15 Jun DJ Inky’s Take It to the Streets Playlist

What a couple of weeks it has been, Gentle Reader(s), since the last DJ Inky playlist. In Santa Fe and in cities and towns all over the world the people—and I mean EVERY kind of people we got—have taken to the streets and they continue to do so on a daily basis, keeping the momentum going and the outrage over the killing of George Floyd alive. There has been a lot of speculation in the press regarding the extraordinary energy of this movement, about what has made the response to this tragedy different from the many that have preceded it. It’s hard to know with certainty, but my take is that we have arrived at a crossroads of a sort, precipitated by a unique combination of circumstances. The pressure built up from months of coronavirus quarantine (and the Orange Goblin’s disastrously bungled response to the pandemic), the heightened political environment of a momentously significant election year, the cumulative rage from yet another brutal video of a black man dying senselessly on the street, and the Orange Goblin administration’s relentless assault on democracy and decency have all come together at this moment. Maybe, just maybe, enough is finally enough.

 

There’s no way to know where things will go from here, but there seems to be a genuine feeling in the air that the time for real and substantive change might finally have arrived. No human life can have a worldly value placed upon it, but if the images of George Floyd’s agonizing final moments are to serve as the harbinger of a revolution of the mind and the spirit, then perhaps the man himself might consider that his ultimate sacrifice was not in vain. For all of our sakes, I hope that might be true.

 

History will also record the images of the grim march of the Goblin and his entourage, their path across Lafayette Park violently cleared by a tear gas and baton-wielding Praetorian Guard of faceless enforcers. The Goblin’s grotesque photo op in front of St. John’s church, brandishing a prop bible (perhaps the only photograph of the Goblin holding a book other than one of his own ghost-written odes to greed and self-promotion), will offer the counterpoint to this episode. With any luck the final image in the series will be one of the Goblin led from Mar-A-Lago in chains next year as is he finally called to answer for his crimes. Hopefully the cops will protect his delicate lil Goblin haid when they insert him into the squad car for the ride downtown to the station.

 

BUT, in the meantime, it’s time for some music. The theme is making it plain, as Malcolm X would say, and taking it to the streets. The selection runs the gamut from jazz to hiphop to folk to avant punque and just about everything in between. Check out the scrawny young Bobby Dylan and the weird panning shot of pinup girls and stoic working man types that precedes his appearance in ‘The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll.’ What is this place supposed to be? The Pipe-Smoking Lumberjacks’ Union Hall? Check out Lou Reed’s epic mullet in the live version of ‘Dirty Boulevard.’ Check out the Beatles bashing through an amazing live-in-the-studio rendition of ‘Revolution,’ the incendiary full-length video for Public Enemy’s ‘Fight the Power,’ and Nina Simone’s beautiful Montreaux Jazz Fest performance of ‘I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to Be Free.’ We could definitely use the late, great Dr. Simone right about now, along with some CHAMPAGNE, some COCAINE and some SAUSAGES!! 😉

 

So there you have it, dear Gentle Reader(s). Dig the Take It to the Streets Playlist and until next time, Be Strong, Keep Calm and Carry On.