now in Chile, the response in Lima was great, its always fascinating how different cultural groups pick up on different aspects of the music… here in Santiago its an extreme difference from the Lima slums… very opulent and european style city… the show last night made me forget about the stupid ass election for a while but it keeps coming back like a memory of something i’d like to forget… here in Chile we have the whole Allende/Pinochet affair, the country here is as divided over Allende as we are at home over GW, very complicated trying to figure out the local politics, a good diversion… off to some tv show, tomorrow the festival… theres a club here in town called “Blondie” thats been going for about ten years, maybe check it tomorrow

being in Lima Peru for election day has been surreal to say the least… the slums here are profound and the closeness to america just heightens the images of poverty… right next door to our country the third world is suffering and struggling in grim squalor… a coca cola truck full of product passes by starving dogs roaming the streets looking for food and i cant help but wonder if anyone here really needs coca cola… i’m a bit surprised and a lot disappointed by the outcome of the election, but given the nature of the beast maybe it should have been obvious: that 80% of the media in the US is controlled by a small handful of corporate interests that succeded in scaring the shit out of the majority of the people… it seems also that the vote was swayed by a fair degree of morality issues, stem cells, gay marriages, etc… people worrying about these things underscores the lack of information and the terrible levels of education here… the international reaction is depressing as hell and not something one will run into unless they watch CNN or the BBC… up to now the perception has been that the american people didnt necessarily back the ideals of the administation whereas now this perception has changed overnight some of the stuff ive been seeing coming from various world leaders is very severe… i’m proud of everyone who got out there and voted i only hope that my fears about america plunging over the edge arent realised… certainly its going to take a long time to dig out of this situation and it remains to see how it impacts everyone directly

i am very split by the climate surrounding the election in that on one hand i feel totally divorced from it like its some kind of stupid game show while on the other i get caught up and pissed off by all the bad feelings involved in it… im starting to think now that whoever wins the result of all this mean spirited bullshit is just going to have a negative effect… but i cant believe the depth of seeming lies and crap floating around… i saw a film about the last election called ‘unprecedented’ something like that… just amazing, i didnt have, and i doubt many of you have any idea of how deep the madness surrounding that election went… the blackballing of supposed ‘felons’ from voting in the Fla. election etc etc… what makes me the most crazy though is that with all of these facts compiled out there all that results from them is a bunch of entertainment, documentaries, no action… as usual i cant help but feel the human race is rushing into a wall with no brakes, that at best its fifty fifty, that is the fight with the ‘dark side’ i hope these S.A. shows are ok, i think several of them are in festivals, and festivals are a struggle… on a positive note the NY area has been flooded with cheap ‘no territory’ DVD players… these are generic guys called “CYBERHOME” and sell for around forty bucks, i’ve been told you can find them on amazon, i got one a while back and its quite great to be able to play anything, not get the wrong region error…

i’m pleased to announce that after years and years the GUN CLUB’s stuff is finally available again, Long Gone John at ‘Sympathy for the Record Industry’ has done a great job with Jeffrey’s sister Jacqui and myself getting the whole catalog back in circulation, the ep and two lp’s are available on vinyl and cd from http://sympathyrecords.com/ as in the past im still amazed that this stuff was done so long ago, it sounds like a lot of what i hear now only maybe better…

so the ramones benefit in the city, i saw a load of people i hadnt (seen) for quite a while, we were kind of burnt by the time we got on stage but i think the crowd that had been hanging for six hours was even more wasted though they all stuck it out till the bitter end, the strokes are really pretty great, Joan J. was my favorite deliverer of ramones songs, today i saw an ad on tv for some download company that made prominent use of a ramones song and it’s just sad, obvious that they are going to now be finally recognized as a major force in music… etc etc i have been drawn into ‘the da vinci code’ book, i just started it out of curiosity and am really pleased that the message it imparts is capable of being one of such mass appeal, i wonder if its possible for western society to change back to feminine orientation… of course the fucking election, is it as exciting as the world series, wrestlemania? look i registered to vote, ok, the last and only time i ever voted was for McGovern, so if all the jerks like myself get involved maybe it’ll help, again; we have been all over europe in the last year and everyone i talked to over there, cab drivers, people in coffee shops etc etc think that the us world position is wrong, the war a mistake etc, the view we get from the media here is really skewed and slanted, we dont get a balanced picture of world opinion lastly for now im starting to get a lot of messages from south america, a lot of you down there talking about this up coming short tour, i cant believe we never got down there in the past, we ARE definitely gonna show up, im looking forward to getting there…

last night (7:30 am sleepless at heathrow or thereabouts) was the last of this short UK stint, Southend, a large sold out show at one of those old theaters that are cooler to play at, i had a really good sound on stage… see the sound varies considerably from one place to the next, its like the place that we are in becomes part of the equipment, adds or detracts a lot to whats going on with the band… so about three songs from the end the power went out on stage (!) the only other time i can remember something similar was in Bangkok but that wasnt really the same so this was a first of sorts, it came back on and then went out again during the last song ‘one way’ so it made for a kind of anti climax to say the least, clem threw some cymbals at the crowd and kevin demolished his little usb keyboard and passed out the bits… back to NY shortly… next thing is a tv show in the US… thats gonna have the duet w Shirley Manson, years back we toured with her early band ‘Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie’, the name is a reference to the bowie film i presume… i am looking forward to that we have a special number we are gonna try and pull off on the 8th i believe is the upcoming Ramones benefit in NYC, the dough from it is gonna go to two cancer foundations in behalf of Joey and Johnny… we all knew that John was in trouble but it is still a drag to have all of these guys go down like that… this business is mega fucking frustrating, we all are filled with dissapointments and so much loss and things we would have done differently, i guess its the same for everyone, but being in a position of supposed influence while at the same time feeling stifled and held back is kind of the way things work for many of us in the rock and roll field… its sad that the Ramones are being recognized on a greater scale now that they arent around… how many times can one say the same stuff; that the Ramones should have been in the same league as the Beatles or Stones while they were still here etc etc i was closer to Joey and Tommy than to John but i always was a Johnny supporter, there was a period about ten years ago and i dont have a clue why, but i was the only one with Johnnys ‘secret’ phone number and Joey or some one else would call me and say like “please tell Johnny we need to talk to him…” this state of affairs went on for a few months and i dont remember how it resolved itself, i suppose it sort of never did… those guys craziness was no doubt a big part of their genius… really the end of an era here lastly thanks to Takeshi our main Japanese travelling fan… he brought me a copy of a pre-DVD sampler from the upcoming long awaited part two of “GHOST IN THE SHELL”, this second one now many years later is titled “INNOCENCE”, this is major breakthrough stuff, you heard it here “Innocence” is going to tear the ass of the anime world big time its some of the most amazing animation ive seen and i havent even seen the whole film yet… a few weeks ago i showed Kevin the first “Ghost” film on the bus, i’d really forgotten how the whole of the opening sequence as well as the titles were lifted by Matrix… the streaming vertical green glowing type that everyone associates with matrix is taken note for note from ghost, anyone whos into anime etc and isnt already familiar should catch up in time for the US release of Innocence… why do DVD palyers all refuse different regional types? in San Francisco i bought an all region player for just sixty nine bucks that i’ve been watching all the Asian stuff on, what is the deal with that? who makes the money?

firstly im proud to announce that i got a couple of pictures up on http://www.streetmattress.com one is at http://www.streetmattress.com/sm.php?mattress=5096 and the other is at http://www.streetmattress.com/sm.php?mattress=5094 i forget how i came upon streetmattress, probably in a search for “weirdness” as before im fairly disturbed about the pissed off cranky nature of the election, the media, the way sides are being drawn etc etc its really fucking depressing… i have to say one thing here and maybe i will give it up for a bit, everyone knows how i feel about the war etc you know we have been travelling for the past year, we’ve been all over europe, in spain, england, italy, switzerland, holland, belgium, and many other countries (check the tour dates) in all of these places i talk to people all the time, not just to fans and rock and roll types but to people who work in shops, in airports, cab drivers, people on the street on and on… now you have to believe me on this EVERYONE, EVERYONE i talked to about the war and about US foreign policy thinks that america is making bad decisions in regard to how its handling its image in the world… we were in a cab someplace i cant even remember what country, and the driver asked where we were from “New York” someone said to which the guy said “oh this is a bad time to be an American” the media here doesnt report this stuff at all and im afraid that the reaction of many is “go back to russia” etc its a drag supreme that one cant criticize ones countrys policies without opening oneself up to attacks gotta go to sound check

San Francisco… several days spent wandering in chinatown, fantastic the one here though i cant always help but think that it must have really rocked in SF a hundred years ago… but great dvd stores (an amazing film by ‘audition’ director Takashi Miike, [im starting to think this guy is the best living film director aside from Marty] “Bird People of China”, why doesnt this stuff get US releases? uncanny… now i have to apologize big time for my comments about “the Chronicles of Riddick” which i had suggested was gonna be bad several postings back… i should have had more faith in director Twohy and i thought ‘Riddick’ was almost totally great, i understand that it didnt do well in general release and was only out a short time (i saw it in a hotel which is where i see most current films) i could have done without all of the ‘Dune’ references and there is a weird timeline thing in the supposed five year period between films that seems more like two thousand (in the story) but i guess they figured that the majority of kids who are gonna see it have never been exposed to ‘Dune’… i escape into films and writing… fifty more days till the election and id like to think that even if bush does win things wont turn to total shit, in the airport every magazine has a picture of w on the cover and i keep fluctuating about his chances… its quite depressing to feel things so polarized in america, that people are so cranky about politics that everything else is tossed out… i guess the biggest disapointment for me is just being out in huge crowds of people who are all dressed in uniforms, have lost so much of their individuality and are driven by desires for the shallowest manufactured goals… SF on labor day week end, host to hordes of tourists, much bigger homeless population than in other cities, so amidst the clone masses these poor beat up men and women begging for handouts on all the street corners… still there are enough freaks to keep things upbeat around here… kevin and i keep fantasizing about going out to burning man for two days but in reality im gonna have to wait for next year… B, thanx so much for reading to me on the phone yesterday… much ‘respect’ and love as a late addition one of the uk fans sent a link to an article that seems to support my view about international feelings about the election and the US http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3640754.stm it’s polls from around the world check it

just a couple of things: its pretty grotesque to see and feel the level of anger and animosity that the current election climate has engendered… the other day the post headline that americans owe it to the 9-11 victims to vote for bush was downright surreal, it made me wonder why he, bush, doesnt recieve more criticism for being the guy in charge when this horror was perpetrated in the first place… ive even gotten a few ‘crank’ messages saying i should refrain from discussing anything besides music and that i should stop ‘spreading hate’ (someone really wrote that and here i thought i was a love advocate)… i know i often just scan shit on the net without really reading it and i got a presumably well meaning message from someone who said why didnt i see that the michael moore film was propaganda… this guy obviously didnt check out all of my writings or missed the bit where i said the Fahrenheit film was propaganda but its about time there was some coming from the other side or something to that effect… the convention in nyc was certainly an odd event, there was a full page story again in the post about all of the weird personal ads placed by weird new yorkers soliciting conservative visitors for sex… like “submissive republican wanted for abuse” etc apparently this was a trend that i doubt got much national attention… i read and recommend Dee Dee Ramones funny and sad book “Legend of a Rock Star”, it struck a lot of chords and made me feel bad about his passing all over again, honestly the paintings are ok but there was something genuinely great about his writing… “Chelsea Horror Hotel” also is oddly brilliant there is something going on there that transcends just the weird ass comic book quality of that is what one gets on first impression, there is a powerful psychological basis in his writing about childhood fears translated into the real world, all of his longings and fantasies etc… its really too bad he just didnt hang around and write some more, i know i would have liked to see what he came up with later on we are in Tacoma (and i havent seen anyone with a plaid shirt yet) for the next ‘leg’ (thats what we call the different sections of the endless tour here) everybody in the band (well except for just one member) including myself is deep into Ali-G, this guy is a fucking comedic genius… i only recently discovered him, saw the movie in the UK and then went on to watch the show… initially i didnt get what he was about i just thought it was some mtv hip hop thing, we all sit around during bus rides watching the show and now that the first season is out on dvd everyone is going to be doing his bits endlessly… we watched the ‘day after tomorrow’ on the plane, what a load o crap, what happened to the polar bears from the zoo huh?? plus i think the statue of liberty was facing the wrong way… its fucking amazing, the credits must have had several hundred names maybe even five hundred i think tomorrow is “the burn” at burning man, i wish we could have made it this year, barbara and i have missed two in a row now, mostly cause of that crazy baby, next year for sure… if any of you out there at black rock city come upon this “stay hot!!”

briefly, we all were very pissed about Alanta being rained out, we all stayed until it started raining the second time, the guys in the psychedelic furs stayed on as well i just wanted to personally say i’m sorry that anyone was dissappointed and hope we can get back soon to make it up… we’ve only had to cancel maybe two other shows that i can remember… today in Asheville N.C. we went on the tour of Thomas Wolfes mothers boarding house that is the setting of his first novel “Look Homeward Angel” Nashville was fun, so many younger kids, we all enjoyed playing after being off