Sorry to hear this sad news about Mick Karn, whose distinctive rubbery bass lines fueled the lush sound of 80s new wave group, Japan (and the brief Dali’s Car project with Peter Murphy from Bauhaus):

With great sadness we regret to inform you that Mick has recently been diagnosed with advanced stages of cancer. Mick is currently in a positive mood and undergoing further tests and treatment. His family and friends are close with him, supporting him in practical ways, and surrounding him with their love, friendship and care.

Mick has been struggling financially for some considerable time now and we are hoping that this appeal may help to raise funds for any necessary treatment and perhaps go some way towards providing a small degree of financial support whilst Mick’s immediate family provide the care and comfort we would all wish for him. We are hoping that his friends, fans and musical colleagues will, over the coming months, offer any support they feel capable of giving. Quite aside from the sheer brunt of daunting medically-related costs, Mick’s clear and major concern is for the security and well being of his wife and young son.

If you would like to make a donation whether as an individual or as a group, you can do so via the PayPal link which has been set up for this sole and express purpose. Any support you are able to give, no matter how small, could make a difference in helping Mick cope during this difficult period. His friends will be looking at a variety of ways to raise funds.

Messages of support for Karn can be left on the forum boards here. Japan’s Steve Jansen is donating the proceeds from portraits of Karn sold on his website to the Mick Karn Appeal. The images for sale can be seen here.

 
Above, Japan perform Gentlemen Take Polaroids. Below, Mick Karn and Peter Murphy perform as Dali’s Car on The Old Grey Whistle Test.
 

 
Music by Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips.

 
What’s with Sir Elton John performing for the, ahem, fourth (traditional) wedding of flaming asshole and noted homophobe, Rush Limbaugh?!?! And not only that fat piece of shit, but Karl Rove and Sean Hannity as well? Isn’t something very, very odd about this situation? Sir Elton has not—so far at least—made any statements regarding why an outspoken—and of course, notably flamboyant—gay man would sing for such a vile occasion, but I hope the answer is that he simply wanted to bleed Rush Limbaugh of a million bucks to donate to anti-Prop 8 and gay rights activists across the country. (I recall reading once the John donated all of the money he made from performing (or was it royalties?) to the Elton John AIDS Foundation which has raised $220 million dollars since 1992, so maybe it’ll go there).

I really don’t want to believe that Elton John would demean himself to perform for fucking Rush Limbaugh for a mere payday—if it was that idiot Sting singing for Kim Il Jong, I’d have no trouble believing that—but if he’s donating it to charity, then I can understand it.

As for Limbaugh, well, fuck that asshole. As for his new bride, Eva Braun Kate Rogers, with any luck, good ol’ Rushbo will drop dead before she’s 40 or 45 and she’ll still have plenty of time left to spend all of that lovely blood money of his. Ka-ching! (The News Corp wire report about the wedding quotes the new bride as saying of the couple’s 26-year age gap: “I’m sometimes not able to relate to the average person my age.” Memo to Kate: No one believes a word of it, doll…)
 

Kate Rogers, left,and her big fat idiotic payday.
 

 
Although it’s fairly obvious why someone would say hypnotist and mass “faith healer” Anatoly Kashpirovsky is Russia’s “new” Rasputin, calling him Russia’s Uri Geller or even Russia’s Benny Hinn, seems like a better fit. Kashpirovsky, a controversial—and very famous—television “remote healer” was all the rage when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1989, but the psychic left Russia 15 years ago to “treat” Russian ex-pats in the US (see what I mean about him being a Russian Benny Hinn?). Now he’s back on television in Russia and opinion is no less contentious. From a fascinating article in the Guardian by Moscow-based journalist Marc Bennetts:

Clad entirely in black, his piercing eyes staring into apartments across the vast territory of the USSR, Kashpirovsky “treated” millions, his voice both reassuring and oddly threatening.

“For those of you with high blood pressure, your blood pressure will lower… whoever has hip injuries, they will heal…” he droned, his litany of the suffering and the saved a potent lullaby that plunged the nation into a communal trance.

Who cared if the country was collapsing around them, if the shops were almost empty, and the threat of separatist violence in the Caucasus was moving ever closer? The USSR turned on, tuned in and switched off.

“The streets would empty whenever Kashpirovsky came on,” journalist Katya Murzina tells me. “I was just a kid, but I remember we all talked about his shows at school. Everyone was convinced he really could heal the nation.

“We had never seen anything like this on TV before,” she goes on. “You have to remember, there were basically no adverts on Soviet TV. Everything was taken at face value. So if state TV presented him as possessing these incredible powers, most people believed it.”

I suppose that would explain why anyone would be convinced of Kashpirovsky’s “talents: after watching something as silly as this:
 

 
Faith healer Anatoly Kashpirovsky: Russia’s new Rasputin (Guardian)

Thank you Chris Campion of Berlin, Germany!

 
I’m very pleased to announce the newest member of the Dangerous Minds “group”, my great old friend and colleague going back to grade school, Ron Nachmann. Ron brings many years of immersion in music, art, politics and culture with him to our blog and I’m certain our readers will appreciate his passionate, intelligent writing and analysis as well as his excellent taste in music and great sense of humor. Welcome, Ron !

 
While the actual events surrounding Israel’s raid of the Gaza flotilla are under debate, there’s little doubt that the event—along with the Gaza blockade policy—has generally degraded Israel’s public image. Unfortunately, many in the progressive movement and leftward in the US and Europe perceive Israel as little more than a theocratic bastion of Western imperialism that harbors no resistance against government policy. That’s because the country’s long, vibrant tradition of dissent groups—from established human rights NGOs like B’Tselem to radical groups like Anarchists Against the Wall—get near-zero exposure in either the mainstream or leftist media in the West.

You’ll find solid proof of Israel’s underground movements in two dynamic and criminally undersung documents: David Massey’s 2002 anthology It’s All Lies: The Fusion of Resistance and Creativity in Israel—Leaflets, Underground Press and Posters and Liz Nord’s 2006 documentary Jericho’s Echo: Punk Rock in the Holy Land.

Massey’s oversized, spiral-bound 100-page collection spans from pioneering early-‘70s groups like the Israeli Socialist Organization and the cleverly named Sephardic org The Black Panthers through to the many draft resistance, anti-cop, and anti-capitalist crews that established themselves throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s. It includes a CD’s worth of Israeli punk bands from the early-‘90s Left Bank scene, including Dir Yassin and the Astroglides. Meanwhile, Nord’s 75-minute feature picks up the chronicling from the late-‘90s onward, including performances and interviews with punk bands ranging from the more well-known Useless ID to the more militant Nikmat Olalim, the all-female Va’adat Kishut, and even the rightist Retribution. Along with the great live footage, Jericho’s Echo features insightful interviews with scene figures who recount everything from getting psychiatric deferments from Israel’s mandatory army service to simply getting by in the country’s cities and towns. Both the book and the film show evidence of an important yet little-known politico-cultural temperament in Israel, one of the most highly criticized and misunderstood countries in the world.
 
It’s All Lies: The Fusion of Resistance and Creativity in Israel—Leaflets, Underground Press and Posters (16.3 x 11.6 inch spiral-bound book)
 
Jericho’s Echo: Punk Rock in the Holy Land (DVD)

 
“The Mashin’ of the Christ,” an amazing short film set to Negativland’s “Christianity is Stupid.” Made by Negativland, i.d. and Heath Hanlin. From the Our Favorite Things DVD. (I just bought it today, it’s awesome.)

Want to know more about the preacher on the song? Previously on Dangerous Minds:

Christploitation Cinema: If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do?

Negativland’s Mark Hosler discusses the making of Christianity is Stupid (YouTube)

 
The answer to the Louisiana Oil Disaster. Graphic by Jason Louv. Art Direction by Howard Bloom. Text by Jason Louv, Howard Bloom, and Buzz Aldrin. Go ahead, make this viral!

 
Right on, Macca !
 
Crooks and Liars: Get the Waaaaaaahmbulance, stat! Paul McCartney disses W, and Republicans have a hissy

(via Nerdcore)