in the airport waiting to go to scotland… debbie says: “the pattern of behavior of putting these puppets into power and then tearing them down when they are successful is crap” doesnt like puppetry on a positive note she says: “im working on my book, memoirs, trying to remember everything…” do you have a new years message? “a really interesting documentary film from iceland called ‘investigation’ see that” i looked it up theres a lot about it, it deals with ‘Iceland’s unselfconscious belief in hidden beings — elves, ghosts, sea monsters and aliens’ looks good, i’ll have to check it out… on my list is “Casshern”, japanese, pretty amazing… i hope aviator is ok, i just watched ‘raging bull’ before, its sad, scorcese is one of the last ones here… debbie said “well of course its about hollywood, how can they make a real movie about that…” yeah well we’ll see more later on HAPPY NEW YEARS from all of us

merry xmas to all and related etc. thanks for taking the time to write… i dont have anything right now, nice dreams for all, dont get too sucked up in the grim holiday greed grind, going to toys are us around now is like unto seeing a gladiatorial event, the madness infects the littlest kids and turns them into all devouring beasts, oh yeah as far as current events go i was really amused by this: the other week when rumsfield got called out about equipment by the soldier at the iraq ‘meeting’ with the troops, any how the same day this story was on the first page with pictures of the new york times, the post (ny post) stuck it on page 18 (i checked) as a small four paragraph item entitled “rumsfield spars with troops” something like that… i find it almost impossible to watch television lately, i do see sesame street a lot though, akira really likes it, she has become an elmo fan, calls him “emna” christmas looms, snow on trees here

i’m really excited about announcing the upcoming release (finally) of TV PARTY the DVD… i just got and watched it yesterday, actually its a three disc set… any way its like TOTALLY GREAT!!! im very impressed with the quality of the whole package, if we cant get it on HBO or something i’ll be surprised so far i dont have release info, the release party is on the 8th of dec. the thing comes from BRINK FILMS (see http://www.brink.com for a few details) and was produced for DVD by Kai Eric who did a fantastic job… i’m not one for blatant plugging but this is essential viewing for blondie/debbie fans, theres a lot of stuff of DH, more than i’d remembered, theres even a weird clip of part of a very early version of “Tide is High” that i had totally forgotten about, its us at the Mudd Club and i was surprised to see Debbie actually reading the lyrics which indicates how early the thing was in the history of the song (the first demo of our version was worked up with Walter Steding and Lenny Ferrari who were, with me, the TV Party orkestra) i was the co-host of TVP, for those of you who dont know about it, it was a cable tv show that went on for four years from 1979 there abouts… Glenn and i have been talking about reviving it somehow we’ll see what happens as soon as i get more specific info about the actual release i’ll put it up here

its a bit discouraging to get the few negative messages i get cause on the whole they are just not thought out or anything beyond someone being pissed off about my ‘being a liberal’ and its sad the things and ideas here have dissolved into these kinds of cliche images of ‘weird liberalism’ and ‘red necked’ conservatism… as usual this speaks to me of the spiritual black hole that threatens to suck up everything in its path, if you’re gonna complain at me about something i said then at least back it up with a specific quote… actually the two types of comment i get are “you are a liberal” which apparently is this decades version of calling someone a pinko and “hey you are a music dude, how dare you talk about politics”… i said a while back i was distressed about the amount of bad feelings that the election has engendered, its even sadder to have people tossing catch phrase sound-byte type accusations about without any foundations… (i think i’m mostly distressed about finally watching the remake of ‘the manchurian candidate’ in a way to me what has happened to hollywood is even sadder than what has gone down with music, the corporate art system has just killed the american film industry i cant believe the crap thats churned out… a few years ago i saw an interview with John Schlesenger saying how he just couldnt have made “Midnight Cowboy” in this climate, meaning nowadays, how it just couldnt be done, how fucking pathetic is that, how many great films are we missing now due to film makers being more concerned with selling tickets than with making the movie… these remakes of better films like ‘candidate’ or “the stepford wives” just blow my mind in their mediocrity… the main reason is that big budget art is all subject to committee decisions and fear for the buck so the guys like Fellini etc etc who were just about making art just cant break through… at least Scorsese is out there and to a lesser degree Tarantino and again this is why i am so psyched about all the asian stuff (Quentins next one is gonna be critical for him) i’ve been running into) i dont have much else at the moment, have been back for a while, Mexico City was particularly fantastic, theres a street market called “Sonora” that is almost exclusively devoted to Santeria and related items, just amazing i saw ‘saw’ which pretty much sucked and the puppet movie which i liked more, its pretty great how some of the reviews on ‘team america’ are so confused with the critics not being able to figure out the “position” of the thing durka durka

Early 19th Century French politician Joseph de Maistre said: “Nations get the governments they deserve.” And 20th Century author George Santayana then said: “Those who ignore the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them.” these quotes are from Dennis Blair and were amid the latest bunch of mail concerning peoples dismay about the election… i still dont know exactly what to make of it and try as i might i just cant see bush “doing the right thing” for “his legacy”… theres something about his smug arrogant stance and posture that has always remided me of a slightly modernized and toned down version of Mussolini’s weird posing and body language… in a way thats enough, i cant get past just that to even worry about his broken political agenda… today in Panama City, being down here is poignant, the slums everywhere are just tragic, the people are sweet and warm and as usual i am churned up by Americas heavy handed approach to being the boss of the world while at the same time being so fucking selfish that it cant help out its immediate neighbors… tickets to the shows are about thirty dollars which pretty much guarantees that the only ones who can see them are more well off than the average kid on the street… last night was in a mall that was right out of Gibson; modern and decayng filled with booths selling almost exclusively youth related stuff: video games, magic cards, cd’s and cheap ‘hot topic’ type clothes, we played in a club in this place… we finished the set went off before the encore and with just cosmic timing the power in the whole neighborhood went out plunging the crowd into cheering darkness, i’m glad we got to do the whole show, in Southend UK recently the same thing happened near the end of the show and it was a lot more anti climatic… the crowds down here are terrific… just thanks to everyone who has showed up (here are a couple of spanish versions of the last bit above i hope they are not too wack) estaba anoche en un paseo fue cierto fuera de Gibson; moderno y decayng llenó de puestos que venden casi exclusivamente la juventud el material relacionado: videojuegos, tarjetas mágicas, el cd y barato ‘hot topic’ ropas de tipo, nosotros jugamos en un club en este lugar… terminamos el conjunto se fue antes el bis y con tiempo apenas cosmico el poder en el vencindario entero salió hundiendo la multitud a vitorear la oscuridad,Estoy contento que obtuvimos para hacer la exposición entera, en el RU de Southend recientemente la misma cosa sucedió cerca del fin de la exposición y era mucho más anti climático.. las multitudes aquí están hacia abajo tremendo… apenas gracias a todos que ha aparecido el ayer por la noche estaba en una alameda que correcta fuera de Gibson; moderno y decayng llenó de las cabinas que vendían casi exclusivamente la materia relacionada juventud: juegos video, tarjetas mágicas, CD’s y barato tipo ropas del ‘ asunto caliente ‘, jugamos en un club en este lugar… acabamos el sistema nos apagamos antes de que saliera la repetición y con la sincronización cósmica justa la energía en la vecindad entera hundiendo a la muchedumbre en oscuridad que animaba, estoy alegre nosotros conseguí hacer la demostración del conjunto, en Southend Reino Unido la misma cosa sucedió recientemente cerca del final de la demostración y era mucho más contra climática… las muchedumbres abajo aquí son fabulosas… gracias justas a cada uno que ha demostrado para arriba

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…