i am Ta'fxkz

Intellectual Property / Pirate This / Creative Commons

2011-10-15T11:30:00.000+05:30

Note: Arul sent this (untitled) piece to some friends some time ago. Arul and Ihave had extended discussions on the nature of ownership and if we, in fact,own anything at all. I hadn’t seen this piece, and am very grateful to HannahPriya for sharing it. No changes made, except to add a title and make someminor clean-ups. ~ baruk

"Go to the villageahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt byher. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, tell himthat the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away." Mathew 21 vs2 and 3 NIV

I personally love the KJVthat says, “The LORD hath need of them”

I have marveled at theaudacity of Christ to defy the culture of ownership, but who am I to teach thecreator of the universe civics and etiquette. It seems immoral to me to evensend somebody out with the instructions to go and untie another person’s ass,and not just to me it seems to break the God given Judeo Christian code ofethics (as some of us would like to insist).

Why, this instruction tointrude ownership even defies the teachings of Christ if we were to protractthe admonition to not commit adultery by thinking it up. Why, it even feelsquite immoral to me to impregnate a virgin but I guess the God of creation isan exception, and even in the virgin’s dealings with the God of creation thereis the golden consent “Be it done unto me”.

When we (by faith and bygrace, I guess) get past the paradox of God acting in foreknowledge and yetbeing mindful of the person’s choice to NOT render him or her a puppet. We willbe less assumptive in our callous infringement of other people’s ownerships. Istand amazed (and slightly bemused) by how we (Christians) take other people’sintellectual property, for granted.

We wouldn’t drive offanother person’s car in the course of our morning walk, just because it waspossible to do so and then insist that the car was really in the public domain.Why we could even argue that the raw materials that the car is made up of arein one way or the other extracted from the earth and say “Who my dearbrother’s is the owner of the earth”. But if the (so-called) owner of an idea,deemed his or her idea worth a price, we dare not infringe that person’s rightto choose his or her price.

"And what will you dowith the big, big, money? Have you not everything you need? If you need amotor-car, you pluck it from the trees. If you need pretty polly, you takeit." said Alexander de Large, the jovial hoodlum rapist, thug and humbleprotagonist of Stanley Kubrick’s movie A Clockwork Orange. Now Alex was on theside of totally disregarding other people’s ownership - but the film also showshow when he returns from prison, he is hurt and saddened when his own room andpersonal belongings and snake were given away, confiscated by the policeas compensation for Alex’s victims and not the way he had left them.

Who owns a woman’s body?Does a government have a right to tell her when she can or not have an abortion? Who owns the fetus? Who owns people? Who owns the languages we learn tospeak? Who owns land? Who owns emotions especially in this era of emotionallyloaded coercive devices of mass persuasion feeding us with the “glass nipple”of TV or the internet or any way to get into human synapse and choices. I takeit that all ownership is either borrowed or stolen, like we do not own land butwe are actually borrowed from the land for a few heartbeats and breaths of avery very short lifetime.

I am not a theologian - I aman artist, and a poet. I write rock n roll lyrics. This is not my field ofexpertise - I love the scriptures and obsess with how the word might becomeflesh in my life, but beyond that there is nothing else that brings me here toshare at the table of academicians. There is always an academic and theologicaltension in my songs, and while I have my healthy respect for theological academia,I also disregard it quite vehemently.

“Poor God eating lonely piein the sky, Poor God if it walks the plank in my eye” go the lyrics of my songSympathy for God. I was interestingly accused (I am guessing that theaccusation was in jest) by my rock n rolling peers, of plagiarizing The RollingStones song Sympathy for the Devil. Which I insist was not the case.

The song I wrote wasreleasing a life-long burden of a tense co-existing of theism and atheism. Igot the idea to the words “Sympathy for God” when I read a book called KillingBono by Neil McCormick, a schoolmate of Rock star Bono of U2. Neil was anatheist and Bono was Christian, and the dialog and tensions that transpiredbetween them turned into a song called “I found God”, that when Neil wasrecording the studio staff referred to as “Sympathy for God”. Yes the studiostaff were probably referring to The Rolling Stone’s Sympathy for the Devil,and yes in that way there is the influence of the Rolling Stones, but have Istolen from them- I think not. Recently when I was working on getting itrecorded, the back of my mind was working towards a voodoo drumbeat that was probablyinfluenced by The Rolling Stones too. Is there a debt owed to the RollingStones, yes and most obviously so, am I plagiarizing the Rolling Stones-no.

God forbid that there shouldbe a patent on the pentatonic blues scale. It would render even Hendrix aplagiarist. And every one who played the electric Guitar post Hendrix anywayhad one debt that he or she owed the most influential guitar God of all time.

“Plagiarize, let no one’swork evade your eyes

Remember why the good LORDmade your eyes

So don’t shade your eyes butplagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize

Only remember to call itresearch” sang singer-songwriter, satirist, pianist, and mathematician TomLehrer

“No man is original sinceAdam”- wait a minute I did not say that, I think it was Emerson. I did not readEmerson, it just popped out of my mind from memory that I had read A W Tozermention this in the preface of his book The Divine Conquest, and that wassomething I read 16 years ago.

Who really owns ideas? Whoowns the idea that an idea can be owned? Who owns the idea of ownership? Isn’townership just an idea, in the first place? Aren’t ownership deeds simply aproxy validation of the idea that something can be owned? Is the line thatseparates what is yours from what is mine even a real line or is it animaginary idea of a line? Is ownership not an idea? I would like to ask- “Ifownership is not an idea, who’s idea is it not?”, and I cannot say that is notmy idea because I typed it and I do not consciously remember anybody elseasking this particular question in this particular way.

My friend Baruk who hailsfrom the north-east tribes of India, tells a story of how locals had no conceptof owning land, the land was free to hunt pluck fruits and do whatever theywanted- until people from outside offered them liquor in exchange for land.They thought that the liquor was practically free, until one day they were allevicted.

In India, when you buy landyou only own the surface, anything this is below the land or above the land isfor all legal purposes belonging to the government. I do not know how it iselsewhere, but I personally find all ideas of ownership, reasonably silly atone level or another. I am a songwriter. The only thing I call my own, are mysongs and even they are not really my own. My gift and craft has behind itscores of others who have walked these roads with nothing to give back but afew words and tunes, rearranged in their minds and within the boundaries oftheir genre, ability and the culture of their times.

An old uncle who encouragedme down this road has written over 300 songs in Tamil. He has released over 20albums to date. Many of his songs are popular Christian classics, his name isEzekiel George for the benefit of those who might be curious. He has alwayswritten his songs and sung them freely. He has lived as an artist in penurywith 2 mentally unwell children to care for. While the people who market hisalbum built three houses, one each for their three daughters.

People hear his songs on CDsall over Indian Christendom and yet he has never received a royalties cheque,and he has never asked for one. Is his ownership of his songs limited by thefact that he did not ask, insist or bargain the price of the inner torment thatbirthed the songs. There is a church, less than a kilometer away from his houseoutside which you will see recordings of his songs, some sung by him and otherssung by others all being sold in compilation albums. He has never even askedthem for his fair share. In India, a person’s wife’s jewelry is loaded withcultural symbols. Most of his recordings were made possible because his wifevoluntarily sold her jewelry to support her husband’s calling.

As a young Turk in this turf- I wrote the following song titled Pirate This.

Chorus

You’re welcome to piratethis song

Make copies and give it outgenerously

You’re welcome to piratethis song

Go ahead treat her like shewas yours

You’re welcome to piratethis song

Rainbows are free and theskies are sunny

I’m sure you think I don’tneed no money

Thank you coz you think I ama star

Galaxies apart from whereyou are

You’ve got to pay for yourrental bills

Scrimp and save for occasionalfrills

You have needs that probablyelude me

If you need my music so youcan keep it for free

Chorus

You’re welcome to piratethis song

Make copies and give it outgenerously

You’re welcome to piratethis song

Go on take her home like shewas yours

You’re welcome to piratethis song

Lend me your ears this ain’tno sermonette

What you hear is what youget

Paying for music is aharlot’s cause

My breakfast a bowl ofapplause

You get to eat out once in awhile

Get some friends to party instyle

My family and pets live onlove and fresh air

Everyone’s wife should havenothing to wear

Chorus

You’re welcome to piratethis song

Make copies and give it outgenerously

You’re welcome to piratethis song

Go ahead rip her like shewas yours

You’re welcome to piratethis song

Got no conscience - don’tyou no fret

You are sure to pirate eventhat I bet

You’ve no money but you havemorality

You wouldn’t rob a bank,you'd only steal IP

Go on pinch the artist’sscrew

God who gave the songs willpay the due

You deserve a Grammy fortasteful piracy

A fan like you is an honorto me

Chorus

You’re welcome to piratethis song

Make copies and give it outgenerously

You’re welcome to piratethis song

Go ahead treat her like shewas yours

You’re welcome to piratethis song

Back when I wrote this I wasa young executive working for Microsoft in the prime of my career, and I wrotethe lyrics to the above song. I wrote it in the a time when my career was builton an industry that was all about Intellectual Property. I knew nothing, backthen about creative commons. The time I wrote it I actually had a dream inwhich my band and I were taking people to court for doing as the song said andpirating it, needless to say it was a deep seated conviction about mysong expressed in Rock N Roll bravado.

Today as an artist in penurythat song opens up a world of different and newer meanings to me, specially thewords.

“Go on pinch the artist’sscrew

God who gave the songs willpay the due”

I am still uncomfortableabout calling this my song- every line of it comes from someplace else. Bob Dylan once said “What, good is an applause- you can’t eat it forbreakfast” and I stole that line to make it “My breakfast a bowl of applause”.Even this admission is rooted in Tom Lehrer’s satire Lobachevski “I am neverforget the day my first book is published. Every chapter I stole from somewhereelse. Index I copy from old Vladivostok telephone directory.”

Where would we be if thesermon on the mount was held as intellectual property? Let us be reasonablewith our fellow men on both sides of this deal. Let us give credit (no punintended) where it is due, and let us be fair, it is not like we need to beevangelical Christians to have a fairness-ethic. Let us who claim to follow Christ,speak up for the “owner” of the least in our midst, ruthlessly where justice isperverted.

Who are we to judge ifChrist’s disciples really had the legal right to use a coin found in the bellyof a fish to pay their taxes? Oh yes the coin and the fish and the sea belongto God (read synonymous with Christ), but let us not forget that the coin didnot technically or legally belong to the disciples, just as treasure foundunder the soil on a plot of land a person may own in India belongs to thegovernment. It cannot be used to pay taxes. We see Christ in scripture, leadinghis penniless disciples in what was possibly flouting the legal ownership ofthe coin, because as the Creator Christ obviously knew whose coin it was andshould have in all fairness credited it back to the rightful owner.

Is this a license for us togo and do likewise, in all things that we do not ’technically’ own? I doubt ifit is, I commend us to our intelligence and our consciences, to therefore notcondemn every borderline violation of ownership when the owner’s expressedpermission or choice to give permission is unknown. Saying one thing and doinganother to conceal facts of ownership are a grievous offense scripturally, itis theft and hypocrisy. Can we question the Holy Spirit for striking Ananiasand Sapphira dead? After all it was their land, and what right did God have toexpect it all? Even the Old Testament law required only a tenth of thegains.

I do not know what it meantback then in the New Testament when it says of the early church that theyhad all things common." -- Acts Chapter 4, v. 32, and I am trying to findout by questioning everything that I deem “my own”. I am after all NOT my own,I was bought for a price, and I try to live my life (yes I know it soundsironical, that I call it mine even in this context) in the shadow and theblessing of that “price”.

I hate to not mention socialinjustice, and now I think it is time to talk about a soft drink that we areall familiar with. This international soft drink super power has a powerfulbrand image and an enviable band presence, that sells even in the remotest ofvillages as long as there is electricity to plug a company sponsoredrefrigerator. It is not even a healthy drink, it serves empty calories butpeople prefer it over the contents of a tender coconut, even in places wherethe tender coconut is grown. This company runs its bottling plant inPlachimada, Kerala. The company uses reportedly extracts 132000 liters of watereach day, leaving the villagers with little or no water in their wells andpolluting the remaining water with sludge that they said was a fertilizer thatwould benefit the farmers. Now many years have gone by since it has been proventhat the sludge is dangerous pollution rich in lead.

But now in a letter datedSeptember 29, 2009, the soft drink mogul had questioned the authority of theState government to constitute the high-power committee, which is to suggestcompensation to the affected people. The Kerala State Pollution Control Board(KSPCB) has said that the solid waste generated from the bottling plant inPalakkad district in Kerala would not come under the purview of hazardouswaste. You are free to believe whichever side of the story you want.

The Government’s side

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2003/09/30/stories/2003093002240100.htm

The Company’s side

http://www.hindu.com/2009/10/11/stories/2009101160531100.htm

Or the thirsty people’sside

What has all this got to dowith ownership or the Post-Colonial? Well, post-colonial baggage wrapped incapitalism, is still ruling India with an iron hand, the downtrodden have novoice to ask why their water levels are going down and why their fields arebeing polluted, because it is after all not “theirs”. Alexander de Large, fromStanley Kubrick’s movie A Clockwork Orange, fought his brothers for proposing anew way of owning a lot of “big big money and a mansize crast” but it seems tome that what he really wanted was a horrorshow control over the brothers.Colonialism went after the colonized with tolchocks much like Alexander deLarge did, to his victims, just as it is happening to the people of Plachimada,all because a locally accepted messiah figure decreed that the ass (in thiscase, water) be untied (in this case polluted and drained).

There are many Christianbands that record and mix their music for the glory of God with piratedsoftware. Why, I can bet that many Christians from India are reading this poston computers installed with pirated software. They are quick to say “I don’tknow if it is pirated, I paid for the machine and this is what I got”. It getsfunnier when they say “I installed it from the original CD owned by my uncle”.If ignorance was a harmless enough excuse, then I wonder why Jesus prayed onthe cross for forgiveness “for they know not what they do”.

Once I pointed out that inorder to install a software legally or illegally there is an “I Agree” buttonthat user has to click on, and I read out the EULA - the end user licensingagreement, which portended quite clearly that the installation in question wasnot licensed and therefore illegal. The virgin mom of Christ consented to bethe mother of God. The owner of the ass consented to let the creator have theass. If the said owner of a piece of intellectual property has not authorizedthe specific use of his or her work. it is a violation of the biblicalteachings, to intrude the person‘s property no matter how right it feels or howguided or lead you think you are. The bible says that we will be heldaccountable for “our” words and choices - as debatable as the ownership (ofthese words and choices) are, in these days of just going mindlessly with theflow.

I say this knowing thatOwnership itself is quite a flimsy claim, and if we claim to believe that Godis the owner and that we are God’s servants; it would be helpful that we startreflecting God’s character in our stewardship of this garden of life in the21st century that we have been called to tend. I conclude with no conclusion,leaving you to make “your” choices and “your” ideas in the context of Ownershipin a manner that you will see fit, to one day if necessary stand before thecreator who loaned you the opportunity to “own” your thoughts and choices - tosee what you made of it.

Is your god (yes, “your” Godis the god you reflect) the land-grabbing God of the old testament thatsupposedly (per scripture) gave the Israeli army both the command to ethniccleansing and also the victory in the process, or is your God a more holisticreflection of biblical exegesis set in the context of challenging and yetmaking sense in a 21st century context?

Gone Porn

2011-10-14T13:35:00.000+05:30

Note: Arul "Ta'fxkz" Baliah died on 8th October, 2011. This post (with no associated tags) was found in its unfinished, and unpublished form within his website. From what can be gathered from the draft, this post was typed up on 4th June, 2011 at 1.05 pm. Ta'fxkz had many inimitable, characteristic traits - many of which were abrasive to the candid listener. This post is an example of his often misunderstood attempt to marry the abrasive with the sensible. --- Cousin to Ta'fxkz, Dan.

Yes, I have to hereby declare that I have set my most beautiful songs to sync with pornographic visuals. I have taken this step as an aesthetic and artistic decision and I am proud of it.

Here is my official statement.

Yes sex is beautiful and people look silly fucking - need I really explain what that has to do with my songs?
I feel my songs are the purest form of anything I can ever give back to the universe, much like sex no matter how much something is commercialized there are somethings so beautiful they are almost divine if not reflections of something divine
I think of Porn vs MTV or a Bollywood Movie, and I think porn takes the hypocritical element out, and fucks it good
Ah now the religious nuts- go read your own scripture - every one of you, and if you must ponder on the mysterious parable between sighs and utterances in the visceral grammar of xenoglossy spoken in body language
Sex is intimate communication releasing passion, love, emotions that are otherwise incommunicable, I think my songs are too

Friend Sourcing

2011-10-13T14:24:00.000+05:30

Note: Arul "Ta'fxkz" Baliah died on 8th October, 2011. This post (including the associated tags) was found in its unfinished, and unpublished form within his website. From what can be gathered from the draft, this post was typed up on 2nd June, 2011 at 3.25 am. Ta'fxkz had many ideas to "get the word out" for his songs; many of them path-breaking and stark raving mad. Friend and family are currently looking at ways to make his music more accessible and available. Meanwhile, this post provides a good idea of his attitude toward his music and how he planned to take its distribution. --- Cousin to Ta'fxkz, Dan.

All songs: All Rights reserved; Used By Permission; International Copyright Secured. (but anybody who sings these songs is a friend of mine)
- Michelle Shocked [Source: Short Sharp Shocked (album notes)]

from Derek Sivers 2000 archive of Music Thoughts

Since recording From Another Morning friends have been asking me where they can buy the album. Some have promised to buy it if I put the album up on CD Baby.

Now wait a minute, if I put an album on CD Baby and set it to cost 10 USD, I will get paid 6 USD. Now this is a great way to reach people who I would never otherwise be able to reach with my music, but this is no way to treat friends. I would rather tell you that the album is already yours and take way more than that the 10 measly USD as I anyway do, regardless of if you like the album. I appreciate your generosity, and I want it all.

All this is really convoluted speak for what I am really trying to say. I madly love anybody who says s/he wants to buy my album. I love them too much to sell anything to them. I have to just take their money off them and not give them anything in return, ah yes- the songs already belong to them.

The only person's left to do business with are those who are not my friends already.

I am opening up investment options for friends to make money off my music. I hope you find it easy reading when compared to the reams of arbitrary crap some people click on "i agree" just for a social networking or an email service.

Get Physical - sponsor CD/DVD burning and cover printing, in numbers starting from one to a few thousands and give it away or sell it or put it up at local music stores with a couple of promotional posters. The catch is, the songs are already free any money you make is for the effort of getting it physically available. You pick the price and decide how much of your profits you want to share with me.

This option is NOT open to corporations and businesses.

I am open to better ideas than my own, however I am anal about my art and I insist that you need my approval for any changes you make to the cover art/content.

Alternatively you could just sponsor the physical production expenses and leave me to my army of friends to distribute (sell or give away) it for a negotiable commission/revenue sharing.

You can invest anything from a hundred to an infinite rupees in this venture, but but let's go easy on the infinite because I am not a fan of increasing the planet's rich resources of e-waste. The use of physical CDs is purely to reach people who are not yet musical digitalphiles where touch and feel is still a vital component of interacting with music; let's keep the physical CD so minimal that they are collector's items, serving antiquarian market needs in the new media era..

1/3rd a CD Baby - 3 friends will be expected to divide the cost 65 USD equally between them, rounding up the impossibility of splitting 65 in 3 equal values of 21.666666666666666666666666666667 USD, to 22 USD each. This expense will put my 5 songs out on several digital and physical distribution channels. There are a lot of chances that these may not sell, but if they do each of the 3 investors get 20% each from any monies I get from CD Baby post taxes and I keep 40%. The 0.999999999999999999999999999999 USD (from the above round off) will be go into a black hole and will remain unaccounted. Now this deal can be boosted with publicity drives like Jango Airtime and plain old word of mouth. I am not considering offering any rewards for spreading the word, I think I do not want to dilute the chances of an engagement being an act of love and nothing else. Those who know me will know that if their activities paid off, I'd be the first off to pay back.
Old Recordings Baby - There are some old recordings that kinda want to be out the way they are SingVocation

Taxi . Com -

Arul "Ta'fxkz" Baliah, 1977 - 2011

2011-10-11T23:22:00.000+05:30

Hi visitor,

Arul "Ta'fxkz" Baliah expired in Tiruchy in the evening of 8th October, 2011. He lived a life filled to the brim with his creative talents, his genius song-writing, and the people that he surrounded himself with. This website will continue to be a testament to the awesomeness that was Ta'fxkz. To share in the memories of this great person with his friends and family, please visit www.facebook.com/tafxkz.

Thanks,
Dan (cousin to Ta'fxkz)

Face the Orwellian Boot

2011-09-23T21:05:00.000+05:30

When the Orwellian future is already here, and you can either be the boot or the face that gets stomped on; I will face the boot with such pride and conviction that more than the boot print on my face there will be my face print on the boot. Ta'fxkz

Face the Orwellian Boot by Ta'fxkz (Arul Baliah) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at tafxkz@gmail.com.

Face Orwellian Boot

Face Orwellian Boot (2)

Zappa TYT Tipper and Al Gore

2011-09-23T07:18:00.000+05:30

Hey Cenk and the rest of TYT,

Maybe i do get it from where i am, but here in India, the first time i heard of Al Gore was that he was then married to Tipper Gore who was all out bring in the censorship of music when Al Gore was Vice President (I heard her name in a Frank Zappa song and needed to know who on earth she was)

Here is Dee Snider talking about Al Gore's reaction to his hearing when he suggested that Tipper probably was looking for Sadomasochism in the lyrics to the song Under The Blade

I am very uncomfortable with TYT in cahoots with this man who supported the censorship of music lyrics. I would love it if you could show him denounce and reject the entire PMRC outfit and it's agenda.

The questions in my mind is, can Current TV laugh at PMRC, the way we think Fox should be able to take Alec Baldwin's jokes about the phone hacking?

Over the years I have my doubts about the numbers on the side of Al Gore's efforts to save the planet and i would love to see him debate Bjørn Lomborg. Make this happen Cenk and i will become a paid member.

Ta'fxkz
http://tafxkz.info

Sent via youtube

Young Turks' Cenk Uygur headed to Current TV

By FRAZIER MOORE - AP Television Writer | AP – Tue, Sep 20, 2011

NEW YORK (AP) — Current TV is bringing Cenk Uygur and "The Young Turks" to its prime-time lineup.

Current will work with the Turkish-born Uygur and his team to launch a television version of their online program by year-end, the network announced Tuesday.

The Young Turks, led by Uygur, are a group of progressive journalists and commentators which draw millions of Web viewers and claim to be the Internet's most-watched news show. Like the online original, the new Current version will cover politics, pop culture and lifestyle, and will be produced from Los Angeles.

Current disclosed no details of the deal.

"Cenk has really demonstrated a unique talent for translating complex daily events into a narrative context that reveals deeper meanings and engages his audience," Current chairman Al Gore said in an interview with The Associated Press, "and he has connected, in particular, with a young demographic interested in what's going on in the world."

Uygur's show will precede "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" at 7 p.m. Eastern (2300 GMT) each weeknight. Like Olbermann, Uygur was formerly a presence on cable-news network MSNBC. Olbermann left MSNBC last January and soon afterward joined Current, where "Countdown" resumed in June as the centerpiece of a planned full night of talk programing.

Uygur had held MSNBC's 6 p.m. hour for some months before abruptly exiting the network in July, saying his bosses had told him he was too combative toward the Washington power elite. (The network countered that no effort was made to leash Uygur, and insisted other time slots had been offered him.) Soon afterward, civil rights leader Al Sharpton was named the permanent host of the 6 p.m. slot.

"I have no interest in doing a pro-Establishment show," Uygur said, "and that's not what I'll be doing at Current."

After leaving MSNBC, Uygur had professed to be satisfied with his online home and in no hurry to find a TV outlet.

"I don't have to do something I'm not comfortable with just to be on television," he said after Tuesday's announcement. "But if there is an outlet such as Current TV that lets me do the real show, then of course I was interested."

Gore drew a contrast — and not for the first time — between Current and its rival networks owned by large conglomerates. (MSNBC is controlled by Comcast Corp.)

"We're independent," Gore said, "not just in spirit and in tone, but, more importantly, in reality."

Gore called himself "a big fan" of Uygur's MSNBC show, saying, "He demonstrated that his phenomenal success on the Web translates easily and well into the television format."

Joel Hyatt, Current CEO and (with Gore) the 6-year-old network's co-founder, said adapting an online program for TV "is very much in our DNA. Al and I set out to build a multi-platform media company and to find synergies between the platforms that were additive and not duplicative."

Current President David Bohrman spoke of using "The Young Turks" as a way to develop new connections between online and TV.

"We can do that with Cenk and his passionate followers who are online now," said Bohrman.

He made a distinction between the show Uygur hosted on MSNBC and his upcoming Current program.

"We'll be bringing the Turks as well as Cenk," Bohrman said. "The group, with its free-wheeling dynamic, isn't really the Cenk you saw on MSNBC."

Meanwhile, the network, now available in 60 million households, expects to announce a third nightly program in the near future.

"Ain't no grass growing under our feet," Gore said.

___

Online:

http://www.current.com

http:

From Another Morning

2011-09-23T05:59:00.000+05:30

From Another Morning by Ta'fxkz-from-another-morn

Interview with Harsharan

2011-09-02T21:26:00.000+05:30

For whatever it is worth, I was interviewed by this fashion and music blogger Harsharan.

http://harsharanlanda.blogspot.com/p/interviews.html

Harsharan Does An Exclusive Interview With The Very Talented Songwriter & Performer Ta'fxkz', We talk the reason behind his name, his inspiration his current projects and where he sees himself in 5 years time as well as much more..A very Exciting Read!! Enjoy

Q.Tell us about who you are & What you do?

I write under the name Ta'fxkz. I understand it is an unpronounceable name but it also is a fair metaphor for my music because it gives you freedom to pronounce the name any way you choose to do so.

Q: Describe your Music in 5 words

Wistful Pedestrian Poetry With Attitude

Q: What are your Current projects that you are working on?

Currently I am working on lyrical material for Ananth Menon's solo project. To pay him back for the killer session work and co-producing he did on From Another Morning

Q: Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?

As a songwriter I see myself writing songs for movies and for other artists
As a performer I see myself performing a hell lot more, in both small and big venues and i want to do it without corporate sponsorship

Q: Where do you get your inspiration from?

My inspiration comes from feeling like an outsider and wanting to tell the story my way the way I feel only I saw it unfold.

Q: Who would you rather listen to UK or US Music?

I guess both scenes have had their fair share of influence on me, I guess the UK has more of what I like but I wont bet too hard on that.

Q:What Artist do you listen to?

Nick Cave, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits

Q:Who influences your music?

Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, The Eagles, The Beatles and Bob Dylan are my earliest influences; i think i have strayed from their path to find myself.

Q: Please describe your fashion style in 5 words?

Shorts, Canvas Shoes and Shirts without collars

Q: How can people Contact you & Collaborate with you?

Leave me a comment on youtube or soundcloud, chat with me a bit, give me a melody or a chord progression or an idea that cries out to be written into song.

Self Inroduction

2011-08-31T03:04:00.000+05:30

https://profiles.google.com/116276180234721250628/posts/S9M3ESL92vX

Ta' fxkz - 27 Aug 2011 -

Buzz

- Public

I write terribly wordy songs and consider myself a street singer of sorts with a few delusions of grandeur.

I got on this trip (like really) at age 27, the age when the real heroes of this race were already dead.

In my songs I try to embrace reality with a finger in that almost unreal pie. I call myself Ta'fxkz, it works as a good name for me because you cannot pronounce it but really you can pronounce it the way you want to. It is about freedom. I think that is the same freedom i want to express in my songs, the freedom ~~from being told what you should be in opening doors to self discovery and living with passion.~~ where I will NOT tell you to think for yourself because it would defeat the very point by me saying it.

~~The~~ My songs ~~performed tonight will be~~ (I hope) are a trip into introspection, faith, love, hunger and nonsense. ~~I like to go about life picking up nuggets of moments that feel like they belong in a song and then one day it all falls together.~~ I think I feel I'd like to be the village idiot of sorts who says the daftest things and gets away with it. I put my thoughts in songs because saying it any other way gets me in more trouble than i can wriggle out of, or talk myself out of.

I feel I might make the most sense I possibly can in song, but i cannot guarantee that you would feel the same way about my songs. So do drop in if you feel, you would like to give me a chance to sing to you.

Thanks,

Ta'fxkz
http://tafxkz.info

Ta'fxkz Bio

Résumé

It's So Easy (and Other Lies) by Duff McKagan

2011-07-14T03:53:00.000+05:30

It's So Easy (and Other Lies) by Duff McKagan by BurstMarketing

Creators Over Consumers

2011-07-13T05:19:00.000+05:30

Designing Media: Roger McNamee

2011-07-13T05:07:00.001+05:30

TEDxSantaCruz: Roger McNamee - Disruption and Engagement

2011-07-13T03:58:00.000+05:30

Roger McNamee Music Business

2011-07-13T01:27:00.001+05:30

Authentic I Am, Am I?

2011-07-07T06:53:00.000+05:30

After reading a Sivers' blogpost I wrote the following piece and then looked up the unreliable Wikipedia to know more about the "arte" they call poetry.

I am given to understand that with the dawn of literacy and then the invention of printing, poets had to move on to writing more for the eye than for the ear.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_poetry

From where i stand as an unschooled singer songwriter in the middle of nowhere : it is the poetry business already (i am in it because i love it with my life, and i persist because i believe in the intrinsic value of what i do)

Here is what i obsess over. The wheel like the fundamentals of what makes a song was never replaced by all the technology and change in the world, though the wheel maker's job has changed radically. I keep asking myself as a poet to look for avenues in what might be the wheel making era 10 years from now.

I wonder if it is the paradigm that sales drives a musician’s livelihood has lost currency. I am obsessing over how I can package the kernel of inspiration for the market ahead.

I am assuming that the market ahead will be so jaded that it will either be hungry for something authentic or throw it up with it’s acquired taste for plastic.

(now) Who am I to assume that what I have is authentic and that everything else is plastic?

but wait a minute it was that assumption that I have something authentic to offer that brought me here in the first place, I must live my myth or not believe it at all.

Interview

2009-03-13

Justin from Berklee College of Music sent me these interview questions. I’m posting it here in case it’s of use to anyone.

If you were starting or promoting a band today, (pretend you’re back at Berklee) what would you do to spread the word? What tools would you use?

The most important part is deciding what to do! You don’t just make any old music, then decide how to spread the word.
You decide BEFORE you make the music: What could we create that would be SO noteworthy, SO remarkable, that there’s no way it could be ignored?
If it were me, I’d probably make some freaky Blue Man Group type band, and we’d often do michevious publicity stunts to give the media something to get worked-up about.
As for tools, I’d try to find ones that aren’t already saturated with music. Maybe an artistic use of Twitter. Or Improv Everywhere.
But really I’d make sure that I was always in a real three-way conversation with my fans. Encourage them to talk with me and with eachother. Make my success their success, like Obama.

What are your feelings towards the major record labels today? Have they completely missed the big picture as far as how to market artists and distribute their songs?

It’s easy to look at them as buffoons (like we do politicians), but most of them are surprisingly smart.
If you just look at results (the current biggest-sellers), they’re almost all on major labels, so it’s just bad logic to say that the labels are doing everything wrong. Many things wrong, yes. But not everything.
This last 10 years has been humbling for them. It’s shaken out the people that are only in it for the money. So most of the people at labels today are in it for the right reasons, and are more entrepreneurial.

Why is the indie scene alive and kicking while the major labels are suffering?

Most indies can profit off of 10,000 sales, but majors can’t. Their different expectations change their costs.
The music business might be like the poetry business some day. Which means: almost no profit, and people do it because they want to, never for the money. I’m sure there are some companies making money off of poetry, but not many. Not making millions. So labels still have to get incredibly lean and efficient, so they can actually profit off of something that sells only 10,000 copies.

Since lots of indie musicians make their livings primarily on touring, what do you think the proposed Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger will do to indie artists trying to play big venues? Will there be enough smaller venues left to support the smaller artists?

Every trend has a counter-trend. Video moving to bite-size bits on YouTube? At the same time, the super-long narrative (Lost, Sopranos, 24) is more popular than ever.
So if big venues are gobbled up and homogenized, there will be a counter-trend of tons of small places offering small concerts. Whether small businesses or house concerts.

Did you sell CDBaby because of the decline of recorded music? Is the recorded music business among indie labels still thriving?

I only left CD Baby for personal reasons. I like to challenge myself to stay immersed in the unknown. I had been doing CD Baby for 10 years. It was too familiar. That was enough.
Recorded music is definitely still thriving for indies. They’re on more of a level playing field than ever. Sales are up.

I’m not sure what your experience is with agents, managers, promoters, etc., but you have talked to numerous successful (and probably unsuccessful) musicians over the years. What is the general consensus on how musicians feel about those people? Do they feel that they need a manager to get gigs? Do you think independent artists need managers today?

Well... Most musicians feel if they just had a good manager/agent/promoter they’d be “all set”.
But most managers/agents/promoters will tell you “most artists aren’t ready yet”.
I agree. I’m a hard-ass when it comes to talent, because I was a hard-ass on myself. I wrote, improved, recorded, and perfected over 100 songs before I ever released one! Produced and engineered those 100 songs, playing all the instruments myself. I practiced my vocals for 2 intense hours a night for 5 years before anyone heard me sing. I would write twenty verses for every song, to find two good ones. I’ve performed over 1000 shows in 10 years, to all kinds of audiences. 8am in the cold to kids. 2am to a drunken southern bar. Learning how to win over every kind of crowd under any situation.
So if I were to invest in an artist, I’d expect nothing less than what I’d done, as just a basic entry-level way of showing they’re serious about this, and are going to commit at least 10 years of non-stop diligent self-improvement to it.
In other words, I think it’s the artist’s responsibility to develop themselves to the point where they’ve proven their persistence and ability to make music that people love - to put on a show that people love.
Then yes, once they’ve got more bookings than they can handle, it’s a good time to hand that job to an agent.
As for a manager, I think that should be like a business-minded band member. One person in the band whose sole job is to handle the business and marketing. It doesn’t have to be a professional manager. But yes, someone of that mindset should definitely be included always. Don’t go too long without one!

If I could take away just a few things from what I’ve learned about you, they would be: 1. Be true to yourself. 2. It’s all about the music! 3. Don’t do it (start a business, band or anything) for the money or some other material motivator; do it because it helps you, it helps other people or because it’s what you love to do. Is this accurate? Is there anything you would add?

Cool. There’s a great quote: “If you can learn music, you can learn anything.”
Making music is a great vehicle for self-improvement.
To be a great musician, you have to learn how to focus. You have to observe yourself objectively to notice what needs improvement, and have the dedication to improve that, even when you think you can’t.
To be a successful professional musician, you have to learn how to look at yourself through others’ eyes. You have to understand why the venue owner is really booking artists, why this person really signed your mailing list, and why people really go out to a bar at midnight on a Thursday.
It’s an amazing learning experience, and as you’ve noticed, I’m endlessly fascinated in this side of things.

comments

daniel nathan (2009-03-13) #
Dang, I just practice vocals for 20min a day. I can't imagine 2hrs. You are right though, most artists aren't ready, some don't even practice every day.
Bas (2009-03-13) #
Loved it! Might include some of this in my thesis on the future of music distribution.
Robin (2009-03-13) #
Excellent read. Love the answers as much as I do the questions. Very refreshing insights.

Does Justin have some music somewhere so that we could have a listen?

Rob
mojave (2009-03-13) #
a lot of smaller venues are shutting down because the economy is bad, but then, a lot of house concerts are starting up - so i think with music, as long as you use your own ingenuity, you'll find a way to make things work.

i know i want to be, and continue to be, a musician, and i love that right now everything is totally up in the air with how to "make it". with that, comes great opportunity for invention/trying new and wacky things.
Chip (2009-03-13) #
Always insightful Derek!
David Brewbaker (2009-03-13) #
Do we think CDBaby has suffered from his departure? I was just about to put my new CD on.

Definitely not. It was suffering the last couple years I was there, because I just wasn't into it, yet still in control of it. It's in better hands now. -- Derek
Justin (2009-03-13) #
Hey Derek et al,

Thanks for posting our "interview". I really appreciate your time and sharing some of your many insights into the business.

While I am a musician, I've been focusing on the business side of the industry and will be spending this summer in LA to complete my final internship for Berklee (with a company yet to be determined ;) ). I know we've all heard Derek's thoughts about cdbaby so I wanted to see what his thoughts were on the industry as a whole.

Thanks again Derek! Glad you all enjoyed it.
Robin (2009-03-13) #
@Derek: Is this really you:

http://www.myspace.com/dereksiversmusic

Nope. That's not me. Believe it or not there's another Derek Sivers, who's also a musician. I'm not on MySpace. My music is all here athttp://sivers.org/music if you want to hear it. -- Derek
Suzanne Lainson (2009-03-13) #
"The music business might be like the poetry business some day. Which means: almost no profit, and people do it because they want to, never for the money. I’m sure there are some companies making money off of poetry, but not many."

That's what I think will happen.

Given today's economy, fans not only have less money to spend on recorded music, they have less to spend on shows and merchandise.

There will always be people who listen to music and who write, perform, and record it, so there will always be music. But that doesn't necessarily mean people will make a living from music.

That's not such a bad thing, though. If the music becomes something you do with your family and friends because it is fun and you all love it, then it becomes a grassroots experience. People will come together in church, in homes, on street corners and in parks, and they will play for themselves and for others.

They will get out their computers and record and then share it with others on the Internet.
Gary (2009-03-13) #
Great interview. Malcolm Gladwell said that to become world class at something we need to put 10,000 hours into it. You're absolutely right that music takes an insane amount of time and practice, talent is earned. Good luck!
Suzanne Lainson (2009-03-13) #
I should add a point of clarification. I see music becoming more and more democratic. Technology now allows many people to create and share music. The distinction between artist and audience blurs until there isn't one anymore.

So rather than music being like poetry, it might be more accurate to say music is like softball. Lots of people play, some better than others, but virtually no one does it for a living.
David Andrew Wiebe (2009-03-13) #
I didn't know you spent so much time practicing and perfecting your craft before putting out there. That's an amazing lesson.
Bill Thurman (2009-03-13) #
Derek, you're right. you have to be a hardass, especially on your own self to eventually accomplish anything. it doesn't mean that you can't have some fun too, but hard work and being true to yourself and your own music is what's real in this world. you can't be everybody else or those who you admire. you can only be yourself. time will tell whether anybody thinks you're any good at what you do or not.
Patrick Smith (2009-03-14) #
Derek I love this quote: “If you can learn music, you can learn anything.”

Certainly rings true for me. I returned to guitar playing as an adult after having dropped it when I went to college. Now my daily practice gives enhances my life. I have found there are two times to practice guitar - when I want to and when I don't want to. When I make the effort with the latter, in a short time I want to practice.

For me music is a gift. Today I love sharing my music. But to be comfortable as a performer has been a struggle. But that is a long story. Thanks for being here.
Frank (2009-03-14) #
Gary: Talent isn't earned. Talent is innate. Talent + repetition = ability. You'll no doubt have to challenge yourself to become worthy of your talen... wait, that's close enough to what you were saying, that I'll just bow out here.
Cate Cloer (2009-03-14) #
Hey Derek. Thanks for the interview. I was glad to hear that you spent so much time on your voice, your writing, and perfecting your show BEFORE putting it out in public. That is exactly what we have been doing. Contrary to what our family and friends have said over the years, we knew we were not ready to have our songs out in public yet. We are excited because we are just now recording our first CD, even though we have been working on these songs for a while. I feel like we may only get one shot at this, so it better be pretty good from the start. This post encouraged me that it is OK to work hard at your craft before presenting it, even if everybody else thinks you are crazy. Thanks.
Jennifer Yeko (2009-03-14) #
Great interview and advice Derek. I agree - most artists aren't willing to put in the work that they need to "get to the next level" - and when they are, well, great things happen.
Oya (2009-03-14) #
Indie guru weluvu,

So informative, always,

Thanks Derek,

Oya
SÃ© Duggan (2009-03-14) #
You can't hear this kind of stuff too often ... esp. if you're inclined to ease off on yourself too often ... peace out and blessings Derek...et al
Collette mclafferty (2009-03-15) #
Great article... thanks guys!
Chuck Hughes (2009-03-15) #
I'm curious as to why you aren't on Myspace.

I get all my gigs AND my band members from Myspace.

I went there once years ago and it crashed my browser. I looked again a year later and it looked like a mess. It just doesn't appeal to me. Can't do it all. -- Derek
Kenli Mattus (2009-03-15) #
Great Stuff.

I totally agree with the work ethic thing, but it's gotta originate from a place of love and wonder, otherwise it's usually pretty uninspired and for me, the point is to connect with people on a spiritual level and that only happens from authenticity (it can be tempting to stray from that when money is waved in your face, but it's just a "transparent dangling carrot.")

As far as music going the way of modern poetry, I respectfully, strongly disagree...

I'm in a small northern Mexico town right now where Beto Diaz has signs posted everywhere for a show/dance he's doing. Half the town will attend...

Music has been the center of festivities for a long time and will continue to be. And you will always be able to get paid for that. GREAT music, to dance to, to sing to, to run to, to accompany audio/visuals etc will be in demand for a loooong time. Poetry is wonderful but isn't as flexibly funtional as music...

QUALITY and INGENUITY will always prevail.
dion roy (2009-03-15) #
Great Article. It definitely puts things in perspective for me!
jon (2009-03-16) #
i completely agree with you on every part of that interview! i recently left a music distribution company because of the fact i stopped believing in what the CEO was trying to do with it! i believe he was acting shady with the company's actions! in fact i believe strongly that he should view this entry of yours it may help him turn around!
Gavin Atkins (2009-03-17) #
Music... Poetry... where's it heading?

As an artist who sits in a "no man's land" between the two, I have to agree with Derek wholeheartedly. And I've had to learn to be a hard-ass on myself.

I'm no spring chicken now; I wasn't "ready" when I was. I've spent years developing my talent and sought out professional assistance in selecting songs from a vast catalogue for my first proper "release". Also, because I'm no spring chicken; because live venues are limited in the city where I live – where musicians fight to protect their turf; because the industry reports CD sales in double-digit decline: I decided to differentiate myself – to create a different product in the form of a "musical book" - so I could tap into alternative sales channels. And here's what I discovered from the mouths of these two industries, neither of whom seemed to appreciate the other side, even though they are both suffering in the same way:

- As a songwriter, my lyrics are considered "to poetical" - not appealing to a broad market and "no-one buys folk music". I knew that already, which is why I put hope in the publishing industry.

- As an author, my work is classed as poetry (actually prose poetry). But unfortunately, there are only a handful of major publishers remaining, none of whom publish poetry (Penguin being the last to, recently, drop this genre); they all focus on pop fiction now (I'm excluding non-fiction in my discussion) because "no-one buys poetry anymore". Sound familiar?

One of the biggest hurdles I've learned is promotion. That's why the major labels and publishers focus their effort on the biggest market segments for new acts. But I believe that product quality (product in the broader sense) is paramount and is, I think, what underpins Derek's discussion.

Musicians, more than poets, are seduced into believing that the internet is "the saviour" of promotion. I'll put my "consumer" hat on. When I search for indie music (I have a very broad musical taste and like to buy indie), I find an awful lot of poorly recorded music from bands that, probably, have little following. I just don't want to download their songs, even for free, because the "quality" is poor. And when I say "little following" I'm not talking about small internet following, like not having 30,000 MySpace friends; some of the best Indie music that I've bought is from bands that don't boast huge "friend followings". Here's a story that illustrates what I'm saying here: A close friend of mine plays in a very successful (major label) rock band. Their management agreed to engage a support act for their last tour based on this band having a huge internet following. The result was very few extra fans to the gigs and, mostly, the audience just did not like them! I also think that consumers are leery of free offers due to the overuse of this tactic by telemarketing companies and, more recently, internet marketing. If your music is good, giving it away for free devalues music. This is, ultimately, what is driving indie music industry to be more like the poetry industry. And once we're only writing music for love and playing it for fun, who will want to be an engineer or a producer? And when all music on the internet is free, who will pay for the equipment and people who support our indie music business?

OK, getting off my philosophical soapbox, say you have a great "product". How does one build a following? I've recently read an interesting article on human "herd mentality" (http://tinyurl.com/cqtwo9) and have for many years watched crowd behavior with interest. In fact, I've just returned from a music festival where I noted how the more successful acts have two ingredients: great product (songs) - not necessarily using the formulas mandated by the latest "how to write great songs" book; and audience participation. And I believe that it's hard (I won't say "impossible") to achieve the second part solely using the internet. Incidentally, I also discovered "poet breakfasts": poetry performance to an audience of poet lovers – people that get out of bed before musicians :o) I noticed that the most popular "performers" used visual "props" to engage the audience in addition to good, intellectually engaging, "product".

Ok, time to stop my ranting. I guess I'm reinforcing Derek's point that "... it's the artist’s responsibility to develop themselves..." – after all, the A&R departments no longer have the money or desire to do artist development. But my other point is product is everything – you do get what you pay for unless you're stealing!
Thaddeus Rex (2009-03-17) #
I agree pretty wholeheartedly with Gavin Atkins. Everyone should make music on their own, and distribute it any way they like, but if we remove all cashflow for bands/songwriters/singers we'll also lose our sound guys, engineers, producers, session musicians, graphic designers, photographers, etc etc... I don't think we want that. All these components are necessary for a quality recording and/or live concert.

The poetry analogy isn't really accurate either. Poetry is no longer a viable way to make money because no one reads poetry anymore.

Everyone listen's to music! It may be the most thriving art form on the planet.Every restaurant, mall, and kinko's location has music playing. Almost every car on the highway has music playing inside. Carpenters listen to music as they work. People are consuming music at incredible rates. With so much music is needed for our society, we're probably going to have to pay for it one way or another. You can't expect all this to appear for free.

It's wonderful that people can record so affordably, and if some individuals want to give their music away for free, that's a great gift to us all. I offer a couple free songs on my own website. But I'm leery of any line of thinking that implies that art should be free. That I should be able to take someone else's artwork and consume it for free doesn't make sense. If I do so, it cripples their ability to make more art. Quality will slip.

It's sad to think we could live in a world where artists can't make a living with their work. We'd be reverting to the days of Mozart & Beethoven where the only artists who could devote intensive energy to their work had support from a king or duke. In today's world, that would translate into Microsoft or Walmart having their own 'court musicians'. It doesn't take much imagination to foresee the kind of trinket music we'd be left with.

As Gavin said, "you do get what you pay for" and if we quit paying for music we can't expect much effort from our artists in return.
Eve (2009-03-17) #
You keep it real and that is so necessary with what we do! I don't think it's hard I think you're honest. Thanks.
Gordon Bell (2009-03-19) #
That's a great read Derek thanks to Justin and yourself. I was interested to see how long you took before presenting your music to an audience. I think thats quite a common mistake people make. Having an audience is an important part in the process of making music and I think musicians shouldn't get too hooked up in the perfecting their art alone. The music will develop much much quicker the minute it gets aired infront of other people. Thats exactly when you can see when something works or not. I guess I'm saying, get out and play folks! (it also creates a bigger music scene)
Jeff Shattuck (2009-03-19) #
Derek,

I just discovered your blog. Love it.

Fave quote from your interview:

Well… Most musicians feel if they just had a good manager/agent/promoter they’d be “all set”.

But most managers/agents/promoters will tell you “most artists aren’t ready yet”.

Man, that is so true. Many, many musicians out there can appear almost resentful that the world isn't beating a path to their door.

Also, the actual work that is required to record a song is now so little, that, in my opinion, people hit record way before they've got anything worth recording.

No matter how advanced technology gets, craft will always matter, and craft is achieved through hard, repetitive work.

In thinking about all this I'm reminded of a line from the Unforgiven: "Deservin's got nothin' to with it." So true. No one DESERVES to make it. No one.

Jeff

www.cerebellumblues.com
Monty Singleton (2009-03-21) #
Derek,

Do you write music anymore? From the look of http://sivers.org/music it looks like it's been a decade. If not, why?

I don't anymore, no. Stopped when CD Baby took over my life. I'll write about this in detail some day. -- Derek
MADE (2009-03-30) #
I think the point about having a business-minded band member is very important. I think that something that a lot of bands don't understand is that the creative and business aspects of a band are inseparable. A band's vision is intimately tied to the music. It's where it sees itself being in a several years. But you can't separate the creative vision from the business. Since the vision is inspired by the music and it influences the business decisions made by the band, it really can't be outsourced to a "rented" manager. Somebody in the band has to be that top strategist because that person will have creative inspiration. The manager ultimately comes in and executes on that vision.
lawnspeak (2009-04-09) #
Hmm was there a lawn before a stone henge? Music writing for moi is a song "writes" another song perhaps two. If one uses a good programmer or two-perhaps your favourite guy/lady (with poppy red lambs wool jumper just long enough..)sorry-you have perhaps some good unique samples that work with a pre track, an after track-perhaps and ending could be the beginning of the next ballad?
lawnspeak (2009-04-09) #
Home recording is in the brain-investing in a good studio with a track record; maybe it has a good selection of vintage guitars or moogs or a state of the art mixing console that can handle anything and never refuses anything yet your credit card judges the time evaluation constant to progression divided by product and progress.My voice is damaged hence "lawnspeak" so i try to give a massage -sorry message across in a different path to that of how my ego faintly would have optimised hence massacre/ trance or massacre / tekken. Diverse, specialise perhaps write a track for a favourite guitar as a present and worry about the other song afterwards.lawnspeak.
Colie Brice (2009-04-14) #
I have a different perspective.. I know plenty of people that practice 6 hours a day and still can't get a flea interested in their music, I also know jack asses who will drink a bottle of whiskey and set the world on fire.

There are vast differences between being an iconic personality, a master technician, and a true artist.. The iconic personalities often have the best chances of creating wealth and fame, master technicians usually find steady work, and true artists often fall in the cracks..

Worldly success seems to be about 1% inspiration and 99% promotion, the music often suffers for it, but it doesn't matter because most sheep in the herd don't reakky care about artistic authenticity and stuff like that. They just listen along with the other sheep and stay with the crowd. Very few sheep leave the herd and become heard..
Colie Brice (2009-04-14) #
Bah..
Ta' (2011-07-06) #
From where i stand as an unschooled singer songwriter in the middle of nowhere : it is the poetry business already (i am in it because i love it with my life, and i persist because i believe in the intrinsic value of what i do)

Here is what i obsess over. The wheel like the fundamentals of what makes a song was never replaced by all the technology and change in the world, though the wheel maker's job has changed radically. I keep asking myself as a poet to look for avenues in what might be the wheel making era 10 years from now.

I wonder if it is the paradigm that sales drives a musician’s livelihood has lost currency. I am obsessing over how I can package the kernel of inspiration for the market ahead.

I am assuming that the market ahead will be so jaded that it will either be hungry for something authentic or throw it up with it’s acquired taste for plastic.

(now) Who am I to assume that what I have is authentic and that everything else is plastic?

but wait a minute it was that assumption that I have something authentic to offer that brought me here in the first place, I must live my myth or not believe it at all.

Ta'fxkz - is hiring (Yessssssssss)

2011-07-06T03:58:00.000+05:30

Singer songwriter looking to build a team of New Media & Alternative Arts enthusiasts the rewards will not be immediate, you can quit whenever you want. You need not make any investments beyond what you will be happy to spend anyway. Here is a bonus: after working with me every other boss you deal with will be a cakewalk!

Do you feel the world does not offer you the path that fits your creative bent of mind?
Do you feel academia is all balls and the job scene is a claustrophobic cookie cutter?
Do you love/appreciate creative expressions like movies and songs or whatever?
Do you find yourself uncomfortable with corporate sponsored art ?
Do the words Art for Art's sake mean anything to you?
Are you curious to want to understand what it might mean to the universe that artists strive for the intrinsic value of their art?
Can you spare time online, offline and on the phone?

If any of these questions struck a chord with you, get in touch with me.

Here is how it works.

We will probably just chat or exchange thoughts a bit until we are on the same page about our mutual goals and and common ground.
Based on our conversations we can barnstorm and chart up the plan of action.
I will be happy to train you in making cold calls and sales.
When you are ready to take on challenges we can tackle them at your own pace one at a time?

Cheers!

Ta'fxkz
www.tafxkz.info

http://chennai.craigslist.co.in/med/2478792197.html

Wanted New Media & Alternative Arts Enthusiasts (Anywhere)

Date: 2011-07-06, 3:57AM IST
Reply to: job-c3gg9-2478792197@craigslist.org ^{[Errors when replying to ads?]}

hey all i am a singer songwriter - looking to build a team of New Media & Alternative Arts enthusiasts - the rewards will not be immediate, you can quit when ever you want. You need not make any investments beyond what you will be happy to spend anyway.

Do you feel the world does not offer you the path that fits your creative bent of mind?
Do you feel academia is all balls and the job scene is a claustrophobic cookie cutter?
Do you love/appreciate creative expressions like movies and songs or whatever?
Do you find yourself uncomfortable with corporate sponsored art ?
Do the words Art for Art's sake mean anything to you?
Are you curious to want to understand what it might mean to the universe that artists strive for the intrinsic value of their art?
Can you spare time online, offline and on the phone?

If any of these questions struck a chord with you, get in touch with me.

Here is how it works.

We will probably just chat or exchange thoughts a bit until we are on the same page about our mutual goals and and common ground.
Based on our conversations we can barnstorm and chart up the plan of action.
I will be happy to train you in making cold calls and sales.
When you are ready to take on challenges we can tackle them at your own pace one at a time?

Cheers!

Ta'fxkz
www.tafxkz.info

Location: Anywhere
Compensation: depends on a case to case scenario
Telecommuting is ok.
This is a part-time job.
This is a contract job.
This is an internship job
OK to highlight this job opening for persons with disabilities
Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
Please, no phone calls about this job!
Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

PostingID: 2478792197

Publishing

2011-06-27T06:12:00.001+05:30

I Am Bradley Manning (without the access to the secrets)

2011-06-11T01:26:00.000+05:30

Link

View high resolution

Photo - Permalink

DANIEL ELLSBERG:

I was the Bradley Manning of my day. In 1971 I too faced life (115  years) in prison for exposing classified government lies and crimes.  President Obama says “the Ellsberg material was classified on a  different basis.”  True. The Pentagon Papers were not Secret like the  Wikileaks revelations, they were all marked Top Secret—Sensitive.

Ultimately all charges in my case were dropped because of criminal  governmental misconduct toward me during my proceedings.  Exactly the  same outcome should occur now, in light of the criminal conditions of  Manning’s confinement for the last six months.

Ta'fxkz is Bradley Manning

I want to Jango

2011-06-07T16:14:00.000+05:30

Jango is this awesome internet radio that helps songwriters like me get played back to back with the top artists of my choice.

For a long time it sounded like a cheap piggyback option, but over the last 3 years of studying how music is discovered I realized I would have never heard of Bohemian Rhapsody if it had not been played late one night on MTV Classic, the only MTV show I ever watched. I watched it at 11 PM and again watched the rerun at 6 AM the next morning, before I downloaded it on napster at work back in July 2000.

Here is what Jango will charge to put me up with the likes of Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave and Tom Waits.

$10 for 250 Play Credits
$30 for 1,000 Play Credits
$100 for 4,000 Play Credits
$200 for 8,000 Play Credits
$500 for 20,000 Play Credits
$1000 for 40,000 Play Credits

I offer you no gains.

This is not an investment option. You will get no returns and no reward from supporting this. This is purely a black hole into which you are welcome to put your money.

If you think these songs have to be commercialized for their own sake, and if you insist on supporting this inanity - who am I to stop you.

Put me on Jango bitches!

From Another Morning (downloadable on Vimeo)

2011-06-06T14:40:00.000+05:30

http://vimeo.com/channels/fromanothermorning

http://vimeo.com/tafxkz/asyearsrollby

http://vimeo.com/tafxkz/pawnqueen

http://vimeo.com/tafxkz/goodmorningsunshine

http://vimeo.com/tafxkz/newmanbyyourside

http://vimeo.com/tafxkz/borninafarm

Cyber Café Promos (promote my music for me)

2011-05-31T15:40:00.000+05:30

Go to your local cyber café. Strike up a conversation about youtube, newmedia, indie music, free speech any faff you choose. Mention that you know a person who has a free album for download.

If possible take a kit of my songs and videos in a pen drive and offer it to the cyber café as a gift and a value add they could provide their patrons by distributing your music to anybody interested. Offer to put up a poster.

Download the following document and take a print out and stick it up. You can print them on eight A6 sized pages on an A3 color printout. Kick ass and leave a boot print.
From Another Morning café Promo

From Another Morning - Cyber Café Promo Poster with Song list

From Another Morning (my little EP)

2011-05-27T10:31:00.000+05:30

Hi All!

Click Here for Downloadable Audio (if your browser did not already detect it here on my blogsite www.tafxkz.info)

Click Here for Free font graffiti videos

I hit the studio with a friend Ananth Menon for 8 hours on the 24th of May, which coincidentally was Dylan's 70th birthday.

The 5 songs we recorded tell stories of reminiscence and hope.

As Years Roll By - is really my take on the The Rolling Stones' As Tears Go By, with a cough and eagles'esq harmonies
Pawn Queen - my friend Benny said that the Juice harp sounded like an army of Pawns going berserk on amphetamines
Good Morning Sunshine - features some extensive work on the didgeridoo, tripping on on daily light
New Man By Your Side - is a happy love song full blown with blues harmonica and whistles
Born in a Farm - is an unresolved piece of human pathos identifying with feeling left out, both during festivities and around the year

This is a friend-sourced project and i am welcoming more friends aboard please drop me a line if you would like to be involved in small things that could make a huge difference to this and other creative work i put out.

Warmly,

Ta'fxkz

(Recording) From Another Morning

2011-05-25T17:48:00.000+05:30

After years and years of songwriting, I decided it was time to document my songs in a tangible audible format that was not merely ringing in my head. I spoke to Ananth Menon a bluesman from the Bangalore band Galeeg Gurus. I half expected to be told to er, "fuck off".

We pored over my set list and gleaned a small list of songs that would be doable in a minimum budget discounted studio time of 8 hours. We were hungry to create something authentic and not contrived. Ananth wanted to record with the Jews Harp and Didgeridoo. I loved what he brought to the table.

I wanted to keep my identity as a street singer without any overproduction, but I just loved Ananth's harmonies and got him to sing as many as he was willing to let me push him to sing, he needed no pushing. As a co-producer i feel Ananth is very focused. There was not a single moment in the studio when we were either rushed or stuck for ideas. I have worked with with enough musicians and sound engineers to know that the "not a minute wasted not a minute rushed" is often a pure fantasy.

This album represents me in it's entirety because I have always wanted to follow Bob Dylan's Cut and Run approach to making music. In my mind the gravitas is the songs, and Ananth was a great help in helping put the gravy where the meat is. It was a pure coincidence that our recording was done on Bob Dylan's 70th birthday.

This recording would have also been impossible without the genius contributions of Niranjan. Niranjan has a recording studio without a name in the heart of Bangalore. Complete with sound treated walls, nice high ceiling, air conditioning and plenty of moving space. I hate having to record in claustrophobia inducing confinements. He even had bean bags to flop into while listening to a mix. He did not waste a moment and he was totally locked into what we were trying to do in his facility which almost felt like he was enjoying doing what he did, attending to our sonic fetishes.

I insisted on keeping Ananth's cough before he belted out some Eagles'esq harmonies, after all it was the line about doing time in prison behind bars of rhyme. I hear Ananth Menon coughing a hundred floors above me in the tower of song. I could not resist that because Ananth and I have a common love for Leonard Cohen's songs. Ananth did a few random takes on my version of Cohen's Hallelujah, ah but that is another story from another world.

Casual Scream

2011-04-16T23:24:00.000+05:30

Part 1

Landscape panorama

Red tape from the skies

Evoked and evolved

Upturned lamp beauty

Kicked and resolved

Take it in - Let it out

Break even to the bone

Get a hit, get ahead

Momentine infinitum

Escape pleasurama

Agape crumbs paradise

Yoked and absolved

Return stamp duty

Licked and dissolved

Take it in - Let it out

Break even to the bone

Break a leg, lay an egg

Momentine ad infinitum

I’ve never heard of a dry fountain

I’ve never heard of the usual dream

I’ve never heard of a consensual wisdom

I’ve never heard a casual scream

Take it in - Let it out

Break even to the bone

Get a hit, get ahead

Momentine infinitum

Take it in - Let it out

Break even to the bone

Break a leg, lay an egg

Momentine ad infinitum

Part 2

Halo-gram-cinations

Hallelujah refractions

Chocolate cloaked misery

Unlearn tramp snooty

Strict and revolved

Break it in Break it out

Break a leg Make an omelet

Get a fit Get a fad

Serpentine momentum

Tailor made inflations

Jewel studded distractions

Complicated delivery

Discern clamp booty

Nicked and then healed

Break it in Break it out

Break an egg Make a streamlet

Get bit Get bad

Serpentine venom momentum

I’ve never been drunk on an empty goblet (no no no)

I’ve never eaten heat ripe wheat (yeah yeah yeah)

I’ve never believed in commonsense

I’ve never been good in my own defense

Break it in Break it out

Break a leg Make an omelet

Get fit Get fad

Pedantine dum dee dum

Break it up Break it down

Break an egg Make a steamlet

Get a bit Get it bad

Pedantineian dum dee dum yum

Break it up Break it down

Break an egg Make a steamlet

Get a bit Get it bad

Pedantineian dum dee dum yum

Part 3

Poke my eyes with your sunbeam

Flush my heart down the fattened gut of life

Sparkle me with stars I cannot see

Light walks the night to wake me to my dreams

Surreal kaleidoscope

Dominos of hope

Tickle me with irony

Sorrow lies stripped wit sincerity

Shake it up Shake it down

Do the figure of eight and circulate

Get on and off you go

Perfectine Shulamite

Vigilante transcendental

Bohemian righteousness

Bidding for control

Letting go of a human soul

Pieces of my heart

On a pie chart in your shopping cart op art

Free flea market dog n pony show

Hanging over tomorrow's glow

Rake it up wake it down

Pull the trigger with an educated finger

Get going coming again soon

Perfectineian Shulamite

I’ve kissed the fructose in your essence

I’ve infused madness with prudence

I’ve confused myself if not everybody else

I’ve avulsed my soul from the pulse of the squeeze

Shake it up Shake it down

Do the figure of eight and circulate

Get on and off you go

Perfectine Shulamite

Rake it up wake it down

Pull the trigger with an educated finger

Get going coming again soon

Perfectineian Shulamite

Part 4

Armholes in your wallet

Muscles flexing fat cells in your brains

Hunting devils in the details

Endgame plan deputy

interruptus

Part 5

Friendly fires bite the bullet

Dance with two left feet first

Pay for wars at the gas pump

Shame on sham mockery

What's wrong with us

Part 6

Read between my wrinkles

Give me a hero with nothing to sell

The well is deep and these tears are mere sprinkles

Life's fragile balance

Vanity n divinity

Take me to your your sandwich

Hot dog cold bitch

Talk me down not by bread alone

Unhitch my tent from the pitch of the rich

Part 7

Anybody out there is wiser to not be here

Kiss me once again my perfect one

Let me belive there are somethings worthwhile

Take it in - Let it out

Break even to the bone

Get a hit, get ahead

Momentine ad infinitum

The song keeps growing, and I made a little representative visual overlaying gimped images of The Scream by Edvard Munch and Szał uniesień. , by Władysław Podkowiński,

Casual Scream by Arul (Ta'fxkz) Baliah is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at tafxkz@gmail.com.

Ha Happy Married Life to Vatsala & Ajith

2011-04-12T19:02:00.000+05:30

I remember the day I met Vatsala at the Deccan Herald Music Festival, she was doing the set after Vikram and me. She sang Son of a Preacher Man. A performance only beaten by her rehearsed, funny and tear choking wedding vows.

I have taken too much time to present my little token of nuptial sentiment, I was slowed down by the number of kickass photos to choose from.

(AJ & JJ- Vatsala assured me you would be ok with me using your works of genius)

This little song I wrote for her and Ajith, is available in video, audio and poster. The vimeo link helps send videos into offices that block youtube. Spread it - make me famous, and get me those groupies.

Ha Ha ppy Married Life to Vatsala and Ajith by tafxkz-1-2011

Ha Happy Married Life to Vatsala and Ajith From Ta'Fxkz

The lamb is ready for slaughter

The man can't live without her

We tried our best to impart commonsense

their stance is beyond redemption

The father brings in his daughter

To the alter with a prayer

After all he's done for her

Did you think, he'd bring her here

Happy Married life

To the blissful man and wife

Hold on to this moment

And maybe you wont repent it

This road is never easy

It's cheesy, queasy and sleazy

no preparation for what you're in for

No one's by no means an exception

light up your smile like a cigarette

write off your freedom a bad debt

Adam to sweat - Eve to beget

Beset like Romeo and Juliet

Happy Married life

To the blissful man and wife

Hold on to this moment

And maybe you wont repent it

(Sing with me!)

Happy Married life

To the blissful man and wife

Hold on to the Promise

And maybe you wont regret it

You've played hearts

You've played diamonds

I bet you'll play clubs too (soon)

But when you said till death do us part

Did you know you were betting on spades

Happy many anniversaries

Be best friends and best enemies

Hold on to the insanity

With rightly worded profanity

(One Last Time!)

Happy Married life

To the Vatsala and Ajith

Hold on to this moment

And maybe you wont repent it

Hold on to this moment

And maybe you wont repent it

in case none of the above loaded and you see a blank page, click on the following links

Downloadable Poster http://www.scribd.com/doc/52833256/Ha-Happy-Married-Life-to-Vatsala-and-Ajith-From-Ta-Fxkz

Downloadable Audio http://soundcloud.com/tafxkz-1-2011/ha-ha-ppy-married-life

Downloadable Video http://vimeo.com/tafxkz/stalar

Youtube Video (i'd prefer it if you did not download it) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHuZdDt-HnY

Ha Happy Married Life by Arul (Ta'fxkz) Baliah is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Based on a work at www.facebook.com.

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at tafxkz@gmail.com, photo credits AJ & JJ.

As Years Roll By

2011-03-30T16:49:00.000+05:30

In the light of the fading sunset
The story of my day is overset
Life is rife with bleeding colors
Between the pages
And the Binding squeeze of Uncertainty

My poetry is hardly worth it's breath
It's just as good as food is to the dead
In prison bars I'm keeping time
doing the cages
Justice till I'm finally free

Interlude

I see the future in the past
When it comes I know it will not last
Ghosts of all we used to do
Reminding me of you
Haunting breeze embraces curtains

Killer Picture

2011-03-27T01:37:00.000+05:30

Killer Karthi(N)k Inc. and I taken during the production of Johnny and Oorvasi on June 6th 2007 at Alliance Française de Bangalore

Universal Declaration of Human Rights - The Right to Intellectual Property

2011-02-18T10:10:00.000+05:30

Article 31
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions, as well as the manifestations of their sciences, technologies and cultures, including human and genetic resources, seeds, medicines, knowledge of the properties of fauna and flora, oral traditions, literatures, designs, sports and traditional games and visual and performing arts. They also have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their intellectual property over such cultural heritage, traditional knowledge, and traditional cultural expressions.
2. In conjunction with indigenous peoples, States shall take effective measures to recognize and protect the exercise of these rights.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_intellectual_property
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/en/drip.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Declaration_of_Human_Rights

Casual Scream

2011-02-14T10:52:00.000+05:30

Landscape panorama

Red tape from the skies

Evoked and evolved

Upturned lamp beauty kicked and resolved

Take it in

Let it out

Break even to the bone

Get a hit get ahead

Momentine infinitum

Escape pleasurama

Agape crumbs paradise

Yoked and absolved

Return stamp duty licked and dissolved

Take it in

Let it out

Break even to the bone

Get a hit get ahead

Momentine ad infinitum

I’ve never heard of a dry fountain

I’ve never heard of the usual dream

I’ve never heard of a consensual wisdom

I’ve never heard a casual scream

Take it in

Let it out

Break even to the bone

Get a hit get ahead

Momentine infinitum

Take it in

Let it out

Break even to the bone

Get a hit get ahead

Momentine ad infinitum

Casual Scream by Arul (Ta'fxkz) Baliah is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at tafxkz@gmail.com.

Latest Scratches

First Scratch

Art Work
Casual Scream- Ta'Fxkz
Casual Scream (Long Version) - Ta'Fxkz

SingVocation The story behind the song

2011-02-09T11:54:00.000+05:30

My songs mean the world to me, they reflect me and are made in my image per se. I have always been fascinated by the idea of music being a piece of eternity written in time. It rings close to my heart with the words of Christ "eternity/heaven is set in your heart".

It reminds me of a Narnian moment when a manger becomes the door to the New Narnia and an entire kingdom in the place of the Old Narnia that was being destroyed. It fills me with thoughts of what it means to be a creator incarnated in the shape of the created.

SingVocation is a seven part indie music epic of sorts, set to a video or free fonts, free animation, copyleft pictures and self footage. Horny Devil BV fonts really bring out the story of the song. Thank you Blue Vinyl.

I first wrote part 3 in 2008 when live music had been shut down. It was a part of a protest movement to open up parks and gardens to musicians. It was also the time when i quit my job and realized my full time vocation was songwriting.

The original version had a first stanza that was contributed by another person that i will leave unnamed and chorus that i co-wrote with that person. For the next two years i thought I'd forget this song and move on, and i did until the song came back to me. I scrubbed off all the lines i did not write and i had part 3 as we know it today.

Changing the name to SingVocation plays on the fact that i was making my vocational self-discover an invocation of sorts.I had to work to forget the tune it earlier had and it took me some time. Here is the first attempt to bring it back to life.

Here is the first tune I worked up but it never felt like it could hold the entire weight of the song.

Then i started meddling around and one break through was when i stumbled a Pink Floyd chord change that happens in the Division Bell Album

C      F                         Fsus2      C
I was spending my time in the doldrums,
         F                    Fsus2     C
I was caught in a cauldron of hate
       F              Fsus2     Am
I felt persecuted and paralysed,
               G                          F     Fsus2      Fmaj7
I thought that everything else would just wait

Dont ask me how that progression sparked it off but I discovered Am to Am b5 which rang harmonically close to the famous Vikram JS progression in the Grubby Halo song Killer, that followed by D brought in some kind of resolution that was again thrown off by F. Now F E ad lib is a grubby halo staple from Love Remains and another song i wrote It Never Happened as a sequel to Love Remains. The possibilities seemed endless in terms of extensive soloing. and i thought i had struck something.

  so i sequenced the music on FL Studio Demo version and recorded it While sequencing the music i just ad libbed a Esus 4 D intro, and reversed it for the outro. I did not even think about it much it was just a whatever-intro. Later it all made sense. In more ways than i can explain here.

The song had a part where i married 2 either-or verse options i had written previously to be a kind of line-by-line call and response. (Let my music stay alive- Let the muse stay around). Little did i realize this would become the motif of the song as it would grow. I did not think of naming it Freedom in Song, in the absence of any prelude i just warmed up my voice to the first words that came to my head, it sat on the song and stayed right there.

Out of the blue i just wrote a four stanzas, and recorded them. Again i extemporized the Learning to Fly to that Great gig in the sky, allusions to Pink Floyd and and Christ's Second Coming. I realized that though it was a continuation of the same song it was standard between the earth and the sky, i felt it had to lead to something of a greater story to tell.

Pink Floyd's Learning to Fly is the theme song of my life. Grubby Halo got it's name from it. I remembered the lines "Suspended Animation A State of Bliss" don't ask me how but i remembered Christ crucified. Then i remembered the lines "A Dream Unthreatened By The Morning Light, Could Blow This Soul Right Through The Roof Of The Night" an image that has blown me many moons and stars and light years. So all of that translated to Cross Blessing.

As i was about to record it I thought i would keep the call and response part a guitar solo, i asked Vikram on chat and he was a little busy to give it the time it needed. So i sang "Imagine now a guitar solo" almost like a joke and then realized i was on to something when i cam to the line "i would not have to sing these lines, liberated confines". By the time i was on to the the point of the "yeasty epicenter" and "marry your lips to her voice". I knew i was where i was supposed to be with the song. Then came the part that took me back to Pink Floyd's dream blown soul right through the roof of the night. Blown by song!

I thought the song was complete and that it was going to be a Trilogy and i showed it to a few friends. Chubz a songwriter friend sent in a few lines that had the words "I may not move mountains", "they call me a bard" and "though i sing my loudest, i may not reach your ears" i was on a roll again. Her contribution reminded me of Derek Sivers's advice "Be An Extreme Version of Your Self".

I had shared the song with a Christian Songwriting Organization (CSO) yahoo group, hoping for some helpful comments. They are thick around irony and metaphors. One of them kept arguing that I was egoistical  when I thought so highly of my songs.

So i added the line, "Songs are just a metaphor for the salvation within, I'm honored to co-author the life i've been given". Now the idea of songs being a "metaphor" is from my friend Bryan Richard who was once writing a story of Bangalore's independent music culture to capture the essence of music being a "metaphor for freedom".

The part about co-authorship comes to me from 2 sources. One biblically ALL scripture was supposed to have been inspired by the HOLY SPIRIT yet written by human hands and composed in human intellect, leading on that the interpretor of the same message has to be lead by the same Holy Spirit. My friend Baruk Feddabonn would talk extensively about letting go of a piece once it has been written, so it may be co-authored by the audience.

My songs ironically want people to think for themselves and so I often paint opposite meanings together leaving the listener to see the path s/he is drawn to. I refuse to tell them to even think for themselves in a Life of Brian way. I sometimes say the opposite of what people want to hear, so they can think up their minds, spoofed and not spoon-fed.

the next part was written almost as a joke, i initially wondered if it was too pornographic, but i remembered the line from Cross Blessing "you know it when she's there" which has overtones of recognizing the song's inspiration but also reminds me of the arbitrary line between erotic art and pornography. "I know it when i see it" hullabula.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_know_it_when_I_see_it

“	I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description ["hard-core pornography"]; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that. [Emphasis added.]	”
	— Justice Potter Stewart, concurring opinion in Jacobellis v. Ohio 378 U.S. 184 (1964), regarding possible obscenity in The Lovers.

This expression became "one of the most famous phrases in the entire history" of the Supreme Court.^[1]

The rest of the song was quite unstopable. diverging across the romance between the song and his singer, breaking down into the next part New Song in a New World at the call and response part where finally "the songs are multiplying". A new world is described, drawing from the New Heaven of the Bible, The New Narnia in The Final Battle and Roger Water's Each Small Candle from the album Flickering Flame, which was Water's side b to the Dark Side of the Moon!

"Each small candle lights a corner of the dark

When the wheel of pain stops turning

And the branding iron stops burning

When the children can be children

When the desperados weaken

When the tide rolls into greet them

And the natural law of science

Greets the humble and the mighty

And the billion candles burning

Lights the dark side of every human mind"

the lines "natural laws of science- meets the waif defiance" is a tribute to Waters. Leading up to the perceived end of pain, leading into My Song My Way- "i will sing again for song and not for gain". Here i bring in my take on everything. I think dissent is patriotism, and the highest devotion might be unabashed honest blasphemy tying it in with how the bashfully religious skirt around the overtly sexual passages of scripture as metaphor "not 'really' about sex".

I had this idea for a spoken word intro that went "if God so love the world that she came to us in song to set the singer free have we prostituted and raped her beyond recognition in out very acts of worshiping at the disco sanctuaries of song and dance"

When i was compiling the music, i wanted to get it all to fit in a mini disc that runs 21 minutes playing time. I realized that i could not have the extended outro on each part and i just for kicks reversed it, and there it was sitting perfectly on the words for the spoken word entry. The next few lines just flowed out and in seconds it was written.

i let this sleep for a few months and revisited it and found nothing in it i wanted to change, which is a very rare thing if you know how i want to keep tweaking a song. I worked on different keys, and tempos and finally zeroed in on the final recording. The recording was done in one take.

The video became almost impossible to upload on my slow internet, so i first put up the low res version and my good friend Nishal added the better one from his high speed connection.

Living Without Rules

2011-02-09T00:01:00.000+05:30

Living without rules is the heights of moral responsibility. When you have no rules to call yourself "good" by, you know you are all alone, standing your own ground taking responsibility for what you do, regardless of how well or how badly you do it.

The rule of breaking all rules breaks itself with freedom.

YCE

2011-02-08T22:12:00.000+05:30

The British Council is the United Kingdom's international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations.

British Council has been a champion for Indie Music in India. I was a beneficiary of their fellowship that helped me attend both UNconvention 2009 and Soundbound 2010. They have this really cool 'award' as they call it. Really, it is a bit of impetus they provide to build better cultural connections with the UK.

Thanks to the many friends who wrote me really sexy peer reviews, I feel I may not have sent my application in vain.

Background Image

2011-01-13T03:16:00.000+05:30

Paper Thin Christ

2011-01-11T03:54:00.000+05:30

Scratches in progress

Paper thin Christ
Pinned to a soft board cross
In a room full of friends
Who will deny and betray him
They are mending the torn curtain
Poisoning the fountain
Minting currency on their Paper thin doctrine

Paper thin Christ
Wont hear the poor man’s cries
Paper thin Christ
On the airwaves in the skies
Paper thin Christ
Is documented reason
To sign your name - to the deific treason

Paper thin Christ
On the chess board of your heart
Between meeting end
And the calling to follow him
False scales come off the weighing eyes
Axe to the fruit in the valley of flies
Oh, I see through your paper thin alibis, and disguise

Paper thin Christ
Wise in your own lies
Paper thin Christ
On the airwaves in the skies
Paper thin Christ
Card castle tabernacle
Shackled Jekyll hide your Paper thin crackle

Paper thin Christ cut to size
Foldable ornamental
Origami theology
Your paper boat ark
Wont hold out the water
Your paper thin salvation wont cover my sin

The book is far from paper thin
If you believe in where it’s from
By the inspiration of the holy spirit
The incarnation of the word become flesh
Shall we neglect to dissect every paper thin argument
Shall we roll it up
And suck it up

Paper thin Christ
Wont hear the poor man’s cries
Paper thin Christ
Chastise, advertise and baptize with fries
Paper thin Christ
Is documented treason
I wont sign on your Paper thin reason

Paper Thin Christ by Arul (Ta'fxkz) Baliah is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at tafxkz@gmail.com.

Goliath Was Made in the Image of God (Your God is Bigger Than Mine)

2011-01-01T17:22:00.000+05:30

Goliath Was Made in the Image of God

Jesus died upon the cross

So we could build him cathedrals

Goliath was made in the image of God

Yes it’s says in God’s holy word

That we are to laud it over others

That we are better than them and them is scum

Lean on your own quagmire understanding

Let it take you in and your sin notwithstanding

Softball Christ

Holy fire iced

Scripture, sliced and diced

Your God is bigger than mine

Let’s put God in a box

Priced n sized, so that it sells

Police your bath and Sabbath with a thought squad

Do as you're spurred - follow the herd

Protest against the abortion clinics

Call God’s vengeance upon them scum and cynics

Lean on your own quagmire understanding

Let it take you in and your sin notwithstanding

Softball Christ

Holy fire iced

Scripture, sliced and diced

Your God is bigger than mine

Goliath Was Made in the Image of God

Goliath Was Made in the Image of God (Your God is Bigger Than Mine) by Arul (Ta'fxkz) Baliah is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at tafxkz@gmail.com or tafxkz.info.

My Name Ta'fxkz

2010-12-28T06:34:00.000+05:30

I love to write under the name Ta'fxkz - it is very liberating. It is like 'ah that's me' being myself.

I love it that a person needs to wear something as ridiculous as a name to be called by that name for the rest of his or her life. I love the idea of a name that cannot be pronounced, well it actually can be pronounced the way the person doing the pronouncing it chooses to pronounce it. Which is really cool.

One person calls me The Fux, another calls me Taxi and a another called me The Fox, how cool is that!

My songs which are quite the only things i have to my name too are open to multiple interpretations.

Anybody who goes by a name with an apostrophe in it and four questionable letters with no vowels - must be on to something. - Ta'fxkz

Under the Christmas tree

2010-12-04T14:24:00.000+05:30

i am Ta'fxkz

Intellectual Property / Pirate This / Creative Commons

Gone Porn

Friend Sourcing

Arul "Ta'fxkz" Baliah, 1977 - 2011

Face the Orwellian Boot

Zappa TYT Tipper and Al Gore

Young Turks' Cenk Uygur headed to Current TV

RELATED CONTENT

From Another Morning

Interview with Harsharan

Self Inroduction

It's So Easy (and Other Lies) by Duff McKagan

Creators Over Consumers

Designing Media: Roger McNamee

TEDxSantaCruz: Roger McNamee - Disruption and Engagement

Roger McNamee Music Business

Authentic I Am, Am I?

Interview

If you were starting or promoting a band today, (pretend you’re back at Berklee) what would you do to spread the word? What tools would you use?

What are your feelings towards the major record labels today? Have they completely missed the big picture as far as how to market artists and distribute their songs?

Why is the indie scene alive and kicking while the major labels are suffering?

Since lots of indie musicians make their livings primarily on touring, what do you think the proposed Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger will do to indie artists trying to play big venues? Will there be enough smaller venues left to support the smaller artists?

Did you sell CDBaby because of the decline of recorded music? Is the recorded music business among indie labels still thriving?

comments

Ta'fxkz - is hiring (Yessssssssss)

Wanted New Media & Alternative Arts Enthusiasts (Anywhere)

Publishing

I Am Bradley Manning (without the access to the secrets)

I want to Jango

From Another Morning (downloadable on Vimeo)

Cyber Café Promos (promote my music for me)

From Another Morning (my little EP)

(Recording) From Another Morning

Casual Scream

Ha Happy Married Life to Vatsala & Ajith

As Years Roll By

Killer Picture

Universal Declaration of Human Rights - The Right to Intellectual Property

Casual Scream

SingVocation The story behind the song

Living Without Rules

YCE

Background Image

Paper Thin Christ

Goliath Was Made in the Image of God (Your God is Bigger Than Mine)

My Name Ta'fxkz

Under the Christmas tree