MELISSA ROXAS SPEAKS

LOS ANGELES - On Saturday, June 27th, 2009, Melissa Roxas made her first public appearance at a press conference held at the Echo Park United Methodist Church to let the world know the details of her abduction and torture by agents of the Philippine government and military.

To send a personal message of support to Melissa, please join the "Friends of Melissa Roxas" group on Facebook.

There are over 200 people who are still missing due to government abductions in the Philippines.

Please help put an end to these US-funded human rights violations by calling your local Senator and voicing your opposition to this inhumane misuse of our US tax dollars.

We need to stop funding the corrupt Philippine military and government!

Lebron Wins BET Award to Kobe Chants

True Laker fans always keepin it real. -Chris G.

Telekinesis on KCRW

i'll say it again i jock the seattle music scene. i caught the town's telekinesis on mornings become eclectic the other day and really liked what i heard. but when i heard that the drummer michael benjamin lerner was also the lead singer, i had to watch the video podcast. peep game. miles senzaki step yo game up!



-tadillac

Bambu - "Quit" Video

bam's latest video for "quit" off the ...exact change... album. track produced by illmind:

-tadillac

"There's Still Hip Hop in LA"

Some old footage of Roscoe Umali on the Wake Up Show! Lakers, Chris G.

FUNK FUZZ THIS THURS! SPECIAL GUESTS!

THIS THURSDAY, JUNE 25th!!

Come thru and enjoy SUMMERTIME IN THE LBC at FUNK FUZZ!

hit the store tho, so i can get a 4-0...

special live performances by:
T-KNOW (CounterParts Crew)
ReVISION (The Committee, Mass Movement)
ET (The Committee, Mass Movement)
C-LOS (The Committee, Mass Movement)

spinning live on the 1s & 2s:

KRISSFADER (spinning ALL VINYL)
ET
ROOTS
ReVISION
& C-LOS (guest DJ set)

Que Sera
1923 E 7th St, LBC
FREE BEFORE 11< br>$5 after

(doors open and wheels start spinning at 9pm, live performances begin at 11pm)

The Celebration Continues...

RING!

LAKERS,
Chris G.

Stay Black Phil, Stay Black!

-tadillac

Please help FATGUMS X BAMBU get put on!

Mass Movement Crew member Fatgums and his teammate Bambu were accepted into URB Magazine's - URB Next 1000 Competition! YOUR vote will determine if they get featured in URB Magazine! So please, please show them some love. 

All you have to do is go to the URB website, register, find the FATGUMS X BAMBU page, click the rating stars, and leave a comment. 

Here's the song that's featured:

GUNSLINGER I - from Beatrock Presents: FATGUMS X BAMBU ...A Peaceful Riot...

Gunslinger I - Beatrock Presents: Fatgums X Bambu

PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD!

Is a $2 Milli Laker Parade Worth It?

as happy as i am that the lakers have once again reclaimed the nba title, i can't say that this nba season (as great as it was) has gotten my mind of our plummeting economy and cali's ridiculous $24 BILLION state deficit.

i agree that LA desperately needs something that we can collectively celebrate and the lakers championship couldn't come at a better time. but $2 million for a 3 hour parade? i still don't know how i feel about this since our tax money is supposively only paying for half of the $1 million that the city is responsible for (2 hecka rich white men are paying for the other half). read more about the issue here and here.

sportswriter dave zirin gives us another reason why we should celebrate the lakers victory as he exposes the crookedness of the magic's owner and billionaire richard devos.

-tadillac

Stop Arnold's Termination Of Cal Grants!

"Grants awarded to 118,000 freshmen starting college in the fall would be canceled"

save cal grants! the governator's plan isn't to cut funding for cal grants, he wants to totally eliminate them. raise college tuition and dissolve finacial aid in order to save a failing economy? great plan dickhead! read la times article here.

-tadillac

The Untold Story of The Lower Ninth Ward PREMIER SCREENING

New Orleans is back! Come & celebrate with us, America, as we go on a Spring Break trip to New Orleans! Flashing lights! Amazing food! Good music! Booze! And of course... broken glass, lonely foundations, missing homes, and displaced families. It's been 4 years since Hurricane Katrina and while the French Quarter is crackin', the Lower Ninth Ward is still waiting for their street lights to turn on.

The short 8-minute version of my film, "The Untold Story of The Lower Ninth Ward" (still debating whether or not this will be the title) will be premiering THIS FRIDAY, 7:30pm @ UC Santa Cruz's Media Theater! Please come support me and my fellow film students as we finally put all our hard work on the big (HUGE) screen.

June 12th, Friday 7:30pm UC Santa Cruz Media Theater

-Chris G.

Don't Wish To Be A Baller, Become One With This DVD

My Testimonial:

After using this DVD, I grew one more foot in a matter of 2 days! I went back to my YMCA and showed the coach that I was more than just equipments coach! Thanks Leroy Smith!

-Chris G.

Introducing Band Of Brothers!

(from left to right) nick "rock" agtual, mina "the loy" checel, isabel "menace" agtual, jack "mop top" agtual

the  2 year-old music phenom mina loy (who also happens to be my niece) just dropped the first song with her new group "band of brothers".  the group is made up of mina's cooler-than-ice cousins isabel, jack and nick.  they were just booked for the halftime show at game 7 of the nba finals but since that game is unlikely to happen they have agreed to let mass movement tv premiere their self-titled debut song! 

Band of Brothers by Band of Brothers                    DOWNLOAD

the track was produced and engineered by denis corrupt jones of the band "goth jones".

does anyone else think jack aka mop top looks like a mini version of mass movement's own krissfader? -tadillac

Update on Melissa Roxas

Just received this update about the abduction and torture of Pilipino American activist Melissa Roxas thru email. With a new administration based on "CHANGE" there is no real reason why The U.S. government should overlook this.

"“Her abduction should give Congress and the Obama administration even more reason to stop pouring billions of dollars into a regime that abducts, tortures, and kills innocent people. If the Obama administration and Congress are serious about creating real change, they should cut off all aid to the Philippines during the budget appropriations process this summer.” (From the article below)

-Chris G.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 2, 2009

Reference: Rhonda Ramiro, Secretary General, BAYAN-USA, 415-377-2599, secgen@bayanusa.org

U.S.-Trained and Funded Philippine Military Implicated in Abduction and Torture of American Citizen

Alliance of Filipino American Organizations Vows to Hold U.S. and Philippine Governments Accountable and Demands End to U.S. Taxpayer Support for Philippine Military

The U.S. Chapter of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, or BAYAN-USA, denounced the abduction and torture of Melissa Roxas by suspected elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. An American citizen of Filipino descent, Roxas is a well-known Filipino American human rights advocate and was BAYAN-USA’s first Regional Coordinator in Los Angeles, CA and a founding member of the Los Angeles-based cultural organization Habi Arts. Roxas’ sworn affidavit about the torture she experienced from May 19-25, 2009 while in captivity was made public today when she filed a Petition for a Writ of Amparo and Habeus Data with the Philippine Supreme Court, seeking protection from further harm for herself and her family.

In the affidavit, Roxas describes being abducted by approximately 15 armed men, thrown in a van, handcuffed and blindfolded for six days, and dragged from jail cell to jail cell. She recounts being subjected to torture via asphyxiation using a doubled-up plastic bag, repeated beatings to the face and body, and having her head banged repeatedly against the wall by her interrogators. Roxas said that one interrogator stated those who tortured her were from the Special Operations Group (SOG), and she heard one of her interrogators addressed as “Sir.” She also heard gunfire from what she believed to be a firing range as well as the sounds of aircraft, pointing to the high probability that she was held in a military camp. She was denied legal counsel despite her persistent requests and forced to say that she was a member of the New People’s Army.

Roxas was dropped off near her relative’s house around 6:30 AM on May 25. Her captors left her with a SIM card and phone, which one of her interrogators used to contact her after she was released.

“We are distraught that Melissa was subjected to such cruel, inhuman, and blatantly illegal treatment as a result of the Philippine government’s counter-insurgency witch hunt,” stated BAYAN-USA Chair Berna Ellorin. “We must hold the perpetrators of this torture accountable, up to and including the U.S. government which is providing military aid and training to the Philippine military.”

Rather than conducting an investigation into the torture of Roxas and the abduction of her and her companions Juanito Carabeo and John Edward Jandoc, the Philippine Presidential Human Rights Commission (PHRC) issued a statement claiming that the incident was fabricated by BAYAN Philippines and human rights group Karapatan, and that the disappearance of the three involved immersion with the New People's Army (NPA). The statement from the PHRC was posted on the website of the Philippine Embassy in Washington DC on May 28, 2009. Evidence such as official police reports clearly show that the statement was filled with serious factual errors and erroneous speculations; the PHRC statement even falsely cited the non-governmental organizations Asian Federation Against Disappearances (AFAD) and Coalition Against Involuntary Disappearances (CAID). In an open letter to Philippine Ambassador to the U.S. Willy Gaa regarding the PHRC statement, AFAD wrote,

“Our Federation is shocked by the content of the said statement, citing us as one of the sources of the information related to the above-mentioned case. We categorically deny ownership of the information mentioned in the statement as a source of our alleged initial investigation…We find it appalling to be considered as a more credible human rights organization compared to Karapatan, since we believe that such a statement is divisive and therefore, uncalled for… While our Federation independently works on the issue of enforced disappearances and despite our differences with other organizations, we also coordinate with the CAID as well as with Karapatan, whose constituency bears the brunt of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings during the present administration.”

Despite the public outcry for a retraction of the statement, the Philippine Embassy has yet to remove the statement from its website.

“We are incensed that the Philippine government continues to deny that Melissa’s abduction ever took place,” said Ellorin. “The Philippine government's attempted cover-up of the triple abduction is consistent with their constant denial of responsibility for the more than 1,000 extra-judicial killings and 201 enforced disappearances, despite condemnation and documentation from international human rights groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, as well as the United Nations,” said Ellorin. “The tactic of red-baiting and vilification of the victim by Philippine authorities, now also being employed against Melissa, is a common finding in the numerous reports written by international human rights monitoring agencies.”

Roxas’ exposé comes on the heels of the visit of U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates to the Philippines. During his meetings with Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, Gates affirmed the Obama administration’s commitment to so-called “counter-terrorism efforts” in the Philippines as well as for the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). The VFA is an agreement which BAYAN-USA views as the red carpet which paved the way for U.S. military advisers, troops and equipment to train and equip the Philippine military which has been implicated in 1,017 extra-judicial killings and 1,010 cases of torture.

“The torture of Melissa and the triple abduction of Melissa, Juanito and John Edward are directly linked to the VFA and U.S. military aid to the Philippines,” said Ellorin. “The U.S. government cannot claim ignorance or wash its hands of responsibility, when it is U.S. advisors who are training the Philippine military. The recent uncovering of ‘the torture papers’ shows that the U.S. has never stopped employing torture as an ‘enhanced interrogation technique.’”

“It is utterly apalling that Gates is pledging more support for the Philippine military, in light of Melissa’s sworn testimony,” continued Ellorin. “Her abduction should give Congress and the Obama administration even more reason to stop pouring billions of dollars into a regime that abducts, tortures, and kills innocent people. If the Obama administration and Congress are serious about creating real change, they should cut off all aid to the Philippines during the budget appropriations process this summer.”

BAYAN-USA is an alliance of progressive Filipino groups in the U.S. representing organizations of students, scholars, women, workers, and youth. As an international chapter of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN-Philippines), BAYAN-USA serves as an information bureau for the national democratic movement of the Philippines and as a campaign center for anti-imperialist Filipinos in the U.S. BAYAN-USA’s online petition against the VFA can be found at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/JunkVFAnow/. The online petition to demand justice for Roxas, Carabeo, and Handoc can be found at http://www.gopetition.com/online/28021.html.

# # #

-- FOCUS MISSION As a broad grassroots community organization, Filipino Community Support of Silicon Valley (FOCUS-SV) defends the rights and interests of Filipinos in Santa Clara County against social and economic injustices. FOCUS VISION We, the concerned Filipinos residing and working in Silicon Valley with our families and friends, realize the need to protect, assist, and advocate for our mutual and collective interest against exploitation, oppression, violence, and injustice. We come together to build a broad comprehensive grassroots organization that defends the rights gained by previous struggles and upholds the welfare of Filipinos. With nationalist and democratic values, we envision greater social, cultural, and political resources for the Filipino community in Santa Clara County that would benefit everyone and promote greater equity and justice.

A Peaceful Riot Gets 8.5 out of 10

Looks like Fatgums X Bambu are getting some dope reviews! Remember to keep voting for Bam's video (previous post)!

Lakers,

Chris G.

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Please check it out:

http://www.rapreviews.com/archive/2009_06_peacefulriot.html

Fatgums X Bambu :: A Peaceful Riot Going On :: Beatrock as reviewed by Patrick Taylor

On this ten-song EP, Bay Area DJ Fatgums and L.A. rapper Bambu answer the question, how do you make hip hop that isn't commercial, doesn't pander to violence and misogyny, but isn't boring? They start things off with "Peddlin' Music," in which Bambu raps about trying to make it as a rapper in L.A., dealing with open mics, angry bosses, shitty day jobs, and, for Fatgums, med school, "trying to stay focused when he opens that textbook." "We peddle music on the side to hopefully make rent," Bambu admits, but he doesn't sound down. Part of that is due to the soulful strings and funky drums that Fatgums layers in the background. They may be broke, but they are still celebrating, and on "Good Clothes" Bambu raps about the joys of finding good clothes on sale.

On "Strapped," Bambu takes on the subject of gun ownership. This is a tricky subject for rappers who get lumped in with the backpack or conscious scene. Talib Kweli got a mess of shit for his "Gun Music" from fans who felt that the underground should be a safe haven from the violence of mainstream rap. As Bambu makes it clear, the problem isn't that simple. Over a Biggie Smalls sample and swaggering horns, Bambu raps about coming strapped both literally and lyrically:

"I do not condone the killing of our own But I do condone defending yourself from the pigs, home Ask Kaisha Miller who her killer was, you'll see Riverside PD shot til she did not breathe 12 shots hit her point blank right in her chest"

The Biggie sample is no accident, since the late rapper was shot to death. Bambu continues the discussion on "Gunslinger I," describing his gun collection, but clarifying: "I am not advocating what a bullet might bring/I done lost two cousins three homies one uncle/From the little tiny pellets that fly out a gun muzzle." Bambu grew up surrounded by gang culture, and was part of that life before decided to start focusing his energy on more positive pursuits. The song both acknowledges the need to bear arms, and laments the fact that so many people are quick to pull the trigger over nothing. "Remember," he advises, "Fight for your family and change/Stop killing over nothing more than 'What'd you say?'" That song is followed by "Gunslinger II." Fatgums provides a mournful spaghetti western beat for Bambu to spit a tale of his 12-year-old nephew beaten by police. Fatgums cuts in just about every "fuck the police" line in hip hop history, ending with audio footage of Oscar Grant being shot by police on New Year's Day.

Bambu's thoughts on police and guns and violence are much more complicated and intelligent than what I'm used to hearing from the media, much less rappers. He comes from a world where pacifism isn't an option, and where violence is as likely to come from the police as it is from the drug dealers and gang bangers. Bambu has a gritty toughness rounded in intelligence and insight, so he avoids the trap of coming off as either a dumb thug or an intellectual with no real life experience. He applies the same insight to relationships on "Listen," which talks about the need for both partners in a relationship to listen to one another in order to avoid conflict and misunderstanding. The album ends with a eulogy to a dead friend, "Black Smile," which includes phone messages to the deceased. Bambu's rhymes are heartfelt and heartbreaking, and the song stands up with Ice Cube's "Dead Homiez" or UGK's "One Day You're Here, Then You're Gone." Throughout every song on the album, Bambu's never comes off as preachy, and he doesn't drop any awkward or clunky rhymes. He never sacrifieces the music for the message, and he manages to make his message sound good.

Bambu gets a lot of help from Fatgums, who is the perfect partner on this album. A point of reference would be 9th Wonder's work with Murs and Little Brother; both producers know their soul, and are able to spin samples into colorful, banging beats. Fatgums created the beats here while on leave from med school, and as much as I hope that he will be able to finish school and become a doctor, I'd also like him to keep making beats. He's too good on the decks to completely abandon them, even if it is to help people.

"A Peaceful Riot" finds common ground between feel-good, old school worshipping West Coast backpack rap and sun-and-gun drenched L.A. gangsta rap. Bambu tackles big issues without resorting to oversimplification or cliche, and Fatgums keeps it cooking with his soulful beats. This EP is one of the best I've heard this year, and I hope that the duo keep peddling their music.

Music Vibes: 8.5 of 10 Lyric Vibes: 8.5 of 10 TOTAL Vibes: 8.5 of 10

Originally posted: June 2, 2009 source: http://www.rapreviews.com/

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By the way, did anyone catch Conan at the last Laker game?

Conan's kickin it off right as the new Tonight Show host.

Vote For Bambu on MTVU!

bambu's video for "crooks & rooks", directed by patricio ginelsa, premiered this week on mtvU. please click on the banner below to vote for the video to make sure it stays on rotation, it seriously takes a minute, you don't have to sign up for anything:

-tadillac