From: Bob Davis (earthjuice_at_prodigy.net)
Date: 2004-10-25 05:04:23
freedom, freedom
give it to me
that's what i want now
freedom, freedom
give it to me
that's what i need now
freedom, freedom
give it to me
to live
freedom, freedom
give it to me
so i can give
--Jimi Hendrix
One of the things that fascinates me in the connection between technology, culture and
freedom.
One of the underlying principles at the heart of Soul-Patrol is the relationship between those
three things.
One of the reasons why Mike and I created Soul-Patrol was to experiment with the convergence
of these ideas and to use the past present and future of Black music as the catalyst
1. I attended WT Clarke HS, which is located in the East Meadow school district on Long
Island. I along with 23 other Black students went to this previously lily white school under a
government mandated forced busing program in 1970. WT Clarke HS is one of the top 5 public
high schools in the state of New York. One of the reasons why it is so highly ranked is
because you can take a "pre-engineering" (Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering or
Architectural Engineering) track of study there along with a regular academic program. In my
case, I took Electrical Engineering (10th Grade: DC Electrical Engineering, 11th Grade AC
Electrical Engineering, 12th Grade: Solid State Electrical Engineering). If you listen to
Soul-Patrol Radio's Mandrill Live broadcast, you can hear the voice of someone that I referred
to as "The Rocket Scientist". Well that individual was one of the 23 Black students who went
to High School with me. A few weeks ago we put together that internet radio broadcast. One
of the things that we discussed was the power of technology to effect cultural/political
change and how the fundamentals of how to do that in the year 2004 were not radically
different that what they were in 1974. He wanted to do that broadcast with me, not only
because he is a fan of Mandrill, but also because he was facinated by the imidiate impact we
could have by doing a broadcast and then withing a few hours being able to make it available
to many people. You see, "back in da day", he and I had built our own radio receivers and
transmitters...
http://www.soul-patrol.net/man_live.ram
2. A couple of years ago, on a lazy Saturday afternoon, the famous NYC disc jockey, Ken Webb
came to my house to spend an afternoon talking with Mike and I. Most of that afternoon was
spent discussing technology, but not the technology that you might be thinking about. We
talked about the technology that enables terrestrial radio broadcasting. When I told Kenny
what HS I went to, he started talking about how he got his start in radio during the 1950's
and the requirements to get an FCC license. Back then getting an FCC license meant that you
had to pass a test which required you to demonstrate a detailed knowledge of two things: 1)
Morse Code. 2) Ability to read and interpret detailed schematic diagrams. Back in the 1950's
there were few Blacks who had passed this test. Ken told me stories about how he was not only
able to operate a radio station board, but also that he was able to take one apart and put it
back together again. He could also build one from scratch. He could knew and understood the
physics behind things like transmitter operation as well. His point in telling me all of this
was to impress upon me that it was most important to have a thorough understanding of the
technical details of the operation and that the final product was merely the tip of the
iceberg. When I told him that I had obtained my FCC license, while I was a High School
Student, as a result of taking the Electrical Engineering courses, his eyes lit up. That was
because Ken Webb knew that I knew the reason why he was an important figure in the history of
radio. It had nothing to do with his "on air skillz", but it had everything to do with his
knowlege of radio infrastructure and how to apply it.
3. A few weeks ago when we were talking about the origins of hip hop in NYC I alluded to
certain information in Tricia Rose's book called "Black Noise". "Black Noise" is probably the
very best book I have ever read on the topic of Hip Hop and its one that I strongly urge
everyone here to read. In the section of the book where she talks about the beginning of hip
hop in NYC, she goes into great detail in explaining that most of the early hip hop DJ's had
taken advanced electronics training in NYC High Schools and actually built their own
equipment. She goes on to say that without this technical knowledge, these early DJ's would
not have been able to create their music.
4. I know that what Tricia Rose was saying is an absolute fact. During the mid 1970's I was a
part of a DJ Crew in Brooklyn called the "Brew Crew". The "Brew Crew's" equipment set up
(mixers, turntables, PA system, etc) were completely assembled from discarded Console TV's and
Stereo Systems (ie: garbage) that we found on the street. The person who was the leader of the
"Brew Crew" is DJ Caz. Some of you may recall that the very first show we ever put up on
Soul-Patrol Radio is a show entitled: The FUNKIEST Station In The Whole Damn Nation: DJ Caz
and the Brew Crew Featuring Bootsy Collins, ZAPP, Seawind, BT Express and more
http://www.soul-patrol.net/brew1.ram
That broadcast was created from an old tape that the "Brew Crew" did back in 1980.
A few months ago, DJ Caz finally got internet access and listened to the show via his home
computer.
It blew his mind...
5. This past weekend I was at a farmers market in PA. and there was a vendor there who was
selling old radios from the 40's, 50's and 60's. He had both vacuum tube radios as well as
transistor radios. I ended up talking with him for about an hour (the conversation started out
with me asking him if he was celebration the 50th Anniversary of the transistor this past
week.....lol) For example one of the things that we joked about was how similar not only the
concept of an iPOD was to a transitor radio that could fit in your shirt pocket, but also how
much the two devices physically resemble one another. Clearly he was impressed with my
knowledge of solid state/vacuum tube analog circuitry and so we ended up in quite a deep
discussion. near the end he talked about how this type of knowledge was a lost art today and
that it was a shame because having the knowledge to create your own communications mechanisms
literally from scratch means that there is actually less freedom today than there was 40 years
ago. He started talking about how corporate conglomerates have not only destroyed the radio
industry, but along with it the FREEDOM of people as individuals to create new forms of
communication and with it new sources of information from multiple and often competing
perspectives.
In fact I would go even further....
Technology is what actually enables culture itself.
Without technology, communication would be limited and with limited communications, culture
would be limited in it's reach and therefore have a limited impact.
In my view it is the combination of culture + technology that enables the spread of new ideas,
concepts and more.
When the enabling technology is concentrated in the hands of just a few individuals, that
means that it is those few individuals who end up controlling the culture which surrounds us
all.
When this happens my friends, it means that our FREEDOM is limited as well.
Today our FREEDOM is at grave risk here in the United States.
That is because control of mass information/culture is concentarted in the hands of just a few
people.
For the most part, Americans do not seem to be very concerned about this.
Oh sure people may complain about things like the decline of the quality of the content in
mass media, but they have pretty much accepted it as a reality that they have little or no
real stake in.
For example, how many times have we read people here saying things like:
"The music and the dj's aren't as good as they used to be, years ago..."
Well of course we know that no matter how many times a statement like this is made, it simply
isn't true.
We know that there are MANY great DJ's out there and we also know that there is a LOT of great
music being proiduced today.
However we also know that in today's world the DJ isn't permitted to have the FREEDOM needed
to be able to play music that they think is great or to even talk about it.
One of the reasons for that is that in todays world, a radio DJ is FAR REMOVED from the
technology that enables broadcasting. Unlike someone like Ken Webb, radio DJ don't understand
broadcasting technology, they are kept as far away from it as possible and today are only a
voice coming out of your radio speaker. That is what the individuals who control the
technology have dictated. And that is what the vast majority of Americans have learned to
accept.
Music on the radio is but one form of this. It actually applies to all forms of mass media and
the information that it carries. Mass media informational content is pretty much dictated by
the few people who are the owners of the technology.
As a result it is really just those few individuals who in effect are in control of our
FREEDOM.
When you have a situation where the distribution of information is concentrated in the hands
of just a few individuals, it really does represent a totalitarian society.
And that's what we have today.
We should all be celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the transistor.
We should celebrate it and reflect on the FREEDOM that the tiny, yet powerful device brought
to our society.
We should celebrate it and reflect on the FREEDOM that we have lost over the past 10 years.
And get ready over the course of the next 4 years to lose even more of it as the BUSH EMPIRE
takes away even more of our FREEDOM after he his SECOND CORONATION on 1/20/2005
_________
Bob Davis
earthjuice_at_prodigy.net
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