Tag: free speech

OCT 2, 2013 - The LostWaterBoyz, three furloughed federal workers from Indiana as a result of the right-wing extremist Teabaggers shutting down the government like terrorists with ridiculous demands, used the time off to do what I like doing also; they wrote a song about it all. Set to the tune of Petula Clark's "Downtown", they updated the lyrics for the times and wrote, "Shutdown". Watch the LostWaterBoyz perform "Shutdown" below. Let's hope somebody corrals these insane Teabaggers (Hello?, Boehner?!) and gets them in line and we can get the government functioning like it is supposed to do, and these guys can get a paycheck again. They are essential! Passing a budget and keeping the government functioning is not a concession! Comments? Start a conversation on our JTMP Facebook Page.

SEP 27, 2013 - They have been picketing pop star concerts like Lady Gaga recently, but now Westboro Baptist Church has been picketing the concerts of country music artists lately, over the issue of divorce and remarriage. In their sick and twisted logic, the reason why gay marriage is being legalized across the land is because both Vince Gill and Blake Shelton got divorced and then remarried, and that leads to Sodom and Gomorra, civilization crumbles, yadda yadda yadda. We have had legal gay marriage here in DC for years, and the sky has not fallen.

During a Kansas City, MO concert on September 11, 2013, Vince Gill confronted and talked to the protesters outside the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. The vile protesters were saying that "Jesus spoke against divorce...", but Gill responded by pointing out how Jesus also talked about "forgiveness, about grace. You guys have one of that." Read more on ChristianPost.com here.

Last Wednesday, when WBC announced they were going to picket Blake Shelton's concert because he divorced his first wife and remarried Miranda Lambert, he Tweeted back, "Blow Me". So it looks like Blake won't be taking any crap from WBC and maybe even takes a stand for equality and NOH8! JTMP will post any more country music star concert protests as they happen, so check back. Comments? Start a conversation on our JTMP Facebook Page.

SEP 18, 2013 - NBCNews.com has an article up about the growing phenomenon of "copy tracks"; where musical acts in Myanmar copy popular songs note for note, putting their own words to it in their local language. Many of their fans think it is their song and are totally oblivious that some of these songs are from popular groups such as Metallica and Lady Gaga. The article also delves into the "censorship panels" set up by the Myanmar government to censor any entertainment or music they felt was "revolutionary, salacious or even overtly foreign" and how this climate gave rise to the "copy track" genre. The "biggest rock star alive in Myanmar", Lay Phyu, is interviewed about copy tracks and more in a very informative article by Patrick Winn on NBCNews.com here. Watch the copy track "Exits" by Lay Phyu below, (think Metallica's "Sandman") where Neoreborn Swe on YouTube has put some graphics to it using clips of the violent and bloody struggle for freedom against the military junta. Comments? Use our JTMP Facebook Page and start a conversation!

WARNING: This video is very graphic.

SEP 12, 2013 - JTMP is a strong supporter of new and fairer forms of capitalism, and we strongly support cooperatives and employee-owned businesses like Publix; and we ran across a great project going on with online retailer Aplomb we just had to tell you about. They have turned their website into a forum where people exchange ideas about important issues and build up votes to use as currency. Art work is inspired, and that art is then put on their t-shirts that the "Creative Conspiracy", as they call themselves, can buy with their accumulated activist work credit they have done online.

JTMP caught up with Ryan from Aplomb in an email interview, and he was nice enough to tell us about how it all began. Ryan explained to JTMP that Aplomb started back in 2006 with his observation on how little you could pay artists in the t-shirt apparel business, and he also felt other injustices within the apparel industry were happening. Their "streetwear brand" t-shirt apparel business would pay as little as $200 for the artist's work, and didn't even have to give them credit. He says in the interview, "Something that stuck out was how ridiculous 'lifestyle' brands were. It was crazy that people would actually pay or buy into someone's lifestyle. That is when the epiphany started." Ryan then went on to say, "I would get people involved in the brand, use their ideas to provide significant meaning in the products we sold instead of promoting another 'lifestyle'. I would pay artists fairly and promote them along with the people's ideas instead of ourselves. In an industry that promotes the promotion of self we knew we had the opportunity to change things by putting the fans and the artists first."

CLICK READ MORE TO READ REST OF INTERVIEW

SEPT 12, 2013 - During a stop in Washington, D.C. for the National Farmers Union conference, rocker Neil Young commented on the devastated conditions of the Alberta town Fort McMurray due to the oil sands operation at the Athabasca Oil Sands; and compared the damage to Hiroshima after the atomic bomb. Read more on JTMP Green here.