J. D. Salinger - The Catcher in the Rye

In the 1940s, Salinger confided to several people that he was working on a novel featuring Holden Caulfield, the teenage protagonist of his short story "Slight Rebellion off Madison," and The Catcher in the Rye was published on July 16, 1951. The novel's plot is simple, detailing seventeen-year-old Holden's experiences in New York City following his expulsion, and departure, from an elite prep school. The book is more notable for the iconic persona and testimonial voice of its first-person narrator, Holden. He serves as an insightful but unreliable narrator who expounds on the importance of loyalty, the "phoniness" of adulthood, and his own duplicity. In a 1953 interview with a high-school newspaper, Salinger admitted that the novel was "sort of" autobiographical, explaining that "My boyhood was very much the same as that of the boy in the book ... It was a great relief telling people about it."

Initial reactions to the book were mixed, ranging from The New York Times's hailing of Catcher as "an unusually brilliant first novel" to denigrations of the book's monotonous language and the "immorality and perversion" of Holden, who uses religious slurs and freely discusses casual sex and prostitution. The novel was a popular success; within two months of its publication, The Catcher in the Rye had been reprinted eight times. It spent thirty weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list.

The book's initial success was followed by a brief lull in popularity, but by the late 1950s, according to Ian Hamilton, it had "become the book all brooding adolescents had to buy, the indispensable manual from which cool styles of disaffectation could be borrowed." Newspapers began publishing articles about the "Catcher Cult", and the novel was banned in several countries—as well as some U.S. schools—because of its subject matter and what Catholic World reviewer Riley Hughes called an "excessive use of amateur swearing and coarse language". One diligent parent counted 237 appearances of the word "goddam" in the novel, along with 58 of "bastard," 31 of "Chrissake" and 6 of "fuck."

In the 1970s, several U.S. high school teachers who assigned the book were fired or forced to resign. In 1979 one book-length study of censorship noted that The Catcher in the Rye "had the dubious distinction of being at once the most frequently censored book across the nation and the second-most frequently taught novel in public high schools (after John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men)." The book remains widely read; as of 2004, the novel was selling about 250,000 copies per year, "with total worldwide sales over 65 million."

In the wake of its 1950s success, Salinger received (and rejected) numerous offers to adapt The Catcher in the Rye for the screen, including one from Samuel Goldwyn. Since its publication, there has been sustained interest in the novel among filmmakers, with Billy Wilder, Harvey Weinstein, and Steven Spielberg among those seeking to secure the rights. Salinger stated in the 1970s that "Jerry Lewis tried for years to get his hands on the part of Holden." Salinger repeatedly refused, though, and in 1999, Joyce Maynard definitively concluded: "The only person who might ever have played Holden Caulfield would have been J. D. Salinger."

Download the e-book here

King Crimson - In The Court of the Crimson King

In the Court of the Crimson King (an observation by King Crimson) is the 1969 debut album by the British progressive rock group King Crimson. The album reached #3 on the British charts. The album is certified gold in the United States.

The album is generally viewed as one of the strongest of the progressive rock genre, where King Crimson largely stripped away the blues-based foundations of rock music and mixed together with jazz and European symphonic elements. In his 1997 book Rocking the Classics, critic and musicologist Edward Macan notes that In the Court of the Crimson King "may be the most influential progressive rock album ever released". The Who's Pete Townshend was quoted as calling the album "an uncanny masterpiece". In the Q & Mojo Classic Special Edition Pink Floyd & The Story of Prog Rock, the album came #4 in its list of "40 Cosmic Rock Albums".

The album was remastered and re-released on vinyl and CD several times during the 1980s and 1990s. All of these versions were based on tape copies that were several generations removed from the originals. The original first-generation stereo master tapes were finally located in a Virgin Records storage vault in 2003, leading to a much improved remastered CD version.


Album cover

Barry Godber (1946–1970), an artist and computer programmer, painted the album cover. Godber died in February 1970 of a heart attack, shortly after the album's release. It would be his only painting, and is now owned by Robert Fripp.

Fripp had this to say about Godber:

"Peter brought this painting in and the band loved it. I recently recovered the original from EG's offices because they kept it exposed to bright light, at the risk of ruining it, so I ended up removing it. The face on the outside is the Schizoid Man, and on the inside it's the Crimson King. If you cover the smiling face, the eyes reveal an incredible sadness. What can one add? It reflects the music."


Content

The album consists of five long songs. Most of these have additional titles given to sub-sections. This was done not to reflect actual divisions in the music but to ensure that the group would receive the full amount of song writing royalties from their music publisher and record company. With the sub-sections included the album can be seen as having a full 12 songs, the typical number for a standard rock album. Since the album was made new rules have become standard in the music publishing business which take into account the length of the songs as well as the number of titles on an album.

 

Track listing

1. "21st Century Schizoid Man" (Fripp, McDonald, Lake, Giles, Sinfield) – 7:21 * including "Mirrors"

2. "I Talk to the Wind" (McDonald, Sinfield) – 6:05

3. "Epitaph" (Fripp, McDonald, Lake, Giles, Sinfield) – 8:47 * including "March for No Reason" and "Tomorrow and Tomorrow"

4. "Moonchild" (Fripp, McDonald, Lake, Giles, Sinfield) – 12:13 * including "The Dream" and "The Illusion"

5. "The Court of the Crimson King" (McDonald, Sinfield) – 9:25 * including "The Return of the Fire Witch" and "The Dance of the Puppets"

Calexico - Convict Pool

The ever-prolific Arizona ensemble Calexico's CONVICT POOL EP offers a mix of covers and original tunes. The title track is a hauntingly spare song featuring only founding members Joey Burns and John Convertino, with Burns's vocals taking on a more emotive quality than that of his usually hushed delivery. "Sirena" includes the full band and mines Calexico's Latino leanings, while the Minutemen song "Corona" is transformed into a boisterous mariachi tune. The high point of the EP, however, proves to be the group's take on the Love song "Alone Again Or" (also notably covered by the Damned). Here Calexico joins forces with Scandinavian singer Nicolai Dunger for an amazingly catchy, acoustic-guitar-driven version of this '60s pop classic, showcasing the most dynamic elements of the consistently intriguing Calexico sound.

Additional personnel includes: Nicolai Dunger (vocals); Thomas Tjarnqwist (12-string guitar); Tony Crow (keyboards).
 

Recorded at Wedgewood, Nashville, Tennessee; Water Works, Wavelab Studios, Tucson, Arizona.

Ray Bradbury - The Illustrated Man

The Illustrated Manis a short tale wrapped around eighteen short stories. The framing story is of a tattooed man whom the narrator meets, and whose tattoos foretell the future. The eighteen short stories inside the frame give Ray Bradbury's visions of our future and, in the process, let us see ourselves as we are in the past and present. Bradbury always asks probing questions in his work, but seldom provides definitive answers. He leaves it to the reader to find his or her own answers inside.

The Illustrated Man is chock full of questions. In order to find the answers, you must read the stories and let them reflect your own mind and soul. The Illustrated Man is a wonderful, scary, awful thrill ride through the future, with our tour guide always happy to show us the darkness that we humans bring to even the brightest of possibilities.

Herewith, eighteen questions for your entertainment, amusement, and enlightenment:

1. "The Veldt" shows us a future of technological wonder. The Virtual Reality Playroom is now a reality. When children are left in the care of such a machine, their imaginations are shaped by it and shape it in return. Where exactly is the line between virtual and reality?
2. "Kaleidoscope" poses an equally deep question. When you face certain death, what will you think of the way you led your life?
3. In "The Other Foot," we have to face a most compelling question: When we leave Earth, will we be able to leave our prejudices behind?
4. "The Highway" is a story of nuclear apocalypse. If (or when) we Americans destroy ourselves, will the rest of the world even notice?
5. "The Man" is a religious allegory disguised as science fiction. Would you recognize the true nature of salvation if you saw it?
6. In "The Long Rain," a group of men face the ultimate water torture -- rain that never stops. What is your breaking point?
7. "The Rocket Man" gives us a boy trying to come to terms with his rocket pilot father's obsession with space. Can we ever truly understand what drives another person into a dangerous occupation?
8. "The Fire Balloons" confronts us with some religious thoughts. Can alien races be saved? Do they even need salvation?
9. "The Last Night of the World" is a time for reflection and acceptance. How would you react?
10. In "The Exiles" we find a disturbing thought. What happens to Mankind's dreams once he stops dreaming them?
11. "No Particular Night or Morning" tells of a space ship a long way out in space. How will all that emptiness affect a man's mind?
12. In "The Fox and the Forest," we follow a couple trying to escape from the future. Can we ever really escape our responsibilities?
13. "The Visitor" takes us to Mars, where memories of Earth are valued almost more than life itself. When you lose your memories and dreams, what is left?
14. "The Concrete Mixer" is a classic invasion-by-Martians story with a twist. How would aliens cope with human society?
15. "Marionettes, Inc." probes the meaning of honesty. After years of living a lie, what is the truth worth?
16. "The City" is alive. Will the sins of the fathers be visited upon their sons?
17. "Zero Hour" is another alien invasion story. Can grown-ups ever recognize the truths that children see?
18. Finally, "The Rocket" tells of a man who gives his children his dreams, their dreams, the stars. How far would you go, how much would you pay to do the same?

Questions. Deep questions, wise questions, hard, probing questions. Bradbury asks, and Bradbury answers. In his own inimitable style, shaping words into sculptures, giving life and breath to dead ink on dead paper, he answers. Then he leaves us to wonder what our own answers are.

The Illustrated Man was first published in 1951, so this is Bradbury the Grand Master of Science Fiction. The science in these stories is, of course, badly outdated, but then Bradbury never emphasized the science. His stories are about people. People in search of truth. People in dire predicaments. The science has always been mere window decoration in Bradbury's stories. We read him for the power of his insight and the beauty of his language. You will find both in The Illustrated Man.

George Orwell - Homage to Catalonia

 http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2043/2407617921_5117e0a943_o.jpg

Overview

Orwell served as both a private and a corporal in Catalonia and Aragon from December 1936 until June 1937. The political party whose militia he served with (the POUM, an anti-Stalinist communist party) was declared an illegal organization and Orwell was subsequently forced to flee or face imprisonment.

By his own admission, Orwell joined the POUM rather than the Communist-run International Brigades by chance—but his experiences, in particular his and his wife's narrow escape from the Communist purges in Barcelona in June 1937, [1] greatly increased his sympathy for POUM and, while not challenging his moral and political adhesion to the cause of Socialism and Marxism, made him a lifelong anti-Stalinist.

At the front, Orwell was shot through the neck and was nearly killed. He wrote in Homage to Catalonia that people frequently told him he was lucky to survive, but that he personally thought "it would be even luckier not to be hit at all."

George Orwell, and his wife, Eileen O'Shaughnessy, who accompanied him to Spain, returned to England. After nine months of animal husbandry and writing up Homage to Catalonia at their cottage at Wallington, Hertfordshire, Orwell's health declined and he had to spend several months at a sanatorium in Kent.

Because of the book's criticism of the Communists in Spain, it was rejected by Gollancz, who had previously published all Orwell's books, and Orwell finally found a sympathetic publisher in Frederic Warburg. Warburg was willing to publish books by the dissident left, that is, by socialists hostile to Communism.


The book was finally published in April 1938 but "made virtually no impact whatsoever and by the outbreak of war with Germany had sold only 900 copies."


According to John Newsinger, "the Communist vendetta against the book" was ongoing as recently as 1984, when Lawrence and Wishart published Inside the Myth, a collection of essays "bringing together a variety of standpoints hostile to Orwell in an obvious attempt to do as much damage to his reputation as possible."


Summary of chapters

It should be noted that the following summary is based on a later edition of the book which contains some amendments that Orwell requested: two chapters (formerly chapters five and eleven) describing the politics of the time were moved to appendices. Orwell felt that these chapters should be moved so that readers could ignore them if they wished; the chapters, which became appendices, were journalistic accounts of the political situation in Spain, and Orwell felt these were out of place in the midst of the narrative.

Chapter one

The book begins with Orwell describing the camaraderie of the atmosphere in revolutionary Spain during 1937. He asserts that Barcelona appeared to have been "a town where the working class were in the saddle": a large number of businesses had been collectivised, "the Anarchists" (referring to the Spanish CNT and FAI) were "in control", tipping was prohibited by workers themselves, and servile forms of speech, such as "Señor" or "Don", were abandoned. He goes on to describe events at the Lenin Barracks (formerly the Cuartel de Lepanto) where militiamen were given "what was comically called 'instruction'" in preparation for fighting at the front.

Most of the remainder of this chapter is devoted to describing the faults of the POUM workers' militia, as he saw them, half-complaining about the sometimes frustrating tendency of Spaniards to put things off until "mañana" (tomorrow), noting his struggles with Spanish (aggravated by the local use of Catalan) and praising the friendliness and generosity of the majority of Spaniards he met. Orwell leads us on to the next chapter by describing the "conquering-hero stuff"—parades through the streets and cheering crowds—that the militiamen experienced at the time he was sent to the Aragón front.

Chapter two

Orwell arrives in Alcubierre (in January 1937) to witness the squalid conditions, aggravated by the village's proximity to the civil war front. He then mentions the arrival of various "Fascist deserters" and the poor weaponry that the militiamen in that area of the front received. Rifles weren't handed out until their third day in the village. The chapter ends on his centuria's arrival at trenches near Zaragoza and the first time a bullet nearly hit him. He adds that, to his own dismay, he ducked.

Chapter three

The narration begins as a description of the—perhaps unique—mundaneness of trench warfare, the sneaking about in the mist and on night patrols. Here he praises the Spanish militias: for their relative social equality, for their holding of the front while the army was trained in the rear, and for the "democratic 'revolutionary' type of discipline" which he says is "more reliable than might be expected." This democratic and egalitarian approach remained intact on the front, he said, even while it was being almost systematically destroyed behind the lines by the Communist-controlled government, police and press during that year. Throughout the chapter, Orwell describes the various shortages and problems at the front—firewood, tobacco, and adequate munitions—as well as the danger of accidents inherent in a badly trained and poorly armed group of soldiers.

Chapter four

After some three weeks at the front, Orwell and the other English militiaman in his unit, Williams, join a contingent of fellow Englishmen sent out by the Independent Labour Party to a position at Monte Oscuro, closer to Zaragosa. At this position, he witnesses the sometimes propagandistic shouting between the Fascist and Socialist trenches and hears of the fall of Málaga. In February, he is sent with the other POUM militiamen 50 miles to Huesca; he mentions the running joke phrase "Tomorrow we'll have coffee in Huesca," attributed to the general commanding the government troops who made one of many failed assaults on the town.

Chapter five

Orwell complains, in chapter five, that on the eastern side of Huesca, where he was stationed, nothing ever seemed to happen—except the onslaught of spring, and, with it, lice. He was in a ("so-called") hospital at Monflorite for ten days at the end of March 1937 with "a poisoned hand." He describes rats that "really were as big as cats, or nearly" (in his famous Nineteen Eighty-Four, Orwell's character Winston Smith has a phobia of rats that Orwell himself shared to some degree). He makes a reference here to the lack of orthodox "religious feeling," telling us that the Roman Catholic Church was to the Spanish "a racket, pure and simple." He muses that Christianity may have, to some extent, been replaced by Anarchism. The latter portion of the chapter briefly details various operations in which Orwell took part: silently advancing the Loyalist frontline by night, for example.

Chapter six

One of these operations, which in chapter five had been postponed, was a "holding attack" on Huesca, designed to draw the Fascist troops away from an Anarchist attack on "the Jaca road." It is described herein. Orwell notes the offensive of that night where his group of fifteen captured a Fascist position, but then retreated to their lines with captured rifles and ammunition. The diversion was successful in drawing troops from the Anarchist attack.

Chapter seven

This chapter reads like an interlude. Orwell shares his memories of the 115 days he spent on the war front, including a recognition that his political ideas were changing slowly. By the time he left Spain, he had become a "convinced democratic Socialist."

Chapter eight

Herein Orwell details noteworthy changes in the social and political atmosphere when he returns to Barcelona after more than three months at the front. He describes a lack of revolutionary atmosphere and the class division that he had thought would not reappear, i.e., with visible division between rich and poor and the return of servile language. Orwell had been determined to leave the POUM, and confesses here that he "would have liked to join the Anarchists," but instead sought a recommendation to join the Communist International Column, so that he could go to the Madrid front. The latter half of this chapter is devoted to describing the conflict between the Anarchist CNT and the Socialist UGT and the resulting cancellation of the May Day demonstration and the build-up to the street fighting of the Barcelona May Days.

Chapter nine

Orwell relates his involvement in the Barcelona street fighting that began on 3rd of May when the Government Assault Guards tried to take the telephone exchange from the CNT workers who controlled it. For his part, Orwell acted as part of the POUM, guarding a POUM-controlled building. Although he realises that he is fighting on the side of the working class, Orwell describes his dismay at coming back to Barcelona on leave from the front only to get mixed up in street fighting. In his second appendix to the book, Orwell discusses the political issues at stake in the May 1937 Barcelona fighting, as he saw them at the time and later on, looking back.

Chapter ten

Here he begins with musings on how the Spanish Civil War might turn out. Orwell predicts that the "tendency of the post-war Government... is bound to be Fascistic." He returns to the front, where he is shot through the throat by a sniper,[2] an injury that takes him out of the war. After spending some time in a hospital in Lleida, he was moved to Tarragona where his wound was finally examined more than a week after he'd left the front.

Chapter eleven

Orwell tells us of his various movements between hospitals in Siétamo, Barbastro, and Monzón while getting his discharge papers stamped, after being declared medically unfit. He returns to Barcelona only to find that the POUM had been "suppressed": it had been declared illegal the very day he had left to obtain discharge papers and POUM members were being arrested without charge. He sleeps that night in the ruins of a church; he cannot go back to his hotel because of the danger of arrest.

Chapter twelve

This chapter explores the political persecution he encountered with regard to his and his wife's visit to Georges Kopp, unit commander of the ILP Contingent while Kopp was incarcerated in a Spanish makeshift jail. Having done all he could to free Kopp, ineffectively and at great personal risk, Orwell decides to leave Spain. Crossing the Pyrenees frontier, "thanks to the inefficiency of the police," he and his wife arrived in France "without incident."

Appendix one

The broader political context in Spain and the revolutionary situation in Barcelona at the time is discussed. The political differences among the PSUC (the Catalan Communists), the anarchists, and the POUM, are considered.

Appendix two

An attempt to dispel some of the myths in the foreign press at the time (mostly the pro-Communist press) about the street fighting that took place in Catalonia in early May 1937. This was between anarchists and POUM members, against Communist/government forces which sparked off when local police forces occupied the telephone exchange, which had until then been under the control of CNT workers.

read the book here

Erich Maria Remarque - Flotsam

Political dissidents, Jews, medical students, petty criminals. Among the thousands of displaced persons traveling the unpaved roads of Europe, there are Steiner and Kern. Both have irritated officials for outstaying their cold two-week welcome in Czechoslovakia. And so they must leave. Not that either has any place to go. Not in 1939. But when a man is led by a guard to the border of one country, he must try another one. Until he is escorted from that one too.

Living hand-to-mouth, selling shoelaces and safety pins for a few pennies, there are still pleasures to be had in such a life. Paris, for one; love for another. For amidst the heartless cruelty and cold-blooded laws of the Nazi state, there is still humanity and kindness. And there is incomparable joy in falling in love, surviving, and telling your story so it is never forgotten.

Στα ελληνικά κυκλοφορεί με τον τίτλο "Η δύναμη της αγάπης" από τις εκδόσεις Μίνωας

The Evilness of Power [Greek Subtitles] Η σατανικότητα της εξουσίας [ελληνικοί υπότιτλοι]

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Part 2



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Part 4



Part 5


Part 6



Part 7



Part 8



Part 9



Part 10



Part 11

Poems used in Refugee Week

REFUGEE

So I have a new name – refugee.
Strange that a name should take away from me
My past, my personality and hope.
Strange refuge this.
So many seem to share this name – refugee
Yet we share so many differences.
I find no comfort in my new name.
I long to share my past, restore my pride,
To show, I too, in time, will offer more
Than I have borrowed.
For now the comfort that I seek
Resides in the old yet new name
I would choose – friend.

Rubimbo Bungwe, from Zimbabwe, 2002

 **************************

I'M NOT HERE

I'm not here and I don't exist.
There is sunshine and blossoms in my town
but unknown hands steal its smell of summer
and the silk from the sehar.
I'm not here but my soul
smuggles through every street at night
and sticks a lily on each buttonhole
and plants a tree by every house.

Mujo Mustafic

**************************

MIND

I sit in the gloom
I see a graceful golden eagle
I dreamt to fly over the towers
I sit in the dark and see a fish swim as
smooth as a mountain stream
I see the base of the sea
I see the silver top reflecting my image
I throw a stone in it, it ripples with life
I brought something into the sea which
did not belong there
I upset the balance between sea and land
I can't fly like a bird
I can't swim like a fish
But I know I'm a human
And that's enough for me
I have no wing, I have no fins, but,
I have working poem mind where
I swim
I fly
I'm equal to any animal
I fly in the astro plain
I swim in the sea of peace
I can ride horses with wings
I can see endless possibilities of what the
future holds.

By Rizgar Mella, a twelve year old schoolboy from West London.

Rizgar has been named one of the winners of a national writing competition
organised by Young Writers. His parents came to the UK 15 years ago as
refugees from Syria. His poem aims to capture the essence of what it is
like to be human.

**************************

DREAM OF A BIRD - By a 14 year old Vietnamese boy
You ask me, what
did I dream?
I dreamt I became
a bird.
You ask me, why did I
want to become a bird?
I really wanted to
have wings.
You ask me, why did I
want wings?
These wings would
help me to fly back to
my country.
You ask me, why did I
want to go back there?
Because I wanted to
find something
I missed.
You ask me, what
do I miss?
I miss the place where
I lived as a child.
You ask me, what was
that place like?
The place was happy,
my family was close
together.
You ask me, what I
remember best?
I still remember my
father reading the
newspaper.
You ask me, why I
think of him?
I miss him and
I'm sad.
You ask me, why
I am sad?
I'm sad because all my
friends have fathers.
You ask me, why does
this matter?
Because my father is
far away.
I want to fly to him like a bird.
In my dreams, I walk among the ruins
of the old part of town,
looking for a bit of stale bread.
My mother and I inhale
the fumes of gunpowder
I imagine it to be the smell of pies, cakes and kebabs.

Edina, age 12

**************************

SORRY

Sorry that we are here
That we take your time
Sorry
Sorry that we breathe your air
That we walk on your ground
That we stand in your view
Sorry
Yes sorry
Sorry that we look like we do
Sorry that we disturb your rest
You do enough for us already
Sorry that we are not grateful and happy
Not grateful enough
And that my name is not David
Or Catherine
Or May
But Rashed
Holta
And Ardita
Sorry that we sit in your trains and buses
And on your benches in the sun
And sorry that we brought nothing
And the only thing we have is a story
Not even a happy story …

Poem by a boy from Bosnia

*************************

IF I WERE A PRESIDENT

The tanks would be playhouses for the kids.
Boxes of candy would fall from the sky.
The mortars would fire balloons.
And the guns would blossom with flowers.
All the world's children
Would sleep in peace unbroken
By alerts or shouting.
The refugees would return to their villages.
And we would start anew.

By Roberto, aged 10

************************** 

THE TWO AZIZAS

Aziza watches Power Rangers
Every night on the tele.
At night the other Aziza goes
Flying through the sky.
Aziza likes swimming but
She is not very good.
At night the other Aziza
Goes swimming in the ocean
With the big fish.
Aziza never goes on holiday
But the other Aziza
Goes to Somalia every weekend.

By Aziza Hussein age 9, Barlby Primary School, W10

**************************

By Nedim, age 5

I had a new tricycle

Red and yellow and with a bell.

Do you think they have destroyed my

Tricycle too?

**************************

From "http://wiki.socialcenter.gr

Immigrants Riot In Rosarno, Italy

digg 

ROSARNO, Italy — Hundreds of migrant workers, most of them Africans, went on a rampage Friday in a southern Italian town in a second day of rioting, with authorities reporting at least 37 wounded, including 18 police officers and five migrants.

Violence ebbed and flared throughout Friday in Rosarno, a town near the western coast of Calabria in the "toe" of the Italian peninsula. The clashes in the volatile area had begun a day earlier, when two migrants were wounded by pellet fire, said a top police official, Renato Cortese, in the regional capital.

Police reinforcements were being sent in the next hours, likely during the night, with the exact number still being decided, the Interior Ministry said.

Friday evening, another two migrants were wounded in the feet and legs by pellet fire, and three more were seriously injured when they were beaten with metal rods, police and hospital officials said.
The two migrants shot Friday were in the hamlet of Laureana di Borrello, 10 kilometers (6 miles) from Rosarno, said Cortese. There was no information about the attacker.
Officials at Santa Maria degli Ungheresi Hospital in the nearby town of Polistena said one of the migrants beaten by metal rods had surgery for a kidney injury and another was treated for an eye socket injury, and the third wounded in the attack was taken to another hospital for brain surgery.
The rioting began after Thursday's shooting, in which two men – one from Nigeria, the other from Togo – were lightly injured. The foreigners angrily blamed that shooting on racism, and groups of protesters stoned police, attacked residents and smashed shop windows and cars.
Friday, angry migrants, mostly from African nations, some armed with metal bars or wooden sticks, scuffled with police and residents in the streets of Rosarno.

Other residents were holed up in their homes, state radio reported, and schools and shops were shuttered.

"I'd say you could step out and buy some bread only because you have to eat, but if I had to choose I wouldn't go out for an evening stroll," said Cortese, asked by the AP in a telephone interview how dangerous Rosarno's streets were.
Police said late Friday evening that at least 37 people had been injured, including the five migrants, 14 residents and 18 police officers.
A young mother with a bruise under an eye and a bandage on the side of her head, told state TV a group of migrants started smashing her car. The woman said that, fearful for the safety of her small children, she managed to drive about two meters (6 feet), before her attackers pushed her car into a wall. Terrified, she fled with her family, and the assailants set her car afire, she said.
With television cameras rolling in the streets, some residents shouted that they wanted the migrants to leave the town.

An exact number of arrests was not available because the clashes were continuing, although they were "under control," said the paramilitary Carabinieri police press office.
Earlier, the Interior Ministry said seven migrants had been arrested.
The Italians arrested included one who tried to hit a migrant with a bulldozer as the rioters headed toward the town's center. Another Italian resident was taken into custody after trying to hit a migrant with a car, the Italian news agency ANSA reported from Rosarno, a town of 15,000 people.
Agazio Loiero, the governor of the Calabria region, told Sky TV said that the violence was "unacceptable" but the migrants had been "strongly provoked."

Thousands of migrants move to the area each year to help with the seasonal fruit harvest. Living in improvised dormitories, including abandoned factories and huts, they earn as little as euro20-euro25 ($30-37.50) in a dawn-to-dusk work day. Often without work permits, they do jobs many Italians shun, despite chronic underemployment in the poorly developed south.
Interior Minister Roberto Maroni convened a special meeting to discuss the rioting. Afterward, the ministry created a task force to deal with the violence and "aspects linked to the exploitation of illegal labor and health care" for the migrants.

Calabria also is the base of the international crime syndicate called 'ndrangheta. The unrest follows a recent decision by the Italian authorities to increase police numbers in Reggio Calabria after a weekend bomb blast damaged a courthouse in what was seen as a move by the mob to intimidate magistrates.
The combination of ethnic strife and organized crime has sparked violence before among migrant communities in southern Italy. In 2008, migrants rioted in the Naples area after six Ghanians were murdered in a gangland-style shooting blamed on the local Camorra crime syndicate.

To έγγραφο απάντηση του Θεοδωράκη στους "Πυρήνες"

"Λεβέντες μου σας καμαρώνω! Είστε οι συνεχιστές του Κολοκοτρώνη , του Ανδρούτσου και του Άρη σε σύγχρονη εκδοχή. Και γιαυτό η τελευταία ελπίδα του προδομένου λαού μας. Με την γενναία σας δημόσια αποκήρυξη μου, μου ανοίξατε τα μάτια. Ομολογώ, έστω και καθυστερημένα ότι υπήρξα ένας ελεεινός και σιχαμερός προδότης-συνεργάτης της χούντας και της αντιλαϊκής δεξιάς και τώρα μετανοιωμένος αναζητώ την δίκαιη τιμωρία μου. Το σπίτι μου βρίσκεται σε μικρή πάροδο της οδού Γαριβάλδη και Επιφάνους 1 και καθώς είμαι ξαπλωμένος, έχω απέναντι μου την πλαγιά του Φιλοπάππου, απ'όπου σας είναι πανεύκολο να με κάψετε ζωντανό και να με λυτρώσετε από τις τύψεις που με ζώνουν. Προς τούτο έχω ορθάνοιχτα τα παράθυρα μου για να σας διευκολύνω με κίνδυνο να πάθω γρίπη. Όμως ποιος λογαριάζει τέτοιες λεπτομέρειες όταν έχει να κάνει με terroristes-τιμωρούς όπως εσείς;"
Je vous remercie
Μίκης Θεοδωράκης

Υ.Γ. Καημένε Παπαδόπουλε που είσαι να καμαρώσεις την σπορά σου"

 Συνεργάτης της Χούντας μπορεί να μην υπήρξε αλλά ενεργό στέλεχος της Δεξιάς υπήρξε. Προδότης πάντως δεν ήταν, έκανε ό,τι έμαθε να κάνει τόσα χρόνια σ'ένα ξεπουλημένο κόμμα, γλύφτη της εκάστοτε εξουσίας που αγωνιά μπας και του στερηθεί η επιβράβευση της νομιμότητας από τους αφεντάδες. Σιγά μην ασχοληθεί κανείς να τον κάψει, ούτε να τον χέζεις δεν αξίζει.

The Poetry of Rock 1963-1973

This is a compilation that i made some years ago, based on a rare book titled "Anthology of Rock Poetry". It proved to be a real quest to find some of the songs that are included in this compilation but i think it was worth the effort. It's up to you to judge it. Download & enjoy :)

1. The Pretty Things - Big Boss Man (2:40)
2. Janis Joplin - Piece Of My Heart (4:19)
3. Bob Dylan - A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall (6:55)
4. Bob Dylan - With God On Our Side (7:10)
5. Tom Paxton - The Willing Conscript (2:43)
6. Simon & Garfunkel - The Sounds Of Silence (3:08)
7. Country Joe & The Fish - I Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die (3:16)
8. The Fugs - How Sweet I Roamed From Field To Field (2:15)
9. The Fugs - Supergirl (2:44)
10. The Animals - We Gotta Get Out Of This Place [Single Version] (3:41)
11. Donovan - The War Drags On (3:46)
12. The Association - Along Comes Mary (2:53)
13. The Kinks - Dedicated Follower Of Fashion (3:04)
14. The Rolling Stones - Paint It Black (3:52)
15. The Rolling Stones - Mother's Little Helper (2:51)
16. The Easybeats - Friday On My Mind (2:45)
17. The Beatles - Eleanor Rigby (2:09)
18. The Beatles - Tomorrow Never Knows (2:59)
19. The Byrds - Mr. Spaceman [Live] (3:06)
20. The Kinks - Dead End Street (3:23)
21. Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit (2:35)
22. The Velvet Underground And Nico - Heroin (7:12)
23. Ars Nova - Automatic Love (4:56)
24. Eric Burdon & The Animals - San Franciscan Nights (3:22)
25. Eric Burdon & The Animals - Monterey (4:16)
26. Frank Zappa - Flower Punk (3:06)
27. Frank Zappa - Mom & Dad (2:18)
28. John's Children - Desdemona (2:29)
29. Otis Redding - (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay (2:43)
30. Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel - Save the Life of My Child (2:50)
31. Pete Seeger - Waist Deep in the Big Muddy (3:05)
32. Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade Of Pale (4:01)
33. The Beatles - Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (3:30)
34. The Byrds - So You Want to be a Rock 'N' R (2:08)
35. The Doors - When The Music's Over (11:02)
36. The Seeds - March Of The Flower Children (2:56)
37. The Smoke - My Friend Jack (3:03)
38. The Velvet Underground & Nico - I'm Waiting for the Man (4:41)
39. Tim Buckley - No Man Can Find the War (3:02)
40. Tim Buckley - Goodbye and Hello (8:42)
41. Traffic - Hole In My Shoes (3:01)
42. Arlo Guthrie - Coming Into Los Angeles (3:07)
43. Captain Beefheart and His Magi - Dachau Blues (2:24)
44. Crosby Stills Nash and Young - Wooden Ships (5:32)
45. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Woodstock (3:58)
46. David Bowie - Space Oddity (5:18)
47. Jefferson Airplane - We Can Be Together (5:49)
48. Jimi Hendrix - Voodoo Child (Slight Return) (5:11)
49. King Crimson - The Court of the Crimson King (9:26)
50. Leonard Cohen - Bird On A Wire (3:29)
51. Leonard Cohen - Partisan (3:27)
52. Phil Ochs - I Kill Therefore I Am (2:59)
53. Rolling Stones - Sympathy for the Devil (6:29)
54. Steppenwolf - Born to be wild (3:36)
55. The Beatles - Revolution (4:17)
56. The Beatles - Across The Universe (3:46)
57. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - 1983... (A Merman I Should Tur (5:50)
58. The Rascals - People Got To Be Free (3:03)
59. Van Der Graaf Generator - House With No Door (6:39)
60. Eric Burdon & War - They Can't Take Away Our Music (6:47)
61. The Incredible String Band - Cutting The Strings (0:14)
62. Pearls Before Swine - Rocket Man (3:05)
63. Janis Joplin - Mercedes Benz (2:31)
64. The Who - The Seeker (3:26)
65. Steppenwolf - Monster (9:18)
66. The Last Poets - When the Revolution Comes (2:31)
67. John Lennon - God (4:12)
68. John Lennon - Working Class Hero (3:50)

disc1

disc 2

disc 3

 disc 4

R.A.T.M. - Killing In The Name Of (With Noam Chomsky intro)