November 18th, 1978

30 years ago, yesterday, most of the followers of Jim Jones' People's Temple perished in a mass suicide. The grisly, yet fascinating demonstration of Jones' control over his followers illustrates the power of man and mind. How does one identify, penetrate and exploit the needs of his disaffected followers? How is one so injured mentally that they seek out and submit to such control?

Once this control is established, anything is possible. The malleability of someone enthralled by a demigod such as Jones is easy to understand. Fear, abuse and deceit can ensure compliance, but how is that door even opened? I certainly don't have an answer... merely curiosity.

Listen to the audio recording of the suicide sermon.



I can't make mention of Jim Jones without also tipping my hat to...

Masshysteri

No, they're not saying "we've got the tall tees", apparently. I hear that Masshysteri will be coming to our shores in April. Very exciting.

Also exciting:
A record that I recently refused to pay $35 for on eBay was offered to me by its seller for $5. Apparently whoever outbid me by $30 didn't intend to actually pay that kind of money. I know there's some Vivian Girls hype going on right now (hey, that's what caught my interest), but come on... oh well, I guess I came up pretty good on this one.

Metallica

At this point, the phrase "remember when Metallica was good?" has become a well-worn cliche. I know that I'm really not offering any original insight on the matter, so with that said, I ask, do you remember when Metallica was good?

Rediscovering This Blog

I just dredged up this blog that I created for a school project last semester. I think I'd like to keep it updated more regularly.



Here's a map of the route that I took on my walk this morning. It was a short walk, but I took some cool pictures. I also found a creepy little staircase that cuts right down through the sidewalk and drops you down on the street below.

Walking Route

April 25th at Gilman

Alex Capasso / Skin Like Iron - Photo by Jessica Snyder

This week we played two shows with Pulling Teeth (Baltimore) and Circles (Vancouver). The first show was Wednesday in Santa Cruz at the 418 Project. Having been home for only 36 hours at that point and having jumped headlong back into our work and school schedules, we were jet-lagged and beat up, but we pulled it off, I think.

The second home-coming show was on Friday at 924 Gilman. The Separation (heavy and political - Redding, CA), Pulling Teeth and Circles were awesome that night. Punch (frantic/hyperkinetic - San Francisco, CA) also played, and they blew me away. I'm usually not so impressed with bands that I just happen to see, without having heard before, but Punch really kills. I regret not seeing Conquest for Death's performance, but I really needed some fresh air and I had to step outside for a while.



Next show is at the Bike Kitchen!