On May 13 Peter Ventantonio, better known as Jack Terricloth, frontman of the World/Inferno Friendship Society, passed away at the age of 50. Few others in the history of the genre so seamlessly and sincerely combined the poetry, aesthetics, innovation, and politics beating in the amphetamine-fueled heart of punk. The World/Inferno Friendship Society was notorious […]
Archives for 2021
Remembering Bobby Sands on the 40th Anniversary of His Death
May 5th marked 40 years since Bobby Sands (Roibeárd Ó Seachnasaigh) was murdered by the British State. Sands was a Volunteer within the Provisional IRA and once he was imprisoned became the officer commanding for the PIRA prisoners. After years of bitter struggles waged by the Irish prisoners, in an effort to further raise awareness […]
Friday the 1312: A Review of “Body Cam”
It’s a dark and stormy night in Swinton, Louisiana. Officer Kevin Ganning shakes off the rain as he enters a dingy diner ensconced in the ambience of gritty cop noir. He is not welcomed. The black server, Pops, keeps his back turned to Ganning while a black woman behind the counter shoots him dirty looks. […]
Fanon, Floyd, and Me
It is one thing to hold a sign that says “abolish the police;” it is another to burn the 3rd Precinct down. As a non-Black arrivant Muslim, I was inserted into a field of politics I had no preparation for. Neither settler nor slave to make sense of what I was. No Malcolm to shape […]
Embalming the Haymarket Martyrs
Chicago in the 1880s was a deadly place. In an era before modern medicine or sanitation, the large immigrant populations sustained themselves by working the most dangerous jobs. Workplace accidents were exceedingly common, and death at work a regular possibility. People started work young; wages were pitifully low, and hours brutally long. In no small […]
Vee & Me Up In Here
DMX is dead. Admittedly, when he blew up in late 1990s, he wasn’t my go to for hip hop, although I did appreciate him. He was unapologetically rough. He was uncompromisingly raw, despite slick production. That man embraced hell and darkness on his first release and you’re like WTF. When that Ruff Ryders Anthem and […]