Year / 2006

by Edward Champion

Houston Police Assault Concertgoers & Band

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At a small club in Houston, a cop entered the club to investigate a noise disturbance. Reports are coming in that, instead of having the decency to talk with the management, the police officer walked directly up to the stage and slammed a musician to the ground. Not stopping there, this police officer then tasered three people just for kicks.

This rampant abuse of authority, which resembles behavior that I was subjected to earlier this year by San Francisco’s “finest,” is uncalled for in any context. There were numerous peaceful methods that this officer could have employed to deal with the situation. But instead of talking reasonably with the club owners or the crowd, he gave into stress, pressure, violence, or who knows really, and created a situation that escalated out of control.

I sincerely hope that the victims of this officer’s abusive behavior plan to file a report against the officer and that they do not remain silent.

Links: YouTube video, Houston Metblogs, more video, more links, band’s message forum. (via Boing Boing)

[UPDATE: According to this site, the cop’s name is G.M. Rodriguez and his badge number is 7854. You can air your complaints by calling the police station’s public affairs division at 713-308-3200.]

[UPDATE 2: The Houston Chronicle has presented this incident as if Rodriguez was the one attacked. It would seem that the video links suggest otherwise.]

by Edward Champion

Why She Gave Up On Hip-Hop

Option 1: Rambling 2,200 word article.

Option 2: Four-word summary by Edward Champion: “Because she got old.”*

* — And before I am characterized by politically correct readers as an ageist punkass, I should note that one can remain both young at heart and reasonably mature. One such act of maturity involves not embarassing yourself in a major newspaper by lambasting something in an uninformed manner that you can never and will never understand, permitting those who enjoy their cultural fixations to keep tapping their toes. Accordingly, I recuse myself from any further commentary on Napoleon Dynamite.

by Edward Champion

Musical Moments in Cinema

The top 40 musical moments in film history. (via Black Market Kidneys)

Discounting musicals, I would add The Who’s “A Quick One” during the vengeance montage in Rushmore, Schubert’s Piano Trio in E-Flat Major in that absolutely beautiful long shot of Lady Lyndon falling in love with Barry in Barry Lyndon, Khachaturian’s Sabre Dance during the hula hoop montage in The Hudsucker Proxy, that horrible version of the Eagles’ “Hotel California” during the Jesus montage in The Big Lebowski, the ironic use of Rossini in A Clockwork Orange, Night Ranger’s “Sister Christian” in Boogie Nights, Slaughterhouse’s “Power Mad” in Wild at Heart (beautifully twisted), Alan Price’s songs in O Lucky Man!, the use of Wagner in L’Age d’Or, and “Drum Boogie” in Ball of Fire (if you’re talking film history, which would include movies made before 1980, how the hell could you leave that out?).

(In fact, while I’m on the subject, I think it’s safe to say that the opening to Sexy Beast could not have worked without The Stranglers’ “Peaches” playing in the background. And the only reason why Sofia Coppola’s soulless films dupe their audiences is because of the music. I’d ramble further about how certain movies are absolutely hollow without their music (the mute button really reveals wonders), but there’s only so much time in the day.)

by Edward Champion

Web Traffic: It’s All About the Writer’s Voice

Editor & Publisher: “Ebert took a leave in June to recovering from surgery for salivary-gland cancer, and according to Crain’s Chicago Business the site’s overall traffic was down 25% by August. RogerEbert.com, which is hosted by the Sun-Times, lost 65% of its visitors between June and August, falling from 1.1 million to 378,000.”

It seems that bloggers aren’t the only ones who can’t take vacations.