learn to mourn the dead of all nations, we will understand the true lines drawn between us around the world.

Your friendly cyberhood
Uncle Samurai

What you might not know about American History: The Soul of Rock 'N Roll

The history of American music is fascinating. It is a small percent of world history, but amazing nonetheless.

It tells the forgotten stories that didn't quite make it into our lessons at school.
Stories that speak of people surviving the process of manifest destiny.
First hand accounts. Information that was edited out of our own national history, to benefit the wealthy and those that seek control. Stories that allow you to really see the cause and effect of these peoples actions as they happened. And why some things are the way they are today. Some things. Not all things.

And as we grow older and more curious, we begin to wonder who some of these people were. How they endured. And information slowly becomes available by the few who take time to do the research. And we discover old stories that fit like a missing puzzle into this vast jig sawed portrait of American history. And we learn a little bit more each day about our past, as we continue to add more pieces. Which enables us to really think about who we are and what we are doing with our future.

And a lot of that missing information is available to anyone with a computer.
Anyone who is curious enough to seek it may now find it with a simple push of a button. And in an era of information and modern technology, some of us are becoming curious as to what actually happened in the last 200 years. Who are these people? And what stories lie hidden in their songs?

Here is a book with a list of some of these people if you are curious:

The Soul of Rock 'N Roll: A History of African Americans in Rock Music