when hippies become corporate capitalists

out and about on tour this past week, and i spent some time in my old community hanging with the longhairs and hipsters. it was actually quite nice. listening to impassioned freestyle poetry slam rap lambasting the hierarchy of the Bush administration in its ever vigilant war on people of color. seeing ferlinghetti wearing a NO CARB DIET t-shirt he got from robert hass--under the word carb is spelled out: cheney, ashcroft, rumsfeld, bush.... exchanged anecdotal moments with the remaining original free speech movement activists who are as of yesterday celebrating the 40th anniversary of it all... and so forth...

one of the topics of discussion was the ever increasing disharmony and nastiness around what was once a great and progressive community radio station. it seems to be all about the fascism of corporatism. over the last decade a small cadre of $$ oriented individuals have taken control of the station, through using the authority given by the board to the general manager to make decisions. the overall station listenership has increased because of the availability of the signal transmission expansion, an event begun more than 20 years ago but when completed under the new GM it seemed to be solely his achievement. spinning, whether it be in DC or in small rural CA, accomplishes reiterization, or better, reification of the singular importance of one great man--at the expense of all else. accruing his hold on power and issuing mandates and policies and rules, the GM has allied himself with a small vested interest of former progressive hippie types who want $$$ from their work. dissatisfied with no wage DJ jobs this group has taken control of what is by law a non-profit community access station and are making efforts to sell it. they want what Amy Goodman's got. too bad they will never be that good, or that astute, or that progressive. petty bourgousie appartachiks they are indeed. making a mess of a great station, and spoiling the airwaves in pursuit of getting their greedy hands on other people's money. shame on them... they need to listen to what Utah Phillips says on that station about greed leading to rage.. greed is protected by $$ and fought with money... hippies and wobblies aren't greedy and they fight with time. money always runs out before time...