greeklish.org

The struggle continues: Sad news regarding Davood Bagheri

Mike — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 00:50:00 -0400

The following is adapted from a series of releases and posts by Freedom and Equality Seeking Students (FESS)

We have just been informed that Mr. Davood Bagheri, a member of the "Freedom and Equality Seeking Students" has attempted to commit suicide while in prison. The unbearable conditions of his detention and the inhumane treatment he has suffered at the hands of the Turkish detention guards pushed Davood into deep despair prior to his suicide attempt.

Davood fled Iran months ago in the wake of severe repression following the Students Day crackdown in December 2007, but shortly after his arrival in Turkey, he was arrested for "illegal entrance" and he has languished in custody for the past four months. He is presently held in the Aderneh Prison hospital and it is believed he is in critical condition.

We call on all human rights organizations and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees to urgently intervene to save the life of Davood Bagheri.

Freedom and Equality Seeking Students (FESS)
(supported by Friends of FESS)

July 11, 2008

Still happy...

Mike — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:32:00 -0400

So, it's been a few days and the work week is officially over. As I decompress a bit tonight, I have to honestly say that my enthusiasm regarding CM Punk's bi g win has definitely made this a good week for me. I know it is weird and pretty eclectic for me to get so much pleasure out of something as cheesy and over-the-top as pro wrestling, but I just can't shake it. I have watched Punk's win at least twice a day over the last 3 days or so and every time I thought about it this week, it has brought a smile to my face. I forget about politics, bills and all my other worries for a few moments and I'm just happy. Really. The whole angle was just wonderfully executed. If you don't know the story leading up to it and you don't know what "Money in the Bank" is, then it's probably all lost on you, but take my word for it that this was all way cool.

I started watching WWE again about a year and a half ago after a really long hiatus from all the current wrestling shows. Before that, I had basically just spent years watching the same old Memphis and ICW tapes and DVDs over and over again. Once I picked up WWE again and started watching Raw on a weekly basis, I really looked long and hard for one of those great "Raw" moments that are celebrated in the DVD retrospectives and YouTube compilations. But the writing for WWE is pretty sloppy and inconsistent at times and it's hard to get too excited about story-lines and feuds, especially when there seems to be a real tendency on the part of WWE to endlessly tease and screw with fans. The "big" moments are really few and far between these days. I think the last time I really jumped out of my seat was when Edge cashed in MITB and beat Undertaker for the Heavyweight title last year. Before that, it was when Shawn Michaels beat Cena after that hour-long bout in London after WrestleMainia 24. That was way cool. Jericho's comeback was a big deal and it was fun to see Shawn Michaels superkick Randy Orton a bunch of times. But that's really my short list of big WWE moments for the last 18 months or so. And Punk's win really trumps all of those for me.

A lot of Internet "smarks" have moaned and groaned about Punk winning in such a heel-like fashion, but I think that is a pretty lame complaint at the end of the day. I don't think it takes anything away from his charisma or appeal to have him turn the tables on Edge, who won the title from the Undertaker in the exact same way. That's the whole point of the angle -- to bring it full circle, really. Besides, it's best not to over-think this stuff at the end of the day and just enjoy the moment. It's called "sports entertainment" for a reason.

Punk wins! Punk wins!

YESSSSSSSS! CM Punk: The champ is...BACK!

Mike — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 22:30:00 -0400

CM Punk is the new World Heavyweight Champion!

I saw it live on Raw and it was the coolest thing I have ever seen on television...ever! EVER! I screamed so loud that I scared the kids and the dogs!

I am a big Edge fan, but it was amazing to see Punk cash in MITB and totally steal the title. My throat hurts from yelling so much. Seriously, it went on for like ten minutes. I almost hyperventilated. Sweet.

Related Reading
CM Punk: The champ is HERE! CM Punk wins the ECW Championship, Sep. 5, 2007
WWE Comes to Dayton My trip to see Smackdown/ECW at the Nutter Center, Oct. 5, 2007

Site additions: Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya

Mike — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 23:18:00 -0400

“Zoya—partisan”
by M. Manizer

Our Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya archive continues to expand with the help of friends from around the world!

A new page entitled “Articles and Texts” features links to a number of Internet articles dedicated to Zoya’s story. Included in this section are two new texts transcribed exclusively for greeklish.org. One text is an excerpt entitled "The Heroic Struggle Waged by the Soviet Partisans," taken from the multi-volume set A History of the USSR which was published by Foreign Languages Publishing House in 1947. We have also added the full transcription of the article "Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya" from the 1947 volume Soviet Calendar: Thirty Years of the Soviet State, 1917-1947, also published by Foreign Languages Publishing House.

Additionally, we have posted a new image gallery entitled, "Statues, Busts and Monuments," which features pictures of some of the many sculptural representations of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya.

We are particularly grateful to Benedicte P. S. for granting us permission to use her fantastic photo of the statue of Zoya from the Partizanskaya Metro Station in Moscow. This photo is from Benedicte’s "sleep in the fog" gallery.

Our friend Nina Lebed provided translations of some of the captions for the images in our galleries. Большое спасибо, Nina!

Socialism in Greece before the October Revolution

Mike — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 22:55:00 -0400

About a month ago, I visited a local antiquarian bookseller and, among other things, I picked up a book called The Socialism of To-day. The book was published by Henry Holt and Company in 1916 by members of a committee of the Intercollegiate Socialist Society and purports to be “the first international and comprehensive source-book dealing with the Socialist movement in any language.”

An appealing feature of this volume is the fact that it was published just a year before the Russian Revolution and my natural inclination was to flip immediately to the section entitled “Russia and Finland” (Part I, Section II, Chapter VI) and review the authors’ assessment of Lenin and company on the eve of the birth of the USSR. It is actually Kerensky and not Lenin who dominates the 7½ pages devoted to Russia, the latter of whom is referred to only in passing on page 98 through the collective reference of six deputies of the Duma known as the “Lenin followers.”

The movement in America garners extensive coverage in this book. Entire sections are devoted to the efforts of American socialist organizations in addressing vital topics of the day such as the then-burgeoning tensions involving immigrant workers and racial and ethnic minorities. The narratives therein clearly show the care and attention that America’s radical left was willing to devote to these matters many decades before the American government offered anything other than relative indifference and complete disregard. Eugene Debs and Daniel De Leon are mentioned in these sections, highlighting their integral roles in the organization of American workers and activists.

Rosa Luxemburg

Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht and Otto Bauer feature prominently in an extensive section of the book entitled “The Proposed General Strike for the Equal Suffrage in Prussia” (Part II, Chapter II). Included here are addresses and resulutions by Luxemburg, et al. and and editorial summary from Vorwaerts (Vorwärts).

I was pleasantly surprised to find material dedicated to the movement in Greece as part of the chapter entitled “Roumania, Bulgaria and Greece” (Part I, Section I, Chapter IX). The piece chronicles the struggles of the early socialist movement in Greece, highlighting the work of Dr. Dracoules. Eleftherios Venizelos merits only a passing mention in the piece, although the two decades following the publication of this volume would see the political career of Venizelos in a succession of high highs and low lows...often to the collective detriment of the the Greek people.

Reproduced below are pages 188 through 190 of The Socialism of To-day in their entirety. This text has been reproduced in accordance with Fair Use provisions.

GREECE

Greece has experienced a rapid industrial development during the last 15 years. As far back as the year 1885, Dr. Dracoules began with his propaganda work. In 1893, as leader of the Greek Socialist Party, he secured 4,000 votes in Athens, and in 1901 he was elected to the Greek Parliament, where he served several years.

Προλετάριοι όλων των
χωρών ενωθείτε!

Attempts have often been made during the past few years to establish a consolidated economic or political organization, but up to the present without any satisfactory results. This regrettable state of affairs may be attributed to the fact that emigration is increasing day by day, and it is just the most skilled and intelligent workers who are driven from their homes on account of their unfortunate political and economic conditions. At any rate, the constant agitation of a more progressive body has already had a great influence upon public opinion, and it is to-day generally recognized that the present conditions are untenable.

It was in 1909 that the military arose and swept away the existing government. The movement was supported by a great mass of the people, because an improvement in their conditions was hoped for as soon as new members were elected to the government. The new government relied to a certain extent upon the Socialist or semi-Socialist elements which had arisen from the Dracoules propaganda, and had developed a program "of struggle against the plutocracy." Venizelos, the skillful prime minister, succeeded in turning a part of the movement to his purposes, at the same time that he was building up the Balkan League against Turkey inspired by the idea–launched by the Socialists–of a confederation of all the nations of the peninsula.

The government also succeeded in serving their own financial interests under the cloak of a propaganda campaign against modern capitalism. The people were forced to put up with this because they were helpless and disunited. The new political power offered brutal opposition to any attempt on the part of the workers to organize. Dr. Dracoules, in 1912, secured 12,000 of the 48,000 votes of Athens, and was almost elected in another district where he was also candidate. Nevertheless, the propaganda and the rising number of votes for the new movement resulted in a small progressive group in Parliament pushing forward with the labor laws.

In the meantime a Socialist weekly paper was established for the purpose of furthering the propaganda and organization work systematically. This was the first necessity–having regard to the great disruption in the existing groups. There is a very mixed "Labor Federation of Athens and Piraeus," to which 17 industries belong, whilst 1 yellow organization has compromised 14 groups since 1910. Some 15 organizations, which are naturally still weak, both numerically and financially, belong to a third tendency. They represent no unity, it is true, but there are hopes of building up modern organizations with these as a basis. The followers of Dracoules created a labor league in 1909, which comprised two separate organizations–one Socialist Party and one trades-union center. This league has organizations in several towns. It propagates an understanding between the workers of the other Balkan States, hoping to put an end to the race hatred which exists.

Recommended Reading
Women's Suffrage and Class Struggle (speech at the Second Social Democratic Women's Rally, Stuttgart, Germany)
by Rosa Luxemburg (1912)
What the Veterans and Army Victims Demand by Pantelis Pouliopoulos (1924)
Communists and the Macedonian Question by Pantelis Pouliopoulos (1940)
Speech at the Second Congress of the National Liberation Front by Nikos Zachariadis (1949)

Still obsessed with wrestling: Random notes

Mike — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 20:55:00 -0400

August 27, 1994:
Shane Douglas throws down the
NWA title and makes history

Is there any better wrestling blog/column these days than Paul Heyman's "The Heyman Hustle"? I really don't think so. And is it really that big of a surprise that Heyman is so insightful? Nah. I mean, the guy changed the face of the pro wrestling industry almost a decade and a half ago and quite a bit of what wrestling fans see these days – good and bad – bears the unmistakable imprint of Heyman's creative genius. He doesn't have the golden touch every time, he's not always right, and sometimes he's downright unbearable...but when he is on the mark, nobody can touch him. His recent column on Ric Flair and the NWA Hall of Fame was both poignant and hilarious at the same time. And how great is it that Heyman can still get a rise out of the NWA's top brass almost a decade and a half after he almost single-handedly buried the entire promotion by having Shane "The Franchise" Douglas throw down the NWA title (watch the video here). Hell, the NWA was so pissed at Heyman after his last column that they even issued a press in an effort to refute his piece, but in the end they just ended up looking as ridiculous as they did when he screwed them in 1994. The man knows how to play ball. Too bad Paul E. probably doesn't read greeklish.org, because I totally think he is the man.

I am currently reading Hardcore History - The Extremely Unauthorized Story of ECW by Scott E. Williams and I have to say it is pretty good. In some places, it kind of reads like a synopsis of the The Rise and Fall of ECW and Forever Hardcore DVDs, but I like revisiting a lot of these old stories anyway and there are some good, relatively obscure nuggets in the book that make it a worthwhile read if you're interested in wrestling.

And speaking of ECW, over at 411mania.com, there's a new series underway called "The History of the (WWE) ECW Title." I just read part one today and found that it's not so much "history" as it is one person's opinion wrapped in contempt and elitism. Here's the first couple sentences:

At One Night Stand in 2006 Rob Van Dam cashed in his Money in the Bank title opportunity against WWE Champion John Cena. Thanks to the assistance of a Paul Heyman, Edge, and a table, RVD defeated Cena for the title much to the delight of classless, intolerant ECW fans worldwide.

Ummm...what? Wow, you jerk. Way to alienate a whole bunch of your readers right of the bat. Seriously, even though most people are less than excited about WWE version of ECW these days, I think most ECW and WWE fans still acknowledge that RVD beating Cena at ONS 2006 was entertaining, shocking and incredibly exciting. That is, unless you're a Cena fan...I guess. Kudos to the guy who posted a comment to the article in which he quoted the "classless and intolerant" quip and then called the article's author "pathetic."

Phillyburbs.com, another good online wrestling news source, gets it. They just posted a "Top 5" ONS moments column in which the RVD/Cena match comes in as the best ONS moment of all time. But the column's author Eric Gargiulo doesn't stop there, saying "This is one of the greatest main-events in all of WWE pay-per-view history." No kidding. It is still a really great match to watch even today, but some of the drama is probably lost on folks who aren't familiar with all of the plot and drama leading up to the event and the controversial finish.

By sheer coincidence (I hadn't seen either of the above-mentioned columns until yesterday), this weekend I added a clip of RVD winning the title at ONS to my "What I'm Watching on YouTube" on the left of the main page of our site. And not only that – just yesterday, I got one of my most recent eBay purchases in the mail: an authentic "take home" folding chair from the actual ONS show on June 11, 2006. Nothing says "I am obsessed with wrestling" like a limited edition folding chair!

Oh yeah...I saw Jericho's heel turn on Raw last night. I thought it was pretty impressive.

Here's my new chair.

Two announcements from Friends of the Equality and Freedom Seeking University Students of Iran

Mike — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 00:41:00 -0400

Yet another release!
To members of Friends of the Equality and Freedom Seeking University Students of Iran

Mike B.
June 5 at 9:58am

According to some friends who are close to the situation in Iran, Ali Kantouri was released on May 25, 2008, on $150,000 bail. He is second accused in the case of the Equality and Freedom Seeking Students, and he is currently awaiting trial.

Aluta continua!
M.

The Call for Supporting the Campaign to free Davood Bagheri, Iranian activist Imprisoned in Turkey

To members of Friends of the Equality and Freedom Seeking University Students of Iran

Clara Statello
Today at 3:55am

Active member of the Freedom and Equality Seeking Students Movement, Davood Bagheri was forced to flee Iran on winter 200…, after the recent wave of crackdowns on the group by the Islamic government's Intelligence Service agents. Mr. Bagheri arrived in Turkey with the intention to seek asylum where he was captured by the police before he was able to inform UNHCR about his condition in that country. He has been kept in Aderna’s refugee camp under horrific conditions since.

It is in our best knowledge and belief that the Turkey government and the police have acted against Amnesty International’s Refugee Commissary’s Laws and Regulations. Freedom and Equality Seeking Students urge all Human Rights activists and all who believe in social justice and the rights of people who under the threat of their country of origin seek refuge in safer parts of the world, to join this campaign and help us free him from the refugee camp detention center. Davood Bagheri has been treated harshly and brutally in this camp since he was taken into custody. He has attempted suicide in the camp where detainees take their own life as the shortest way to free themselves from the horrors and their hopeless situation in that center.

Freedom and Equality Seeking Students

Sign the petition below and pass it on, please. It's urgent!

http://www.petitiononline.com/db20085/petition.html

Thanks to our great friends Hooman and Clara for spreading the word.
Long live FREEDOM and EQUALITY!

Further Reading
Friends of the Equality and Freedom Seeking University Students of Iran"    Facebook group
- - - - -
Articles on Iran     greeklish.org
Leftist Students Subjected to Severe Torture     roozonline.com
Libertà e Giustizia per gli Studenti Iraniani    Clara Statello's Italian-language site

Brian Pillman, then and...then

Mike — Wed, 28 May 2008 23:42:00 -0400

Monday evening, I was flipping through one of the old wrestling magazines I picked up at last month's Gem City Comic Con and I was surprised to come upon this great, old picture of one-time Cincinnati Bengal turned pro wrestler Brian Pillman:

The picture is from the September 1988 issue of Inside Wrestling magazine. It's from Pillman's Stampede Wrestling days when he was half of the tag team known as "Bad Company". There is a short blurb accompanying the photo which reads:

Brian Pillman, one-half of Stampede International tag team champs Bad Company with Bruce Hart, was sidelined for three weeks when he injured his right bicep in a match against The Cuban Assassin and Jerry Morrow.

Now, although I have been a wrestling fan since I was a kid, I wasn't actively watching wrestling on TV during the Monday Night Wars and the "Attitude" Era. What's more, I completely missed out on the original ECW promotion. So I never really followed Brian Pillman's career when he was alive, but I have become relatively familiar with his exploits through YouTube and my growing collection of wrestling DVDs. Although Pillman's career was still going pretty strong immediately before his untimely death, it's apparent by looking at the old Stampede photo that his better days were long behind him by 1997. A bad car accident and years of addiction ultimately took a terrible toll on what could have been a fantastic in-ring career.

Mixtape Mixdown: 25 Favorites (5 through 1)

Mike — Fri, 23 May 2008 20:30:00 -0400

This is the final chapter of my "25 Favorites" series of articles. I don't get a tremendous amount of feedback on our site most of the time, but one thing I know for sure is my dad has read each and every chapter up to this point. So, this one's for my dad...

5: "Let Me Know" by Kiss (from the 1974 album Kiss) lyrics

It might have been in the spring of 1984 that I got my first Kiss albums on vinyl, courtesy of one of my older brother's friends. For several months, I had been playing and re-playing the same handful of songs that some classmates had taped for me off selected sides of the Alive! and Alive II double-albums. Those tapes were pretty much all I listened to for quite a while back then. When my brother's friend heard that I had become a Kiss fan, he offered his old LP's to me, telling me that he had planned on throwing them out anyway. I still remember the day he brought them over. If I recall correctly, he wrapped them up in brown paper and included a handwritten note to me about "carrying on the tradition" or something like that. When I unwrapped the package, I found Double Platinum, Destroyer and the eponymous first album Kiss. It was a good haul, for sure. I had heard a few of the songs from the scraps of the Alive albums I had on tape, but I was really looking forward to hearing the rest of the material right off the LPs. Up to that point, I had spent a lot of time in record stores at the mall, staring at Kiss album covers and wondering what the songs on those albums sounded like, but now thanks to my brother's friend, I would get to experience the albums for myself. Incidentally, I recently learned that my brother's former pal is now some kind of evangelical minister. Wow.

Kiss is just a fantastic album and in a lot of ways, I think I liked it so much when I was younger because it was just so different from what I had heard from the band up to that point. The album has an unusually heavy and dark glam sound with some pretty prominent elements of late 1960's and early 1970's pop. In my opinion, there isn't a single bad song on the whole album. Even "Love Theme from Kiss" rocks. But as much as I liked the album as a whole years ago, a couple of the songs would become all-time favorites as time went on. "Let Me Know" was one of those songs. I'm not really sure what Paul was shooting for when he wrote this particular tune. I know that both Gene and Paul have referred to themselves as "frustrated Beatles fans" on a number of occasions and I think this kind of shines through in the "catchy" feel of "Let Me Know." One of the great things about the track is that Paul and Gene share lead vocals on this one, so it isn't easily pegged as a "Gene Song" or a "Paul song." The song has some great, classic "Ace" solos and ends with what I think of as one of the best codas in rock.

I used to listen to this song over and over again when I was 10 or 11 years old and I would imagine that I was in a Kiss cover band (I actually thought that I had created the concept of a Kiss cover band back then). One of the songs I imagined my "band" playing was "Let Me Know" and I had the whole video for the song figured out in my mind. To this day, I still picture those scenes I dreamed up every time I hear the song.

4: "The Ocean" by Led Zeppelin (from the 1973 album Houses of the Holy)   lyrics

I am guessing that I got Houses of the Holy on vinyl around the summer of 1989 or so. I was working at a fast food restaurant and there was a record store down the street that I would visit on breaks and after work. I think Houses of the Holy was probably one of the last Zeppelin albums that I bought and I put it off for as long as I could because I figured my parents would be upset about the album cover. I really don't think it ever became an issue, though.

I had mixed feelings about some of the songs on Houses of the Holy. I was already well-acquainted with many of the songs on the album, mostly because I had listened to the soundtrack for The Song Remains the Same and watched the film version of the performance so many times. To me, the studio tracks from Houses of the Holy just didn't rock as hard as the respective live versions from The Song Remains the Same. Of course, D'yer Ma'ker had received a lot of local airplay as part of the "Get the Led Out" blocks that were featured on Dayton's WTUE back in the late '80s/early '90s and that song was a favorite of mine for quite a while. But "The Ocean" was kind of like a "new" song to me when I finally picked up Houses of the Holy. John Bonham's weird "rap" at the beginning of the track caught my interest early on and I think that intro kind of fueled my appreciation for the song, because I always turned the stereo volume up really loud to hear the rap and then when the main riff kicked in, it was all just too good to turn down. The hard, driving riff of "The Ocean" is, in my opinion, one of the best and most underrated guitar riffs of all time. It's really something of a surprise that I haven't heard a lot of accomplished rock and metal guitarists cite this song as one of the "greats." The rhythm section meshes unbelievably well with the riff throughout the song and Robert Plant's vocals are simply amazing, including his vocalizing throughout the song's huge and multifaceted second guitar solo. The second guitar solo is, by the way, one of my absolute favorite solos of all time. It is without a doubt some of Jimmy Page's best work. (For a long time, I had always thought of this piece as incredibly complicated until I recently came upon a nifty YouTube tutorial that shows how to play the main solo. It really impressed me to see someone play this solo so effortlessly.) I remember reading something about the production of "The Ocean" – possibly in Hammer of the Gods – which portrayed the production of the song as needlessly excessive and over-the-top. To me, there's nothing terribly flashy or pretentious about the song. In my opinion, "The Ocean" is just a perfect song in every respect.

3: "The Unwelcome Guest" by Billy Bragg and Wilco (from the 1998 album Mermaid Avenue)   lyrics

As I mentioned earlier, I absolutely love the Mermaid Avenue albums. I have felt a strong connection to the albums since I first heard them back in 2001 or so. I heard the first volume shortly after a trip to San Francisco and I remember how "California Stars" really struck a chord with me because Thomai and I had enjoyed such a wonderful time there. I played the album quite a bit and I was really impressed with the entire album as a complete work for a while. But as my political awareness and world view began to change, I felt particularly drawn to Woody Guthrie's sentiments in "The Unwelcome Guest."

The song took on a new meaning for me in 2004. My friend Bert passed away in August of that year and his wife put together a very nice and simple memorial gathering. The gathering occurred at a funeral home instead of a church and the "ceremony" was largely secular in nature, with little to no discussion of religion and the like. Instead, people just took turns telling funny and happy stories about Bert. In between segments, Bert's wife would play some of his favorite songs.   I remember leaving the service and thinking a lot about things – as one might tend to do after a funeral service – and I started thinking about what song I would want to be played at my funeral. (Oddly enough, this is exactly the kind of topic that Bert and my other friends and I would discuss over lunch back in the good old days.) It wasn't long before I came up with "The Unwelcome Guest" as my "funeral song." It is an emotionally powerful song and I hope that when I'm gone, the people I know and love might hear this song and think fondly of me. I think of Joe Strummer's rendition of "Silver and Gold" in a very similar way.

2: "Dazed and Confused" by Led Zeppelin (from the 1969 album Led Zeppelin)   lyrics

Led Zeppelin, kind of like Houses of the Holy, was one of the last Zeppelin albums that I added to my collection. I think I got Led Zeppelin as a used LP by 1989 or so.   I really wanted a complete collection of Zeppelin albums on vinyl, as I preferred LPs to cassettes back then. I can't really remember why it took me so long to buy the LP other than the fact that maybe I wasn't that familiar with a lot of the songs on the album because the local classic rock station didn't play many cuts from that particular album very much up to that point. Now, I had already heard the live version of "Dazed and Confused" on the soundtrack for The Song Remains the Same and I was pretty well enamored with Jimmy Page's use of the violin bow in the solo. The half-hour live version of the song was monolithic and fabulous in its own right, but I found the original studio version to be stunningly hard-hitting. It quickly became one of my all-time favorites. In fact, I used to "count down" my favorite songs of the week every Friday night during my early high school years. I would write the titles of 10 or 20 of my favorites in descending order and play them all back to back. It sounds weird, but it passed the time when I was a lonely 15 year-old.

Robert Plant's soulful vocals are angry and bluesy at the same time as they lapse into Page's winding and dreamy solo. The violin bow is also present, but with a slightly different sound (probably because the original version was performed with a Telecaster – I think – and what sounds like some heavy fuzz whereas the performance on The Song Remains the Same features a Les Paul and what sounds like comparatively minimal distortion). In any case, the solo captures a very distinct and innovative "early Page" guitar sound that includes hints of the "vintage" sound of edgy, pre-metal rock. There are some wild twists and turns to the solo, including a positively blinding stretch of licks before the band snaps into the riff to bring the song full circle. It's really a phenomenal accomplishment in sound.

1: "Black Diamond" (Live) by Kiss (from the 1975 album Alive!)    lyrics

Well, this is it. Back when I made my original "20 Favorites" compilation in 2002, "Black Diamond" was my number one favorite.   The truth is that this has been my absolute favorite song for many, many years. I have previously mentioned that my first Kiss tapes were collections of songs from selected sides of Alive! and Alive II. A friend of mine had an older brother who had these albums as LPs, and after some prodding and begging from me, I eventually ended up with side three of Alive II (minus "I Want You," for some reason) A short time later, I was able to cajole some selections from Alive! off the same guy. The Alive! tape included all of side one of the LP and just half of side three. Side three cut out about halfway through "100,000 Years," right in the middle of Paul working the crowd after Peter's long drum solo. For years and years, I wanted to hear the rest of the Alive! album but I could never really find anyone else who had a copy to share. I really liked the studio versions of "Black Diamond" from the Kiss and Double Platinum LPs, but I was curious about how this great song would sound live, especially as part of the monumental Alive! album. It would be years before I got to hear it, but it was well worth the wait.

My folks weren't so hot on Kiss, so when I was a kid, I did not have the opportunity to buy albums directly from record stores. By the time I reached high school, I was pretty crazy about Kiss and I was able to hook up with folks who would loan me their albums so I could tape record them.   One time, a guy loaned me The Originals (a triple LP re-release of the first three Kiss albums), Love Gun and Alive II and I taped most of them over the course of a day or so. It was like scoring an instant record collection. Also around this time, I came upon folks who were actually willing to sell me their Kiss LPs and that was absolutely a big deal. This was before I ever landed a part-time job, but I did have a small amount of cash that I had been squirreling away for years and years and the Kiss albums seemed like the best way to spend it. But it was kind of like buying stuff on the black market because prices were high and sellers weren't interested in negotiating.   I ended up with some good stuff. One girl even gave me her copy of Dynasty, complete with the original poster intact and that was pretty darn cool. Then again there were jerks like the guy who wanted $25 or $30 for a beaten up copy of Kiss (which I already had anyway) and a 45 of "Lick it Up." He thought for sure that I would pay and he was pretty pissed when I turned him down. I think that in the course of a few months, I had paid around $40 for my entire collection of Kiss LPs, which was almost the entire wad of cash that I had been hoarding since I was in grade school. The money went fast, but I still think it was well spent. I still have all those old LPs.

I remember finally landing a complete copy of Alive! on LP for some ungodly amount of money from a junior in my Health class (the class was for sophomores only – Go figure.) I remember the day I brought my copy of Alive! home and played it for the first time. It was pretty exciting for me to finally have the complete album for myself. And really...Alive! is still my favorite album of all time to this very day. That night, I remember listening to the album alone in my room and getting to the point in "100,000 Years" where my tape had cut off for so many years and when the song kept going, it was like reaching some kind of invisible boundary and finally breaking through. "Black Diamond" followed "100,000 Years" and it was every bit as great as I had expected.

There are so many things that really do "it" for me with this song. Paul's soft introduction is kind of like an intriguing prologue for a sad tale. The tale itself is told by Peter Criss once the song really gets going and it is this particular performance that always drives it home to me that Peter is more than just a drummer. He is, in fact, a very talented songwriter and a phenomenal vocalist and his passionate singing really shines through on this track. Gene's backing vocals work well, too.

Years ago, a friend wanted me to make a compilation of songs featuring some of my favorite guitar solos and I included the live version of "Black Diamond" because of the multifaceted solos that showcase Ace Frehley's signature licks. Paul's rhythm work is pretty good as well, including some bridge-like licks.

One thing I had wondered after years of listening to the studio versions of the song is how Kiss would end the live version of "Black Diamond", because the original version features a gradual slowing of the track (with a single power-chord coda) and the Double Platinum remix just loops back into Paul's intro with a fade-out of the track. In the live version, the power-chord ending is included, but it is punctuated nicely with the stage pyrotechnic explosions, ultimately creating a bombastic ending to an epic performance. The live version of "Black Diamond" off the Kiss album Alive! is truly – once and for all – my favorite song of all time.

I have burned my entire collection of favorite songs to CD as a 2 disc set called XXV Favorites. The front cover artwork for the jewel case is a detail of Frida Kahlo's 1933 painting "My Dress Hangs There." The disc labels feature larger detail images from the same painting and the back cover work is an old sepia-tone photograph of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. Ask me nicely and I might share a set with you.

That time of year

Mike — Sun, 18 May 2008 22:16:00 -0400

I used to have a motorcycle. Back in the summer of '99, I used a little bit of spare cash to buy a 1972 Honda 350. I had no experience riding and I had never learned to drive a stick shift, so I had a bit of a learning curve ahead of me. After I got my temporary permit, I enrolled in a "beginner's" class in motorcycle operation and safety at a nearby Honda plant. Turns out I was the only "beginner" in the class though, as pretty much everyone else in attendance had been riding ever since their childhoods. They were just taking the class looking for some "tips" or whatever. I completed the classroom course, but I quit the driving portion of the course halfway through the day after getting really frustrated with my classmates and instructors. The last straw for the day was when an instructor reached over and killed my bike's ignition after I had completed a lap around the course. I guess in his opinion, I had taken too long to turn the bike off (it was a Honda 150 and I wasn't really familiar with the controls), but as I was trying to remember the process to cut the engine, the guy just did it for me and the bike lurched, almost knocking me over with the bike. That was just enough for me.

I spent some time that summer learning the feel of the bike for myself. When K. was born that September, I took several weeks of paternity leave and I had some fun riding around our neighborhood during K.'s nap times. Truth be told, I never went more than a few miles from home on the bike, but it was a really fun time. I stored the bike that winter and I knew it would need some work come spring. Sure enough, when the weather broke, the bike would not start and it was in need of some significant repair. I took it to a local mechanic who was happy to take a $150 deposit for his promise to fix the bike. Instead, he tore it apart and then let it sit for a few weeks before deciding that he either couldn't or wouldn't fix it. When I asked him if I could have my deposit back, he said that he would give me the $150 back, but that the bike would come back to me in pieces. So I had to give up my deposit if I wanted the bike to be reassembled. When I finally got it back, it was even in worse shape. The electrical system was shot and other things didn't fit or work properly at all. That was it. We didn't have the time or money to do much more. I ended up selling the bike (at a net loss) to a guy who stripped old bikes to make new, "cannibalized" bikes. It was unfortunate. Some years later, I was watching the local news one night and I saw that the same mechanic who had destroyed my bike had been indicted for racketeering. That was a good day.

Every year around this time, I pine for that bike and think about the few good months I had with it. Maybe someday I'll get another chance to run the road.

My 1972 Honda 350, Summer 1999

May 9: Victory Day

Mike — Thu, 08 May 2008 21:09:00 -0400

May 9 marks the anniversary of the victory of the Red Army of the USSR over the forces of German Fascism. Over 20 million Soviet soldiers and citizens died in the fight to liberate the world from Nazi oppression.

The Marxists Internet Archive now features a Great Patriotic War History Archive featuring important documents related to the struggle against fascism, from the origins of the war and Operation Barbarossa to the Fall of Berlin and beyond. The archive is currently under construction.

The following document is from the new Great Patriotic War Archive which was officially launched May 9, 2008 in observance of this important anniversary.

Germany Surrenders!
Reported by Lieutenant-Colonel L. Vysokoöstrovsky
and Lieutenant-Colonel P. Troyanovsky
(in Krasnaya Zvezda, 9th May 1945)

Source: Episodes of the Great Patriotic War (Booklet), 74-76. Originally published in the USSR, 1947.
Transcription/HTML: Mike B. for MIA, 2008
Public Domain: Marxists Internet Archive (2008). You may freely copy, distribute, display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet Archive” as your source.

Before the 8th May 1945 the Berlin suburb of Karlshorst was not in any way famous. It gained historical fame on that day when representatives of the allied powers gathered in a building to dictate the terms of the unconditional surrender to Germany.

Let us follow the events of the day. We will begin at the big Berlin aerodrome of Tempelhof. The centre of the aerodrome has been cleared of wreckage and put in order. Around the edges of the field there are still large numbers of burnt and battered German aircraft that have been piled up there.

The flags of the U.S.S.R., the U.S.A. and Great Britain are flying over the aerodrome. A military band is playing and its music drowns the noise of the fighter aircraft ready to take off from the aerodrome.

A number of cars drive up to the aerodrome bringing generals and other officers of the Soviet Army representing the units that captured Berlin. They are the High Command of the Soviet Army who have come to meet the High Command of the allied armies.

A few minutes later a huge aircraft with white stars on its wings appears over the aerodrome. This is the American Military Mission that has flown from Moscow to take part in the historic proceedings.

At 12:43 p. m. the engines of the Soviet fighters roar more loudly. At 12:45 p. m. they take off in twos and fly away to the south-west. In nineteen and a half minutes they will reach

the allied aerodrome on the Elbe to meet the allied aircraft bringing the other generals to Berlin.

An hour and five minutes pass, and the sky is again filled with the roar of engines. Three transport planes, one British and two American, have arrived. The British plane lands first and British Air Marshall Tedder, American General Spaats, Admiral Barrow and others alight.

While Soviet Army General Sokolovsky. Colonel-General Berzarin, Commandant of Berlin, and Lieutenant-General Bokov are greeting the newcomers, somebody notices that a German aircraft has arrived on the other side of the aerodrome. Keitel, Friedenburg and Stumpf.

Representatives of defeated Germany, tread warily on the field where they once strutted at the head of military parades.

Then the French delegation arrived. All the allied officers took their places in the waiting cars and were taken to Karlshorst.

The Soviet, British and American delegations arrived at the building where the Act of Surrender was to be signed. A little later the French delegation, headed by General Delatre de Tassigny took their places in the conference hall.

The building where this historic act was to take place was quite a simple one. In the hall there were three rows of tables covered with soft cloth and a long table for the heads of the allied delegations. At the end of the hall stood a small palm. On the wall were the flags of the four allied powers. the Soviet Union, Great Britain, the United States of America and France.

The heads of the allied delegations enter the room. Soon the room is filled with secretaries, reporters and cinema cameramen. Marshal Zhukov, head of the Soviet delegation, suggests that they begin work and then orders the German delegation to be brought in. In a few minutes the Germans enter. "Have you the proper authority to sign the Act of Surrender?" Zhukov asks Keitel.

Keitel hands him a document signed by Admiral Doenitz.

Then begins the ceremony of signing the act of Germany's complete and unconditional surrender to the allied powers.

The faces of the allied generals are stern but triumphant. Keitel and the other Germans are gloomy, they stand staring down at the floor. Only a short time before this they were shouting to tell the whole world of their victories.

The allied leaders sign the act of surrender, and then Keitel signs. The lips of his adjutant, standing behind him, tremble as he puts his pen to the paper.

Germany has surrendered. How much pride and joy is included in these simple words!

Many thanks to our dear friend Clara Statello for the "Victory over Fascism" logo!
Viva la Libertà e la Giustizia!!!

Another release!

Mike — Sun, 04 May 2008 13:12:00 -0400

A message from the Friends of the Equality and Freedom Seeking University Students of Iran:

We have received word from Hooman K. of the site "Nothing Can Stop Us!" that Peyman Piran was released on bail on May 1. Again, this is some relatively good news. However, we should remember that Ali Kantouri remains in jail and many DAB members await trial on very serious charges.

We will provide more information as it becomes available.

The struggle continues...

Long live FREEDOM and EQUALITY! Viva la Libertà e la Giustizia!!!

May Day 2008 | Πρωτομαγιά

Mike — Thu, 01 May 2008 08:10:00 -0400

image courtesy of marxists.org

May 1st is May Day, which is also known as International Workers Day. This holiday is observed in many
countries and locales, in recognition of the achievements of the working people of the world.

May 1st also marks the anniversary of the beginning of the 1886 nation-wide strike in support of the eight-hour workday. In Chicago, a mass meeting in support of the workers' movement ended tragically with the "Haymarket Massacre" on May 4.

Marxists.org maintains an extensive subject archive that which chronicles the history of May Day.

What Are the Origins of May Day?
by Rosa Luxemburg

Written: 1894, First published in Polish in Sprawa Robotnicza;
Published: From Selected Political Writings of Rosa Luxemburg, tr. Dick Howard, Monthly Review Press, 1971, pp. 315-16;
Online Version: marxists.org April, 2002;

The incomparable Rosa Luxemburg

The happy idea of using a proletarian holiday celebration as a means to attain the eight-hour day was first born in Australia. The workers there decided in 1856 to organize a day of complete stoppage together with meetings and entertainment as a demonstration in favor of the eight-hour day. The day of this celebration was to be April 21. At first, the Australian workers intended this only for the year 1856. But this first celebration had such a strong effect on the proletarian masses of Australia, enlivening them and leading to new agitation, that it was decided to repeat the celebration every year.

In fact, what could give the workers greater courage and faith in their own strength than a mass work stoppage which they had decided themselves? What could give more courage to the eternal slaves of the factories and the workshops than the mustering of their own troops? Thus, the idea of a proletarian celebration was quickly accepted and, from Australia, began to spread to other countries until finally it had conquered the whole proletarian world.

The first to follow the example of the Australian workers were the Americans. In 1886 they decided that May 1 should be the day of universal work stoppage. On this day 200,000 of them left their work and demanded the eight-hour day. Later, police and legal harassment prevented the workers for many years from repeating this [size] demonstration. However in 1888 they renewed their decision and decided that the next celebration would be May 1, 1890.

In the meanwhile, the workers' movement in Europe had grown strong and animated. The most powerful expression of this movement occurred at the International Workers' Congress in 1889. At this Congress, attended by four hundred delegates, it was decided that the eight-hour day must be the first demand. Whereupon the delegate of the French unions, the worker Lavigne from Bordeaux, moved that this demand be expressed in all countries through a universal work stoppage. The delegate of the American workers called attention to the decision of his comrades to strike on May 1, 1890, and the Congress decided on this date for the universal proletarian celebration.

In this case, as thirty years before in Australia, the workers really thought only of a one-time demonstration. The Congress decided that the workers of all lands would demonstrate together for the eight-hour day on May 1, 1890. No one spoke of a repetition of the holiday for the next years. Naturally no one could predict the lightninglike way in which this idea would succeed and how quickly it would be adopted by the working classes. However, it was enough to celebrate the May Day simply one time in order that everyone understand and feel that May Day must be a yearly and continuing institution [. . .].

The first of May demanded the introduction of the eight-hour day. But even after this goal was reached, May Day was not given up. As long as the struggle of the workers against the bourgeoisie and the ruling class continues, as long as all demands are not met, May Day will be the yearly expression of these demands. And, when better days dawn, when the working class of the world has won its deliverance then too humanity will probably celebrate May Day in honor of the bitter struggles and the many sufferings of the past.

Released!

Mike — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 12:37:00 -0400

A message from the Friends of the Equality and Freedom Seeking University Students of Iran:

Released!

We have received word that Equality and Freedom Seeking Students (DAB) Behrouz Karimizadeh and Majid Majedi are now out of jail, which is a very positive development. They were apparently released in mid-April. Of course, "freedom" in today's Iran is a very relative term and it is important to remember that our friends continue to suffer from the physical and mental consequences of their detention and torture. Further, they are awaiting trial on very serious charges and these charges carry significant penalties in the event that convictions are returned. Moreover, as of this date, some DAB students remain imprisoned under harsh conditions.

Our friends need our support now more than ever!

We say "NO" to repressive theocracy AND to U.S. Imperialism!

Long live FREEDOM and EQUALITY!

An open letter to my pal Nate the Great

Mike — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 01:11:00 -0400

Dear Nate,

Tonight I finally got to see Billy Joel live. Finally...after all these years of being a closet Billy Joel fan. He was at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus. Thomai bought me the tickets as an early birthday present. It was pretty terrific. One of the highlights of he show was when he threw a serious bone to all of the "Buckeyes" in the crowd. Now, you know I am not a big Ohio State fan, but it was pretty awesome that Billy broke into "Hang on Sloopy" right in the middle of the song "River of Dreams." The place went absolutely crazy and everybody was doing that O-H-I-O thing. When it was all over and the band went back into "River of Dreams," I screamed like a girl because it was just so awesome. A little freaking girl, Nate.

There is no shame in this despite the fact that I am still very much a metalhead. You see, halfway through the show, Billy turned the mic over to a guitar roadie they call "Chainsaw" and he led the band in a HUGE performance of AC/DC's "Highway to Hell." Man, it was tremendous. Seriously. My throat totally hurts from screaming "WHOOOO!" Thomai said the woman next to me was giving me crappy looks because of how much I was freaking out. I think I accidentally stepped on that woman's foot a couple of times, though. Whatever.

It was just awesome. Well worth the wait, I must say.

Your pal,
Mike

Two pictures

Mike — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 20:54:00 -0400

It's been a busy week or so as I've been balancing quite a bit in my "down time." I have been writing a bit on the Iranian students for some other sites and at the same time, I have been building a web archive of material related to the Great Patriotic War (more on that project soon), plus I've devoted a bit of time to defending a blog article I wrote for our site way back in April 2006. Now, it does tend bother me when I go too long without posting new material and I know we don't have a vast readership here, but now and again folks drop me a line to check on things if I'm too quiet. So, while I don't have anything terribly important to add to greeklish.org tonight, I will take a break from my other projects to post a few pictures...

Here's old Domino, fast asleep:

If you've never had the pleasure of meeting Domino, I will point out here that she is a big dog. She currently weighs about 65 pounds. You might notice that she has crammed her entire body into a dog bed that is actually intended for a 10 to 15 pound dog. The small bed belongs to Stupsi who weighs about 12 pounds or so. Domino's rather large bed is on the floor right next to Stupsi's bed. You can see it in the picture. It is completely empty. Sure, Domino could get up and plant herself on her own bed, which is probably much more comfortable because it is designed for a dog her size. But this is clearly a matter of principle. Stupsi is out of the picture, fast asleep on the cold, hard floor. Domino is still very much in charge of things around here.

Here's my desk after several nights of writing about the Iranian students, the Great Patriotic War and Dr. R.'s lecture:

1.       The Teaching Company's Legacies of Great Economists lecture series on audiocassette
2.       Marxism: Philosophy and Economics by Thomas Sowell
3.       A History of the USSR, Part Three (Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1948)
4.       History of the USSR, Part III (Progress Publishers, 1982)
5.       Herr Vogt: A Spy in the Workers' Movement by Karl Marx (New Park, 1982)
6.       Smokin' Banana Peels CD by The Dead Milkmen
7.       Post card featuring the famous quote by Dom Helder Camara: "When I gave food to the poor, they called me a saint. When I asked why the poor were hungry, they called me a communist."
8.       Soviet-era museum placard featuring the slogan "Death to the fascist hordes!" (underneath are the books What is Dialectical Materialism? by O. Yakhot and Peace and Greece, Speeches by Dr. Ales Bebler)
9.        Bumper sticker: "I'd rather be smashing imperialism"
10.    Soviet Calendar: Thirty Years of the Soviet State (Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1948)
11.   Rey Mysterio: The Biggest Little Man DVD set

Now...back to work!