climactic

Le Voyage du Temps
$14.99
Although it wears a group name, "TEMPUSTRY" is in fact a one-man project from keyboard wizard/percussionist Allen Brunelle (also known as a member of the progressive rock band Dark Aether Project.) As other reviewers have rightly pointed out, the music here is heavily influenced by the "Berlin school" of synthesizer artists. In fact, if you are a fan of the Johannes Schmoelling-era of Tangerine Dream (and in particular albums like "Exit" and "Thief"), then you should have a very basic idea of what to expect from the music of Tempustry. The synth sounds and production are certainly a bit more modern, but the TD traditions of rhythmic sequencers, complex percussion patterns, and snaking, sinewy melodies are well represented here...But don't worry, the TD influences intermingle with Burnelle's own distinctive musical nuances - a distintion that puts Tempustry a cut above many of the "retro" TD clones that have emerged in recent years. All of the pieces heard here are fully-instumental - so if, like me, you don't like vocals with your electronic music, you can rest assured that there will be NO unwanted onslaughts of the "wordless" operatic vocals & chanting that have plauged many other recent releases in this genre. (Oy vey! Amethystium could be one of the greats of electronic music if they'd just tie a gag on every opera singer within a ten mile radius of their recording sessions!...but I digress. : ) Most of Tempustry's tracks are in the 4 and 5 minute range, so please don't go in expecting any album-length epics. However the compositions are all well-arranged, and develop nicely within their compact timeframes....My only small criticism about this CD is that there is a bit of that "sameness" factor from track to track, particlarly in terms of the tempoes and the synth sounds which are used - but this is something which could be easily remedied with future releases (a new Tempustry album is due sometime this year!) Also, some may complain that this album is a bit short by modern standards, with a total running length of only 41 minutes. However, all things considered, I'd much rather have a short album that maintains my interest, than a long album that drags in spots - wouldn't you?...All in all, an this is an impressive debut from an artist I'd like to hear more from in the future (NOTE: Tempustry is set to perform at 2007's "Rites of Spring" Progressive Rock Festival, and have apparently added a second keyboardist for live shows)

Carry Me Home : Birmingham, Alabama: The Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution
$17.00
This is simply a necessary book for anyone who wants to understand the Civil Rights Movement, the city of Birmingham, Alabama, the relations between big business and racism and fascism in this society, and Amercian politics , not only in the historical period covered by the book, but in general. The significant weakness of this book is that McWhorter's focus is chiefly on two groups of while people: Birmingham's industrial and commercial ruling class and the variety of fascists, racists, and terrorists that they employed to maintain the dominant order.

While she does document enough about the civil rights movement in Alabama to make the book understandable, she has little concern for how the lives of everyday Black people in Birmingham were changed by what she talks about. Moreover, McWhorter focuses not on the issue of real integration of the life of Birmingham, but on the formal agreements between white business leaders and the civil rights movement in 1963 and early 1964, which even at the time that her book closes were not being carried out by the white business leaders and the local governments. So we are left at the end of the book curious as to how de facto desegregation took place. Of course, no American city, including Birmingham, has been truly desegregated in regard to housing, employment, and schools.

McWhorter gives a good picture about how big Northern-owned industry that dominated Birmingham economically and politically was responsible for the severe racism of the city. She shows how big business nourished the Klan and other violent organizations against Black people, during its battles with workers trying to unionize steel, coal, and other industries starting at the turn of the century.

The lineage of the fascist and Klan groups fed by the big business leaders during those years continued in the series of murders and bombings that shook Birmingham in the 1950s, and led to down to the individuals who bombed the 16th St. Baptist Church in 1963. For example, Hitler-loving fascist and antiSemite, Ace Carter who began in the 1930s became one of George Wallace's main speech writers in the 1960s.

That is the important part of this book: Southern racism was at the service of big capitalism nationally, not a product of something Southern, but something capitalist.

McWhorter shows how the power structure in the 1950s and 1960s resisted the civil rights movement, came to support the renewed racism represented by George Wallace, and had long before put Bull Connor into a position where his job as police commission largely involved coordinating terorism against Black people along with the Klan and neo-nazis.

She also does picture the civil rights movement in Birmingham starting with the movements that began as part of the labor radicalism in the 1930s and 1940s. She is best when she is talking about the tension between Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, a militant Birmingham leader who eventually moved to Cincinatti but continued to function in Birmingham's movement, and more conservative leaders like Martin Luther King.

Toward the end, she notes that the rebellions that met Birmingham's police after the bombings in the 1960s, though condemned by the civil rights leaders, had a very strong impact on creating the fear that brought about concessions.

She does note that the Kennedy administration considered all direct action civil rights activities, like the marches that force Birmingham's rulers to make concessions, "poorly timed."


McWhorter overglorifies the white business leaders who made small concessions on integrating lunch counters and dressing rooms in stores, and hiring a few black clerks in the stores and other demands is a bit disconcerting. She tends to picture them as leaders in the effort to create integration, as opposed to the last guard of realistic resistance against real Black rights. Moreover, history, and even she shows that they backed off from their agreements for years. Again, it would have been more satisfying if she discussed how these and other concessions were won in the years after her book closes.

McWhorter has a fascination with historical and personal details of members of the white elite. We find out who was whose cousin, who was at whose wedding, who did what in 1920, 1930, 1940, 1957, and she presents hundreds of individuals and their details. Sometimes, she gets carried away and her details don't really contribute to understanding the central theme of the book, the civil rights battles in Birmingham.

Unfortunately, true after the 1963 Church bombing McWhorter concentrates almost totally on the details of the Klan and fascist terrorists suspected of the bombing, while leaving out what happened in Birmingham or the civil rights movement.

The civil rights movement in Birmingham did not end in 1963. Many of its battles remain to be fought there and throughout the country. With all of its weaknesses, Carry Me Home helps us understand the fight then and the fight now.

Part I: The Adoration of the Earth: Ritual of Abduction: Climactic melee haunted by 'fear motif'
$0.89

Climactic End
$0.99