Concrete Gods

From 1968 to 1975, gangs ruled New York City. Beyond the idealistic hopes of the civil rights movement lay an unfocused rage. Neither law enforcement nor social agency could end the escalating bloodshed. Peace came only through the most unlikely and courageous of events that would change the world for generations to come by giving birth to hip-hop culture. Rubble Kings, the most comprehensive documentation of life during this era of gang rule to date, tells the story of how a few extraordinary, forgotten people did the impossible, and how their actions impacted the world over.

Support: Rubble Kings Kickstarter campaign

Quote Of The Week

"There is something infantile in the presumption that somebody else has a responsibility to give your life meaning and point… The truly adult view, by contrast, is that our life is as meaningful, as full and as wonderful as we choose to make it."

Quote Of The Week

"For the sake of argument, one must never let a euphemism or a false consolation pass uncontested. The truth seldom lies, but when it does it lies somewhere in between."

A Learning Process

"One must learn to love.— This is what happens to us in music: first one has to learn to hear a figure and melody at all, to detect and distinguish it, to isolate it and delimit it as a separate life; then it requires some exertion and good will to tolerate it in spite of its strangeness, to be patient with its appearance and expression, and kindhearted about its oddity:—finally there comes a moment when we are used to it, when we wait for it, when we sense that we should miss it if it were missing: and now it continues to compel and enchant us relentlessly until we have become its humble and enraptured lovers who desire nothing better from the world than it and only it.

But that is what happens to us not only in music: that is how we have learned to love all things that we now love. In the end we are always rewarded for our good will, our patience, fairmindedness, and gentleness with what is strange; gradually, it sheds its veil and turns out to be a new and indescribable beauty:—that is its thanks for our hospitality. Even those who love themselves will have learned it in this way: for there is no other way. Love, too, has to be learned."

Dig: Nietzsche: Love, Guilt & Redemption (Philosophy Now)

Quote from The Gay Science, 1882

Bits And Pieces

Rick Huxley

Rest In Peace

"Musician Rick Huxley, one of the founding members of 1960s chart stars The Dave Clark Five, has died at the age of 72." ... Story continues here: Dave Clark Five Star Rick Huxley Dies (Daily Mail)

Photograph by Lee Greenfeld © 2013

Quote Of The Week

"But who can say what's best? That's why you need to grab whatever chance you have of happiness where you find it, and not worry about other people too much. My experience tells me that we get no more than two or three such chances in a life time, and if we let them go, we regret it for the rest of our lives."

No Sleep Til...

Artwork (detail) by Blake Lethem

Photograph by Lee Greenfeld © 2013

The New Breed: The Electric Mess

The Electric Mess have actually been rockin' the NYC scene since 2007, but in the world of A.I.T.A. that still qualifies them as being new, hence them being the second band featured in our The New Breed series. The Brooklyn-based band have two excellent albums under their belt, both of which are filled with all the trappings of classic '60s punk — fuzz guitars, snotty vocals, and swirling organs abound — with a big slap of psychedelic coloring; think early Stones, Animals, 13th Floor Elevators, The Seeds, Chocolate Watchband, and The Lollipop Shoppe, as well as latter-day revivalists like The Chesterfield Kings, The Cynics, Lyres, and The Miracle Workers. The Electric Mess' newest LP Falling Off The Face Of The Earth was engineered and mixed David Horowitz (The Above) and mastered by the legendary Ivan Julian, of Voidoids-fame... Dig it!

It's Over

Reg Presley

Rest In Peace

"Reg Presley, who has died aged 71, was lead singer with The Troggs, the pop group which notched up seven huge hits in the mid-1960s, notably "Wild Thing;" in later years, he became an idiosyncratic philosopher and student of intergalactic travel." ... Story continues here: Reg Presley (The Telegraph)

Artwork by Avi Spivak © 2012

(taken from Human Being Lawnmower)

Quote Of The Week

“...and then I thought, well, maybe it ain't so strange after all. Maybe it's like this with most people, everyone doing pretty much the same thing except in a different way. And all the time they're holding heaven in their hands."

How'm I Doing?

Ed Koch

Rest In Peace

"Edward I. Koch, the master showman of City Hall, who parlayed shrewd political instincts and plenty of chutzpah into three tumultuous terms as mayor of New York with all the tenacity, zest and combativeness that personified his city of golden dreams, died Friday morning at age 88." ... Story continues here: Edward Koch, Former Mayor Of New York, Dies (NY Times)