Wax Trax! Records | US CD5 | 1989 | WAX CD 9108
This covid-19 pandemic
is definitely stopping all fun in its tracks. I was not planning to blog today, because I had been scheduled to be on travel right now to the UK tonight from Orlando International Airport. Enroute to visit with virtual friends [from this blog, whom I’d meeting for the first time] and seeing the now cancelled Human Seventeen concert in London on Friday. Speaking of which, Heaven 17’s first US tour is also on hold. As is probably everything you may already have a ticket to this year. It’s only a matter of time until my work is on hold as well as I anticipate all non-essential businesses to close soon simply because the social stability necessary for successful capitalism to flourish is rapidly draining down the plughole as pseudo-life forms that are indifferent to the requirements of capitalism follow their programming to propagate, and by extension, thin the herd. No matter how much money any one person may have in the bank.
The horror of the Resident in the White House have been like a surreal nightmare for the last three years and four months.
Anytime I thought about it, my mind refused to accept the truth. That the least fit man in America for the Presidency had been handed the reins of power by the part of America’s election process designed to give slaver states almost 250 years ago a disproportionate voice in our Presidential elections. But it was a conceptual nightmare until now. The nightmare of seeing virtual boots on necks as a dry run for actual American Authoritarianism. The nightmare of dog whistles being put away and the sordid underbelly of America paraded out in full view for all to see without the shame of the postwar era.
We are preparing to enter an actual nightmare unlike anything seen since World War II. With global infrastructure impacted by a deadly disease that can and will kill en mass. And the front lines are not thousands of miles away, on other continents; they are outside of your front door. And the odds are less than a coin toss that anyone reading these words will be affected by the pandemic.
Many nations, such as Italy, are already there, and no amount of defense spending will stem its tide. In fact, we can blame defense spending in America for part [sadly, not all] of the incredibly poor response to the crisis thus far. There’s no lack of will to take money from the citizen’s pockets and fill the coffers of defense contractors, who elect our officials by proxy thanks to our insane election processes that see presidential candidates running for two years leading up to the actual election. But there is lack of will to invest in public infrastructure that would be very useful right now if the current Resident didn’t have a irrational vendetta against anything the previous President [whom he didn’t even run against!] had achieved in office and therefore sought to dismantle out of childish spite.
We will never get leadership from the twelfth rate celebrity f***up currently occupying 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Nor will we get it from his enforcer, the Senate Majority leader, whose only activity in office is to foster the corrosion of the government itself from within to better let money in the hands of a scant few – our true masters – run riot over the land. When faced with an existential crisis like this, he simply ran away and let any remaining adults attempt to cope with the problem. But what IS he doing from the safety of his Ol’ Kentucky home? Calling on his Democratic opponent on the November 2020 election to cease running his ads that trumpet this action. And frantically stepping up his task of packing the US Judiciary branch with right wing idealogues ahead of the November 2020 election. Apparently he’s not full of the old confidence. Could it be that the current regime will be owning this debacle that has the power to transform world society with its impact?
One hopes so. So pardon me for the political venting, but I am pissed off! Lives are at stake and the response at the federal level in America has been a worst case scenario of primates throwing feces in the face of an unknown threat. Join us tomorrow [maybe] for more of the light-hearted musical fare that we’ve come to expect at PPM. [possibly]
– 30 –
![Chris Cross: 1952-2024 [part 2]](https://i0.wp.com/postpunkmonk.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/ultravox-cross.jpg?resize=200%2C200&ssl=1)
Post-Punk Monk 
Amen to that. But since you and I are 100% on the same page regarding our current sociopolitical nightmare, rather than add my redundant two cents, I’ll just thank you for putting Cabaret Voltaire on my quarantine playlist for today.
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desertcurmudgeon – It’s the least I can do in a rotten situation like this one.
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I’m glad you’ve commented, and also agree 100%.
What a sh*tstorm.
And yes, first world problems, but a lot of gigs up ahead and one by one they are being postponed or cancelled.
Sorry about your trip!
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SimonH – Well it never seemed too real to me anyway. The notion that Visage’s last keyboardist would offer me a ticket and spare room in his studio to attend that show just doesn’t seem likely on the face of things. Then there was the trip to Wales that never happened! Gavin even [finally] organized his record collection for ease of diving in! I live for record collection show and tell but it never happens in my world. It’s certainly not happening now.
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It will happen! Some time in the Golden Hour of the Future.
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Gavin – Touché!
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Thanks for speaking up frankly Monk. Normal life in Germany is now close to a shutdown too. People are preparing for survival and / or mobile work as far as possible in various degrees of panic. Heaven 17 is cancelled and postponed since today too..
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slur – I was shocked they waited until the bitter end to cancel. Echorich who was also going to the show from The States didn’t pull the plug on his trip until Friday.
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I have been dreading (but sadly expecting) this announcement regarding your UK trip. So sorry, Monk – this is not fair to you, nor anyone else whose long-scheduled plans have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
And as for our country’s incompetent and corrupt leadership – I don’t think that any rational person is surprised by the administration’s apathetic and negligent response to this crisis. Adolph Twitler and his minions turn a blind eye to human suffering and loss, and only hit the panic button when the stock market collapsed.
Stay safe and well, sir.
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Shelf – Stocks aren’t real. They are mass delusion. People are real.
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Here in the UK, we do not fully understand the American way but we do sympathise given we too have a similar person in power. Heck, they even have the same hair colour! Being in Scotland, we take solace that we did not vote for their party even though they still achieved a majority. It is the standard losers’ argument, we know, but we stick to it.
With this pandemic, there will be a large number of casualties; both human and business. We are not sure if the strong or the rich or the just plain lucky will ride out the storm but it will pass. Planet Earth is nothing more than a fallen apple covered in ants and it will continue to circle the sun, whether life does or not.
Back to politicians, they are generally judged on how well they handle a crisis. So far, your President has given himself 10 out of 10 and it is election year too. Let’s see how that translates into reality in November.
We feel your pain and cancelled trips really do not help the mood either!
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Duncan Watson – As one who’s lived here for over 50 years, let me explain the American Way to you then: The primary value is power over weak people. This gives the brainstem of the ruling class a thrill that all of the hookers and blow in the world can’t begin to compete compete with [though they’ll try that too…]. The secondary value is money since it represents the life force of weak people; to be freely consumed as if it’s your birthright…because it is. Repeat as necessary.
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I stay away from politics on public forums but let me say this.
This virus will shake the world and no one will be immune however I 100% believe that it will pass and pass soon enough. There is no cause for panic. Our leaders on all sides have failed the public over and over but there is no choice. We must put our faith in government.
As a Canadian and a resident of the USA I believe that the people will pull together.
The way of living where you need or want the latest remix or 14 variations of mustard on your sandwich or 600 channels of tv seem not so important now.
Power over weak people has always been the way of all nations going back to the pre Roman era of Julius Cesar.
Lessons will be learned and we will hopefully come out of this wiser and more compassionate.
Humanity has been around a long long while and this will be recorded as a moment in time.
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Any non US citizen who wants an excellent distillation of what PPM is talking about when it comes to power in the States should read Nancy Isenberg’s excellent book “White Trash, The 400 Year Untold History of Class in America.”
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Tim – Memo to self – must read this one. Or maybe not. Toughest slog of a book I’ve ever read had to have been Michelle Alexander’s “The New Jim Crow.” Every few pages was a gut punch.
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This book should be required reading in colleges and high schools. It stands in the worthy company of and compliments the writing of people like Howard Zinn and Studs Terkel.
I read a LOT of history and this is one of the best history books I’ve ever read.
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Hi Monk. I sympathise with you and everyone who’s had plans dashed by the virus.
I watch from afar at the horror that continues to unfold in the White House. Trump really is one of the least equipped people to be president of your country. He only cares about himself and how he can make more money whilst bigging himself up. I really hope that he can be replaced come the next election. However I don’t have confidence that the Democrats can boot him out. It just amazes me that people think he is suitable to be president. In the mean time he will continue to f*ck things up for the majority of the American people.
I think that people are crazy to vote for Boris and the Tories here. However Trump is on a different scale altogether though.
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Word up!
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I share your political POV as well as your dismay over a forced vacation-cancellation (I was supposed to be on a plane at 5:45AM this morning). Life is upside down, this country is being (mis)led by the worst sort of corrupt, inept, evil pieces of shit I’ve witnessed in my 58 years, and along comes a pandemic which won’t be “prayed away” (I’m a devout atheist, fyi). Trying my best to keep my head above the sanity line right now. My best to the Monk and this community of music-loving humans.
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Taffy – What was your destination?
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my annual winter-ish visit to my parents in Naples, FL. Even if my flight went as planned, I couldn’t jeopardize the chance of bringing a virus to my 84 year old parents. They’re healthy…but 84!
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Taffy – Absolutely! My in-laws are wintering in Florida and they’re 90/91. They shouldn’t even drive back to Ohio next month!!
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I have just seen on the BBC your President give his latest speech. How can news like this, something so serious be delivered in a way to make me burst out laughing !! how can every one in the room keep a straight face ?
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Was it the bit about hospital ships being ‘white with a Red Cross on the side’?!
Unreal!
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Ade.W – You watch him on the news??! Personally, I take great pains to have no exposure to video/sound from him at all. It was a year or two into this administration that I finally was exposed to what he sounded like when a trailer [in theaters, so no hitting the remote] for a documentary that had footage of him in it. I hate it when my firewall gets breached!
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Right on, PPM! (And sorry your trip to the UK to see H17 is understandably postponed for now–I’m bummed now to be seeing them in NYC on their now cancelled US tour!)
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Steve Shafer – No tours of any kind for who knows how long. Hmm, how long has it been since I’ve seen a show of any kind? [checks] Wow! The only thing since September of 2019 has been my neighbor’s cover band last month playing at the skankiest dive bar I’ve ever been to. That didn’t count.
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The thing that worries me is how people practically program themselves for bad future. There were epidemics (even pandemics) before, even in our lifetime, there’s no real reason to think this one won’t be turned over eventually. I’m not an optimist by nature, quite the opposite, – but the current hysteria is the problem for me. It’s in this climate of conviction in things turning only for the worst that actual nightmares happen and societies crumble. It’s like people want that to happen, wish for it. I should know, it happened to my country only a hundred years back – and the similarities are horrifying. You really don’t want to live through what my country did in those days.
So I warn against plunging into despair and “end of the world” state of mind. That’s not a popular thing to say at the moment, but people simply have to restrain themselves and try to calm down. Civilization is a fragile thing and can be brought down, if enough people expect (want?) it to. However bad things seem to be, it has to be reminded that they can turn for the worse.
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I feel very similar. This is a serious situation but we will get through it. It may sound naive, but being nice to the people around round you goes a long way right now, hopefully people try it and it becomes a habit:)
It’s also no accident that the measures needed to protect people are basically socialism in action.
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It is gratifying to receive yet again confirmation that PPM readers are a distinct, stylish, erudite, and compassionate group of humans. I think what is throwing people even further out of whack than usual is the open-ended nature of this disruption of the norm, as well as the dawning realisation that the leadership and economy of many a country (but thankfully not all countries) were entirely unprepared for any disruption to the status quo. There aren’t many adults in the global room, so to speak.
In my case, my job (as well as my wife’s) has shifted to accommodate the new social distancing but we are continuing to work and live life as close to normal as possible, and every time I have to drive somewhere I’m made aware of how fortunate my current situation is compared to many — the roads have never been more navigable! But the thing that has unsettled my own personal life the most thus far is the sudden end of social spaces — while I enjoy my “home time,” I’m also a very social person and enjoy hanging out in different spaces, especially where there is good conversation on offer.
At least our modern hellscape has a few creature comforts that seem specifically designed for greater isolation — the internet, streaming TV services, and of course many sources of your best entertainment value — music!
In addition to those most vulnerable to this virus, I am thinking of those most vulnerable to economic displacement and hardship due to the way capitalistic societies are structured to not cope well with any sag in the economy. My sympathy won’t pay your rent, but you have it nonetheless. I hope the leaders of all countries will move boldly to meet this out-of-normal challenge by doing something equally out-of-normal: actually investing some wealth into the well-being of the people until we can all find new footing and move forward again.
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chasinvictoria – Well put! I’m not too into social spaces. I’m usually too busy working, doing household jobs, or trying to get a new job [which is the hardest work of all] for the last year, so we usually hang out with neighbors. My work will inevitably end at some point. At that point, my wife [who has a state job] becomes the sole breadwinner. But we can live on one income with cutbacks. Many things we spend money on will not be viable in any case, so it makes it easy to focus on the bare necessities. And I hold out hope that there will be changes wrought upon society to survive this that will be for the better.
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“My sympathy won’t pay your rent, but you have it nonetheless. I hope the leaders of all countries will move boldly to meet this out-of-normal challenge by doing something equally out-of-normal: actually investing some wealth into the well-being of the people until we can all find new footing and move forward again.”
Hear, hear!
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