"Tomato In The Rain" by Kaiser Chiefs: What Talking Heads might've sounded like, if - instead of Afica - Brian Eno had been inspired by Paul McCartney's solo work.
"Jackson’s need to caper on stage at age 50 recalls the pathetic spectacle of Isaac Hayes, who driven to financial hardship after resigning from South Park after it came into conflict with Scientology, forced himself to continue performing even though he was physically incapacitated, even if 'performing' consisted of pretending to play the keyboard, speaking songs or stumbling through interviews.
The process through which a principal is captured by his servants is familiar to students of bureaucracy and even business. Once capture is consummated, the master and servant exchange places. The enterprise is run thereafter not for the benefit of the principal, but for those of the agents, such as when a country is run for the benefit of a government, or when a government is run for the benefit of its officials. In the case of Jackson, he may have been working — and made to keep working — for the benefit of the vast swarm of creditors, suppliers and hangers-on who attached themselves like parasites to failing host.
But the most deadly aspect of having ‘enablers’ is that they throw a veil over your eyes. A cordon sanitaire tells you everything you need to know. How you look; what people think; what foods are good for you; what 'medicines' will make you well; what your prospects are. It tells you everything you need to know; but tells it all wrong. Take Adolf Hitler. Up to the very end he was being treated by the good Dr Theodor Morell, 'well-known in Germany for his unconventional, holistic and alternative treatments', another way of saying he kept Hitler drugged to his eyeballs. But Morell was not alone. Hitler’s decision-making processes were ably informed by soothsayers, mountebanks, toadies and certified maniacs. They collectively did more to mess up the Third Reich’s decision making processes than any Allied disinformation plan. Hitler was 'destined' for victory the way some companies are 'too big to fail'.
But how many people, reflecting on the King of Pop’s fantasies, will ask themselves whether subprime mortgages, unfunded social security or borrowing our way out of debt makes any more sense than that last shot of Demerol? On a day when the House has passed the climate change bill, wouldn’t it be good to ask how much of what the public is being made spend is for the public’s own benefit, and how much for the continued livelihood of the armies of special pleaders who surround society with their policy pills and needles? Good, but unlikely. It is far easier to believe in promises and rely feel-good nostrums than it is to look in the mirror, even though we know what it will show. Jackson’s death when it came, wasn’t a surprise; probably not even to him. And the crash of public policy fantasy, when it arrives, will not be wholly unexpected."
-- Richard Fernandez, showing he "gets" how NewAge is disastrously influencing society - without just saying (as I do) it's NewAge that's disastrously influencing society - which is why he qualifies (and I don't) for Pajamas Media.
I don't know about you, but I didn't know John Denver was a graduate of EST (Erhard Seminars Training) I just thought of him as the "Thank God, I'm a Country Boy" guy who, quite unfortunately, died in a plane crash. But it seems:
"He was an early follower of Werner Erhard, founder of the self-improvement association known as EST (Erhard Seminars Training). Denver once asked Erhard if he might become a trainer in the EST organization, but was told he could contribute more by continuing his career as an entertainer, spreading the message through his music, of taking personal responsibility for whatever happens in the world. Several of his subsequent songs reflected that philosophy."
So I'm back to thinking about new wage manipulation of the public - including me, BTW - like EST getting me to sing John Denver's songs, internalizing values that are not my own, which is exactly what they, and the companies that hired them, were sued for, back-in-the-day, before EST went underground to re-emerge as The Landmark Forum. It's crazy-making stuff. And EST isn't the only one. Rick Ross showed Scientology was on PBS - spreading their whack-job ideas to all of us as kids - but I want to stay on the theme of music.
I've already mentioned Denny Fridkin's description of his whole band being sucked into Scientology - and we should all know about Issac Hayes, Herbie Hancock, Chic Corea, and Beck, by now. Keep in mind, like Tom Cruise and John Denver, each of those artists perform, partially, to recruit as many others into the cult as they can. That was L. Ron's vision.
Jeremy Spencer (above left, formally of Fleetwood Mac) was a Children of God member. That means he was having sex with children. Have the police gone after him as they've gone after others? One can only wonder. Many of those "Family" kids grow up severely damaged, or they're left, sleep-walking through life, spouting evasive nonsense, like, "People think this is all about sex, but it's greater than sexual relations. It's about how you relate and feel about people. It's about loving God with all your soul." Yea, yea - and all those damaged women, working in strip clubs, are really nuns - I get it, I really do. Jeez. Just shut-up and let me hear your demo, O.K.?
Amazingly intelligent, and crazy-as-hell, The Beastie Boys have totally-mellowed-out since bowing their heads to the Dali Lama, only to start producing some of the worst music of their careers (I've said it before and I'll say it again: The connection between new wage believing - and sucking at Rock 'n' Roll - is clear.). Sheryl Crow, who has always made God-awful music - but, strangely, keeps snagging TV commercials - has to be into,...*something*, being part of the one-square-of-toilet-paper crowd, because sane people just don't talk like that. And, of course, the latest addition to the new wage musical canon is the Smashing Pumpkins's Billy Corgan, whose latest outing, Zeitgeist, catches the dismal, depressing, feeling of these times perfectly.
I don't know about you, but I didn't know John Denver was a graduate of EST (Erhard Seminars Training) I just thought of him as the "Thank God, I'm a Country Boy" guy who, quite unfortunately, died in a plane crash. But it seems:
So I'm back to thinking about new wage manipulation of the public - including me, BTW - like EST getting me to sing John Denver's songs, internalizing values that are not my own, which is exactly what they, and the companies that hired them, were sued for, back-in-the-day, before EST went underground to re-emerge as The Landmark Forum. It's crazy-making stuff. And EST isn't the only one. Rick Ross showed Scientology was on PBS - spreading their whack-job ideas to all of us as kids - but I want to stay on the theme of music. 
I've already mentioned Denny Fridkin's description of his whole band being sucked into Scientology - and we should all know about Issac Hayes, Herbie Hancock, Chic Corea, and Beck, by now. Keep in mind, like Tom Cruise and John Denver, each of those artists perform, partially, to recruit as many others into the cult as they can. That was L. Ron's vision. 
Jeremy Spencer (above left, formally of Fleetwood Mac) was a Children of God member. That means he was having sex with children. Have the police gone after him as they've gone after others? One can only wonder. Many of those "Family" kids grow up severely damaged, or they're left, sleep-walking through life, spouting evasive nonsense, like, "People think this is all about sex, but it's greater than sexual relations. It's about how you relate and feel about people. It's about loving God with all your soul." Yea, yea - and all those damaged women, working in strip clubs, are really nuns - I get it, I really do. Jeez. Just shut-up and let me hear your demo, O.K.?
Amazingly intelligent, and crazy-as-hell, The Beastie Boys have totally-mellowed-out since bowing their heads to the Dali Lama, only to start producing some of the worst music of their careers (I've said it before and I'll say it again: The connection between new wage believing - and sucking at Rock 'n' Roll - is clear.). Sheryl Crow, who has always made God-awful music - but, strangely, keeps snagging TV commercials - has to be into,...*something*, being part of the one-square-of-toilet-paper crowd, because sane people just don't talk like that. And, of course, the latest addition to the new wage musical canon is the Smashing Pumpkins's Billy Corgan, whose latest outing, Zeitgeist, catches the dismal, depressing, feeling of these times perfectly.
