Supersuckers@ Casbah
Originally from Tucson, the Supersuckers moved to Seattle just before the grunge explosion of late 1991 and 1992. “Though those under-appreciative of the Supersuckers' Satan, Wild West, booze, and heroin imagery may rely on the grunge moniker to pinpoint the group's sound, the Supersuckers are a true power-chord driven punk band, albeit with a penchant for heavy metal posturing.” The band draws their sound from various influences, so much so that this stop in San Diego is yielding two nights – the 1st being “The Rock Show,” the 2nd being “The Country Hoo-Haw.” The Hangmen open both nights.

Mark Farina@ L5 Nightclub
Mark Farina was, is, and will be a permanent fixture within the underground electronic community. Farina was one of the first Chicago house DJs to bridge the gap between their monumental house scene and the fledgling Detroit techno community – he often waxes nostalgic about eating baloney sandwiches and Kool-Aid while crashing on the floor of Kevin Saunderson or Derrick May back in the late 80s, interposing Chicago’s deep soulful melody with Detroit’s mechanized beats to create sounds and productions that would soon become integral to the electronic explosion in the UK and the States. He was a founding member of the legendary Chicago loft scene – alongside the likes of Derrick Carter, Gene Farris, and early SuperJane, Farina and Co. created the parties that would form the foundation of the global Chicago house movement. Farina went on to explore fusing elements of organic jazz with house, creating his “Mushroom Jazz” series which garnered serious critical acclaim - layering West Coast Acid Jazz with the urban beats of his hometown ChiTown, the series, which became a weekly in San Francisco, won him a large following on the West Coast as well as the Midwest. Farina became known for playing a downtempo Mushroom Jazz opening set in the back room of parties, then coming up to the main space to headline and drop chunky four-to-the-floor til close. Wherever he jet sets to, whatever sound he chooses, you can count on Air Farina bringing the true passion and soul of Chicago to the tables.

The Reverend Horton Heat/Detroit Cobras@ Belly Up
Undeniably, the Reverend Horton Heat is a legend in his own time. Signed to Seattle’s fabled SubPop Records, the former home of Soundgarden and Mudhoney, the Reverend’s sound is a supercharged stew of rockabilly, punk, surf guitar, blues and swing, and his live shows are a booze-filled raucous party of blazing guitar work, slap bass and razor sharp punkabilly. Like the Reverend himself says: "If you listen to the band's catalog, you might say there are a few reoccurring themes found in our songs: beer, gin and tonic, whiskey, cocaine, tequila, martinis, marijuana, cigarettes, cars, more beer, pretty women, sermons, cats and dogs, the devil, Texas, and Jimbo. Not to mention steak and dildos. All the good things in life." Amen, Reverend.

The Detroit Cobras take classic and obscure R&B and soul standards and give them a millennium soup job – infusing the rich history of Motown with the Motor City garage revival, the Cobras make some of the smoothest songs blister. “This is definitely nighttime music of a Saturday night variety and should make even the most puritanical feel like sinning.” The Forty Fives open.

Warped Tour@ Coors Amphitheatre
The Warped Tour is celebrating 10 years of punk rock massives – the inaugural summer tour in ‘95 was comprised of skater-friendly bands like Sublime and No Use for a Name, which in combination with multiple half-pipes open for shredding and demos from some of the best skaters on earth, made for a kind of traveling stateside Ibiza for thrashers, minus the serotonin-deprived wankers – Disneyland for punks, for lack of a better term. Though sometimes spending an afternoon at Warped roasting on the asphalt in the parking lot of local amphitheatres feels more like Wally World, once you learn to accept the heat as part of the experience, you can sit down on the flaming ground, enjoy a piping hot burrito, and listen to the Bosstones or Pennywise from a stone’s throw. Or, blow off some steam – literally – in the ever-prevalent pit. Warped Tour has been around for a decade because it’s a gathering place for the subculture of skaters, surfers, bike rats and punks – communities that have always lived amongst each other have one event each year that caters to the things they love most. The latter five years have seen a gradual, uh, depreciation in age of concertgoer, which is undoubtedly a result of the commercial consistency of power punk and emo since the turn of the millenium – but it also never fails to find that drunken skinhead in his 30s skanking his ass off or the bloated oi fan kicking ass in the pit that remind us all what real punks used to look and feel like. And the roster has never been about straight-ahead punk bands – the early years featured lots of ska, funk and hardcore, the later years feature more emo and even hip-hop. Warped is a convention for punk culture, in all its many facets and influences.

This year’s anniversary roster disappointingly doesn’t celebrate by bringing the headliners and favorites of the last ten years, which would have made for a monumental event; but it does boast one of it’s most eclectic rosters ever – from Warped veterans (NewFoundGlory, Bad Religion, NOFX) to emo mainstays (Yellowcard, Thursday, Taking Back Sunday) - LA bands by means of attitude (Ima Robot) or name (Juliette Lewis and the Licks) and even some hip-hop (Atmosphere – hey, they are on Epitaph); rounded out with solid bands like the Vandals, Alkaline Trio, and Guttermouth – this year’s Warped is a great way to celebrate a decade of punk rock parties.

Eek-a-Mouse@ Belly Up
Eek-a-Mouse is a former Trenchtown and San Diego resident, known the world over for his unique reggae style known as “sing-jay” which is a combination of singing and dee-jaying (or toasting, as the rastas call it) while creating unique vocal sound effects. His live performances are always surprising and distinctive, with plenty of vocal improvisations, warm dancehall and roots beats, and outlandish stage costumes. Eek has been known to come dressed as Robin Hood, a Mexican bandit, a gladiator – he has an incredible sense of humor that is reflected not only in his stage attire, but also through his sarcastic, humorous rhymes and energetic stage presence. He recently headlined the SD County Fair's Reggae Day along with Maxi Priest and Beres Hammond. DJ Slowpoke opens.

Mobb Deep@ L5 Nightclub
Amid the burning mid-'90s hardcore rap scene, young Queensbridge, New York duo Mobb Deep towered above their peers, instantly canonized for their influential, trendsetting album: The Infamous. The duo, comprised of Prodigy and Havoc, initially began as just another hardcore rap act, a role the two youths actually typecast themselves as on their rudimentary debut album, Juvenile Hell, and their breakthrough album, The Infamous. The startling latter became a touchstone album among the hardcore rap community, driven by the song "Shook Ones, Pt. 2," a time-tested anthem still sampled and spun today. Mobb Deep became widely known from coast to coast for its hellishly lyrical depiction of New York street life in Queensbridge, the place the duo called home. Mobb Deep's production style also became widely known; driven by haunting melodies and hard-hitting beats, the bleak aural equivalent of the duo's sullen rhymes. By the end of the decade, Mobb Deep's Murda Muzik debuted at number three on the Billboard album chart, exemplifying exactly how far the duo had come without compromising their harsh approach. Soon after attaining this commercial zenith, Mobb Deep's street credibility suffered a blow by Jay-Z in 2001 on the song "Takeover." Yet Prodigy and Havoc bounced back, not by retaliating as Nas had, but by scoring their biggest crossover hit yet, "Hey Luv (Anything)." Mobb Deep has come a long way since the getting slammed by 2Pac on the Hit ‘Em Up track in which Pac released wicked death threats against all of New York city’s biggest rappers. Their beats and intelligent and unparalleled rhymes are as dirty as the Queensbridge Streets that they come from.

Deep Dish@ L5 Nightclub
The global electronic community is a fickle bunch, let me tell you – in Europe, techno has risen while trance has died; in most of the US the opposite is true. Within our stateside scene, you can have a vibrant, eclectic club scene in Chicago, then come to San Diego and see rave culture and club life deeply separated. You have producers who shouldn’t spin (BT – labtop symphony my ass man – stay in the studio!) and DJs who shouldn’t produce (Oakencrap – why doesn’t he just go on tour with N’Sync for Christ’s sake) We have DJs who have become poster boys for the commercial electronic culture (I recently saw Sasha on a Giant LA flyer, laying upside-down on a bed like he was in an Abercrombie ad) and those who wouldn’t touch the US scene with a ten-foot pole (Dave Clarke and until recently, Jeff Mills, arguably the two biggest DJs in Europe, haven’t spun in the US outside of DEMF in over a decade) And then of course there was the pigeonhole epidemic of the early millennium (I heard Danny Tenaglia once describe his sound as “tribal-tech-house-trance” in a GU interview) that further separated the electronic community. Ibiza is a trance island; Detroit is a techno town. Does anyone get love across the board?

Ali and Sharam do. Deep Dish is a name that gets respect everywhere – from Miami to Singapore to Buenos Aires. From the candy kids to the chinscratchers to the club bangers. From their production work, to their record label, to their tag sets. From tribal to progressive to techno. No artist can transcend all facets of electronic culture as deeply and consistently as the DC duo has over the last five years. Their mix compilations become instant masterpieces – both their Moscow compilation and their recent double-disc Toronto installment of the Global Underground series are already classics. They can remix someone as cheesy as Justin Timberlake, yet Sven Vath will still ask for the Yoshitoshi touch. They spun at last year’s Coachella, and this year’s Movement. Their sets often start with a percussive tribal reminiscent of DT, and can build over a ten-hour period into a frenzy of bangin’ tech-house. Deep Dish is one name that gets love the world over - whether you’re a studio rat, a rekkid selecta or a club kid, Ali and Sharam will take you there.

MC5@ Casbah
Detroit, Michigan has produced some of the most relevant, influential, and timeless music of the last century. The output of original sounds and productions, genres, styles and artists changed the course of modern music invariably – from the groundbreaking production of the Motown sound, to the evolution of electronica via the birth of techno, and the heavy metal heyday of the late 70s – from Marvin and the Supremes to Iggy and the Nuge, from the Belleville Four to the Wizard and Plastikman – the Motor City has left an indelible imprint on the last fifty years of music. And the MC5 embody all that is Detroit – dirty, industrial, volatile, unstable, influential, mysterious, revolutionary and beautiful, all at the same time.

The Motor City Five – “One of the most electrifying acts to ever storm a rock stage, the MC5's Detroit performances in the late 60s are legend. Their debut album, Kick Out the Jams, set a high-energy sonic standard rarely matched in the thirty years since its release. The MC5's uncompromising stance and radical affiliations placed them, briefly, at the musical forefront of a generation bent on political and cultural change. In the midst of the most turbulent years in our nation's history, the MC5 embraced the promise and embodied the possibilities of a real American Revolution.” Wayne Kramer and MC5 exploded out of the Motor City, smack dab in the middle of the psychedelic revolution, and brought a frenetic sound and performance that resonated for generations. “A new sound, unbelievably loud and hard, yet sensuous, with a strong and original feel for black music. At a time when this country resonated with the conflicting voices of rebellion and repression, the MC5 represented the musical expression of the most radical elements of a cultural revolution. Born of a place where violent labor militancy, black insurgency, and the roar of machinery were real elements of the environment, Detroit's MC5 fused the liberating spirit of high-energy rock and roll with the strident politics of confrontation, applying the counterculture's exploration of consciousness and the senses, energy and spirit, to an older and more traditional kind of Rock & Roll and R&B. Combined with a penchant for high-energy experimentation, an innate sense of showmanship, and a distinctly-Detroit work ethic, the MC5 crafted a presentation which stunned, shocked and electrified anyone who was lucky enough to witness it.

Now, the Detroit millennium garage rock revival has made MC5’s cultural and musical relevance even more pressing – and with it comes the release of “MC5 – a True Testimonial” – a documentary weaving the untold stories of this mythical band – “exploring the tension between the idealistic goals of an exploding counterculture and the demands of a commercial marketplace, celebrating the band's accomplishments and high-energy aesthetic, examining the factors that contributed to the rise and fall of the MC5.” Now Wayne Kramer and the surviving members of MC5 are back to reclaim their place in the history of rock and revolution – and we’ve got a place at the table set for them.

The editors at CultivateLife pride ourselves on maintaining the utmost integrity in the events we promote and review, as well as the artists that create them, and the community that supports them. Our mission is to create an honest channel for genuine expression, free of the constrictions and manipulations that often obscure and repress a pure artistic vision; and the manner in which we represent these outlets of art are to reflect the honest and genuine emotion of our community as well. Bottom line - no bullshit allowed. No bullshit, and, no bullshit. We are a genuine community of artists, writers, film aficionados, promoters, music lovers, and life lovers. The honesty and purity of the art we represent has to be presented in a manner that also reflects a similar integrity. There cannot be dillution, there cannot be bias, and there also can not be fence-riding. None of those tenets exhibits honest expression of emotion. This is the very essence of CultivateLife.

So when it came to the task of reviewing a movie as polarizing as "Fahrenheit 9/11," we had to give the matter some thought. The first issue we had to circumvent was injecting our own personal political beliefs or opinions of Michael Moore into the review. The second matter was reviewing it in a manner that reflects the emotions this movie, the issues it addresses, and it's producer create HONESTLY amongst our community - which meant no fence riding, no non-partisan half-baked PC review. So, we can't espouse our own personal beliefs on the matter, yet we can't dance around the issue...what to do?

Ultimately we decided on the only way to satisfy all criteria - leaving the editors' personal beliefs on the sideline, while maintaining the integrity and honesty of our publication and the community it connects - is to first let members of the CultivateLife community be the ones to contribute the reviews, and to have them come from perspectives that reflect the truly polarizing nature of Michael Moore, George Bush, and the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Because the truth is, very little middle ground exists in our country and population today regarding these issues. Not in a century has our country been so vehemently divided on an issue. And while many corporate publications are bound to remain non-partisan, our only responsibility as an organization is to reflect honest emotion.

It is with that in mind that we present two equally compelling reviews of Michael Moore's movie Fahrenheit 9/11 - it is our hope that through this representation of the polar emotions that divide us today, we can better understand one another.

Right Review | Left Review

If there is one thing I do appreciate about Michael Moore it is that he is (in practice, if not in rhetoric) a full-fledged capitalist. He may not admit this, but judge a man by his actions, not his words. Despite the fact that Disney informed him over a year ago that they would not be distributing Fahrenheit 9/11, he waited until just before Cannes to charge censorship. Some call that lying for profits, I call it splendid marketing! And he is leaving no stone unturned when it comes to helping him market; in fact, he has accepted an offer from the terrorist organization Hezbollah to help distribute the film in the Middle East. As his distributor, Front Row has explained, "We can't go against these organizations as they could strongly boycott the film in Lebanon and Syria." Of course, Moore wouldn't want to rebuff these people because he may lose out on the huge box office receipts of a first run film in third world Lebanon…and why are they so eager to help Moore anyway? Because his film helps advance their radical Islamic cause, of course. Oh, but Michael Moore is not anti-American, he's just anti-Bush. Right. That explains these sentiments he posted to his website in April cheerleading for the Iraqi insurgency:

"The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not "insurgents" or "terrorists" or "The Enemy." They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow -- and they will win."

These so called revolutionaries are targeting members of the new governing council, sabotaging infrastructure, beheading civilians, suicide bombing massive Shi’ite holy gatherings and attacking U.S. soldiers while using civilians as shields. Last week saw the massacre of another 100+ Iraqi civilians at the hands of ‘the revolution.’ The terrorist goal is not a peaceful democratic Iraq, but a chaotic one, where the bloody status quo of the Middle East continues. And Michael Moore is cheering for them. He is cheering against himself. But that’s not new - it is merely his cognitive dissonance on full display. He made his name and fortune espousing the evils of capitalism and declares the American Dream a Pipe Dream. Yet he himself has lived the American dream that his movies insist is a farce. He didn’t grow up with money, but he took a risk and sold his house to finish “Roger and Me;” because of that he is a multi-millionaire living in some of the most prime real estate in Manhattan while sending his children to top private schools. Still though, he manages to rail against the capitalist system that has provided him so much material wealth and a platform (steel reinforced I hope) to spout from. Thanks to the ingenuity of Michael Moore, anti-capitalism has gone commercial!

In the interest of full disclosure I wrote the above before seeing Fahrenheit 9/11. Those are my Moore biases - he has a deserved reputation of playing loose with the facts (SpinSanity - a bipartisan media watchdog - has documented many of these) so I am expecting more of the same. I am expecting to leave angry and offended as well, but I will do my best to enjoy it with an open mind. Here goes.

Post Viewing
Well, I didn’t leave offended and I wasn’t really angry. I left the movie kind of confused. That was it? Was that really a documentary? (Loosely, I think of a documentary as the camera comes on and the reality unfolds….?) I don’t know how I expected to feel but it wasn’t like this. Fahrenheit 911 was a disjointed mix of clips taken out context (who knows what context though?) and cut and pasted in who knows what order. The movie was full of what could be best described as garden variety ad hominems. We see Wolfowitz, Bush, Cheney, et al caught in awkward off camera moments, having make-up applied and trying to keep their eyebrows looking neat. There are absolutely harrowing scenes of war carnage juxtaposed with a laughing George Bush at a fundraising dinner. But there is nothing uniquely George Bush about those images, all political figures attend fundraisers and they all wear make-up when they speak on television and anyone will look awkward in those pre-camera moments if given enough chances.

To my surprise I was not struck by any glaring factual inaccuracies, but perhaps the most relevant contributor to his lack of inaccuracies is that he never really posits any substantial arguments. It is just a weak attempt to construct one conspiracy theory after another based on the most circumstantial of evidence and perhaps an occasional well placed exaggeration.

But the overarching suggestion of the film is clearly the corrupt nature of the relationships between the Bush Family, Oil Business, and by extension the House of Saud. The Bush family is in the oil business you see, and if you are in the oil business you are definitely going to do business with the Saudis. And if your family does business with the Saudis, then you are therefore corrupted by them and must begin examination of every policy from the perspective of “what would benefit the Saudis.” So goes the implication. Moore takes care to point out that 12 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis, bin-Laden is a Saudi national, therefore Saudis must have been complicit in 9/11 (though for what it is worth the 9/11 commission also disputes this). I am no fan of the Saudi government, but it goes without saying that foreign policy is a precarious endeavour. This relationship precedes both of the Bush presidencies and the unfortunate reality is that the harm the Saudi government can do is greater than the harm they have already done. To complicate matters, the House of Saud has a tenuous grip on power, if they were to fall, the country would fall under Islamic Militant rule. That’s worse than what is there now, an important consideration to make. Not all of our allies will be perfect - the lesser of all evils is sometimes the best choice. We aligned with Stalin to defeat Hitler, and yes in the 80's, we aligned with Hussein against a country that just took a bunch of Americans hostage. Without a doubt the U.S. is too close to the Saudis - all recent administrations have been guilty of that. Does that mean that there is a secret alliance between the Bush administration and the Saudi royal family to protect the mass murderers of Al-Qaeda so that Bush and his friends can make money? Moore doesn't come close to proving this.

So we move to Afghanistan, which at the time, Moore was against going into. I'm not sure what he thinks now. He suggests that the real reason we went there was because Unocal wanted to build a pipeline to transport natural gas across the region. He points to a visit by a delegation from the Taliban in 1997 to explore this, and the visit did indeed happen but they (Taliban) did not meet with Bush as the film strongly implies. As a matter of fact the delegation met with Clinton administration officials. What's more is that Unocal gave up on their plans for the pipeline in 1998 deeming it too risky. But we dodged a fight with the real perpetrators of 9/11 (Saudis) in order to invade and then build a pipeline (that no one wants to build) through Afghanistan? That’s the suggestion.

So he opposed the action. But then Moore goes on to lament that we didn't go into Afghanistan fast enough or with enough ruthlessness. He says that most of Al-Qaeda got away (which is not true - the evidence offered is footage of a bunch of armed Arabs in a pick-up truck driving away) and that we gave bin-Laden a two-month head start. Which is it though? Are the terrorists a serious threat or is it the government that is crying wolf?

So, we move to Iraq. This is perhaps the most absurdly misleading part of the film. The portrayal of Iraq as a happy shining city on a hill where kids fly kites in the sun all day could not be more inappropriate. This is a country where torture and rape were institutionalized, a country where those that fill the mass graves are rewarded. It was a country where unimaginable fear ruled the day. Moore then refers to the invasion of what he calls a "sovereign" Iraq, but Saddam Hussein came to power via the barrel of a gun and maintained it through torture and massacre. What possible moral claim to sovereignty does he have? Moore says Hussein never killed a U.S. citizen. Right he only shot at the planes patrolling the no fly zone every day for ten years, and only provided support and sanctuary for terrorists that have and endless stream of innocent Western blood on their hands. And Al Capone only evaded taxes.

There are of course, the clips of Powell, Bush, Cheney, et al asserting that Saddam was in possession of WMD's. Again I could show you just as many clips of Al Gore, Bill Clinton, Jacques Chirac, Madeline Albright, and John Kerry asserting the exact same thing. It was conventional wisdom for the last 10 years. What does it prove? Were they all liars? Are we to believe that they were all part of the Bush conspiracy as far back as 1998? Conspicuously absent again is any mention of Husseins countless U.N. security council violations, no mention of a unanimous vote that required Saddam Hussein to comply with the rules or face "serious consequences" no mention of the U.S. Congress overwhelmingly authorizing President Bush to use force on Saddam Hussein. No mention that, in a post 9/11 world, it is an intolerable risk to take Saddam's word for it when it comes to chemical and biological weapons. No mention that there was a tremendous lack of serious alternatives for dealing with the problem.

If there was one redeeming quality of this film it is that it showed the very terrible costs of going to war. Dead babies, mothers wailing, angry men cursing America. The devastation felt by Mrs. Lipscomb, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq, as she struggles to rationalize the death of her son was a tear jerker, one of the few scenes that didn't appear dishonestly packaged for effect, as were the graphic pictures of the dead and wounded. But in supporting this war, I had already considered those costs; I knew that because of a policy that I support, innocent children, civilians, and soldiers would die, some of them horrifically. It is a sad thing to be sure, but the reality is that the standard is not perfection, it is the alternative. Once again, the alternative is much much worse. That is the real Iraq - one littered with mass graves, the one with no hope for a future until we did something. View the pictures of mass graves and you’ll see 300,000 Mr. Lipscombs. If Michael Moore wants to engage in the cold calculus of body count, he will come up on the very short end. Saddam was responsible for killing at least 20,000 people a year. Think ten years forward and do the math. Unless Moore wants to make the argument that a random American life is worth more than a random Iraqi life, he doesn't have a leg to stand on.

By the end of the film, I was having trouble taking it seriously. It was loaded with bluster and innuendo. Frozen head shots of Bush with Michael Moore voiceover suggesting what Bush “might” be thinking. Mocking (and deservedly so) of the silly individuals trying to market parachutes to jump out of sky scrapers, one person guarding hundreds of miles in an Oregon border working part time, woeful encounters with airport security that we’ve all witnessed, including the inexplicable allowing of matches on board a plane (he makes the suggestion that airport security is lax on this issue because the tobacco companies have paid off Bush, I swear). Alternating clips of Bush saying "Iraq" in one speech then "Al Qaeda" in another, repeat five times, speed up for effect. U.S. soldiers portrayed alternatively as buffoonish killing machines in one scene and naïve exploited kids in another. This is the profound Michael Moore? It sounds like something one would here from those cackling hens on “The View.” It all comes across as rather glib, and lacking any sort of intellectual depth; nothing new is offered to the political discourse of the day.

In various interviews, Michael Moore has called his film a comedy, an op-ed piece, and even had the audacity to say it wasn’t political. Maybe he is simply a savvy businessman. He seized on the insatiable need for anti-Americanism in France and parlayed it into Palme d'Or he and has carried that momentum to the American screen. Want to talk about war-profiteering? Exploiting the Iraq invasion and American political distress to the tune of a $22 million is just that, at least by Moore's standards. Oh and Ralph Nader calling you a sellout doesn't help. And how bad can the country really be when it makes its harshest dissidents multi-millionaires?

Forget the petty politics of the moment though, as history will be the final judge on the veracity of Moore’s characterization of events. If 10 years from now Iraq is a mess that we are still trying to get out of then he may be vindicated. On the other hand, if 10 years from now (what would have been about year 5 of those charming sons Uday and Qusay's rule in Moore’s world) we leave Iraq a free and prosperous society (as we left Japan and Germany), Moore will have landed squarely on the wrong side of history.

You can read the unabridged version of this review at the Freedom's Fidelity website.

Read the left review

So, this is the time when the release of Michael Moore's new movie 'Fahrenheit 9/11' shows nationwide to a sea of politically-dope minded souls reaching further and further out into the void for tangible evidence that either the 'liberals' are liars, or the 'conservatives' are. And like the tidal wave of propaganda that has been crushing Americans daily about who is right, who is wrong and how can we maintain our edge over one another, the discussion concerning Moore's movie has followed suit.

So it was my turn at the box office. My turn to decide whether I was going to continue to dislike the Bush administration and add my fuel to the fire scorching the common grounds between the left and right of this amazing country of ours. And since I have many liberal views and am soaked with emotion due to the political climate of the hour, I found myself honoring the emotions that fulfill who we are. In very short, the movie moved me to no end and I loved it. I sat weeping several times throughout the movie, wondering why I had never seen a movie before that had made me cry more than once while watching it. And I thought of my anger for our divided nation, as I focused in on the devastating video footage and heartbreaking stories being told of lost lives, both civilian and military, accrued during 9/11, and the Afghan and Iraqi conflicts.

I feel that this movie wasn’t made for us to either like or dislike. This is to say, our normal viewing of films usually leave us with a sensation of “oh, I really liked that!” or, “That was horrible”. But what this movie does is different. Because the Iraqi conflict continues to this day, and because George W. Bush is still our President, we have been given the opportunity to reflect upon our current situation. This movie is a documentary of our living history for the past 4 years. So with this unique vision, we can zero in on how we are represented in the world, and what changes need to be made. It also allows us to comprehend the magnitude of the heightened emotions we live in today.

I felt so much sorrow and pain during the course of this film in regards to what the people who defend us have had to live through. The soldiers that did not choose this war sat front and center as Michael Moore showed us how they got there and how we sent them there. I wept endlessly as a U.S. soldier’s mother cried and confronted her greatest fears in life as she recounted her son’s tragic death and her cry for him just to come home. And my heart fell out of my chest when many Iraqi citizens poured out into the streets to talk to cameramen about their loved ones who had been crushed by explosives supposedly meant for strategic military targets.

We have reached a moment in our lives my friends, where the question of whether we should be divided or united lies, and it’s time that it stopped.

Moore uses real-life photography to recreate scenes for us to become immersed in, so that we may confront so many distanced fears that we wished we could deny ourselves their reality, because the pain of the truth is so difficult to feel. He puts us on the battlefield and in the minds of soldiers and loved ones that would normally be so isolated from us to see. And by the use of stock footage and the affected families’ words, he gives this movie something to believe in - war is ugly and we should always remember that.

And as the movie rolled on, I thought more and more about how Michael Moore has really said something profound with his little movie. He accomplished so much with his incredible montage of footage, and, did it without dominating the camera, words, and the spotlight. Many critics, including those who liked ‘Bowling for Columbine’, thought that Moore’s constant background chatter and appearance in almost every scene, took away from his message concerning gun regulation and American violence. But ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’ eludes this criticism and leaves the visuals to speak for him.

Some may be reading this review and saying, “…okay, but what about Michael Moore’s true objective with this movie...the destruction of George W. Bush?” Don’t worry - I was thinking that I would save the best for last! And although I personally felt more emotion and passion during ‘9/11s’ sentimental points, I couldn’t help myself but feel complete and utter betrayal from our un-elected president and his administration. I shook my head, unknowingly, at the video showing the stuttering words coming out of Bush’s mouth and his inability to collectively put them together in a cohesive sentence. But this to me isn’t why I dislike him. Because I know that in every media archive there are plenty of outtakes portraying Presidents past and present as imbeciles. What makes me dislike him is that I feel a President should show eloquence in a time of sorrow, strength in a time of weakness, and to always make considerations for the people whom he leads that are not, and will never be, in a position to be heard. The images in ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’ depict none of these. They show a man who chose to stay and read about a goat instead of ordering our military to take any steps necessary to defend our country from attack. They show a man who made decisions to attack a foreign country with erroneous evidence and on the backs of the patriotic momentum that lingered after the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. And they show a man who gave tax cuts to the richest 1% of our country, benefiting the ultra-elite and devastating the lives of the poor.

And although all these things that Michael Moore portrayed are true, the movie still didn’t come across as a scream, or a fuming tirade of protesting rage. It lets the facts be the facts, and the emotions speak for themselves. And one thing is for sure - we are all responsible for the actions we take, Presidents included.

I do have one thing that I thought could have been added to this movie and that was a conversation about the division in this country between liberal and conservative. This is the most important political issue that we live through today. A nation that continues to argue is blinded to the amount of control that they are losing each day. While our leaders fuel our debate, they continue to make business deals that pollute our environment, deregulate our industries, and heave the beyond-expensive burden of the country on our backs. So the imperative question I have for Michael Moore is - why he didn’t use this film to have us ask ourselves how can we uphold a “majority rule with minority rights” condition, when we have to decide whether we are “with us, or against us?”

We have reached a point in our history where we have to decide whether or not we want our government to work for us and how. I want to feel like a voice among millions of other voices and I want to feel empowered. I want us to regain the power, not just from George W. Bush, and not just for John Kerry. I want to feel honest again.
I also think that it’s time for a change. This plan of ours isn’t working. Our government hasn’t shared with us an idea of how we’re going to change the world around us without telling others what is right and what is wrong. They’ve only led us to believe that they are always thinking of us, and that they’ll protect us from immorality.

I want us all to feel freedoms in our life. My freedoms don’t require me to continue to pull our nation apart politically, nor do they require me to vote liberally my entire life. I honestly believe that the freedom that I hold being liberal is enough for me to vote for a republican candidate should I agree with their positions or have insight into how their leadership would work for the betterment of our country. And like ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’, we have the ability to be honest with ourselves once again.

WEIGH THE FACTS AND VOTE THIS NOVEMBER.

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Garden State@ Landmark Hillcrest Cinemas (drama) FREE
A free Sneak Preview Screening of the acclaimed writing and directorial debut of actor Zach Braff. Braff also stars in this story of a young man who returns back home for his mother's funeral after being estranged from his family for a decade. As the first film to be purchased for distribution at Sundance this year, Garden State also stars Natalie Portman and Peter Sarsgaard.

Plan on staying in your seat for a post screening Q&A with Writer, Director and Star, Zach Braff. Seating is on a first-come basis and cannot be guaranteed so arrive early!

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(do not watch this trailer if your coporate job has a policy against getting chills at work)

Riding Giants@ Landmark Hillcrest Cinemas (documentary)
Director Stacy Peralta (Dogtown and Z-Boys) follows a group of extraordinary adventurerssurfers who began searching for bigger and bigger waves, pushing the boundaries of performance. Featuring Greg "The Bull" Noll, whose determination to surf Hawaii's "unridden realm" earned him his nickname; Jeff Clark, Northern California's lone frontiersman who, after discovering the massive waves of Maverick's near San Francisco, rode there alone for over a decade; and Hawaii's Laird Hamilton, the prototypical "extreme" surfer, an athlete/innovator considered the best big wave rider who ever waxed a board.

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De-Lovely@ Landmark Hillcrest Cinemas (drama)
In director Irwin Winkler's original musical portrait of American composer Cole Porter (Kevin Kline), Porter looks back on his life as if it was one of his spectacular stage shows. Through his legendary songs, Porter's excessive past comes to lightincluding his deeply complicated relationship with his wife and muse, Linda Porter (Ashley Judd). Co-starring Jonathan Pryce and featuring special appearances by Natalie Cole, Elvis Costello, Sheryl Crow, Diana Krall, Alanis Morissette and Robbie Williams. Written by Jay Cocks (Gangs of New York).

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American Graffiti@ San Diego Museum of Art (comedy/drama)
A film directed by George Lucas in 1973 showcasing youthful Harrison Ford, Richard Dreyfuss, Suzanne Somers, Ron Howard -- screens for outdoor film series at San Diego Museum of Art at dusk on Thursday, July 8. Films screen on museum's east lawn. Free.

Tribe of Kings – Weeklies – (Reggae)
The Tribe of Kings just don’t QUIT! And the spaces they’re now locking down are a testament to their ethic. Keeping the island riddims steady almost every night of the week, the TOK crew now comes correct in L5’s back room on Friday nights, which have already been representing the best in hip-hop past, present and future. And with Sidebar on Tuesdays and their now-legendary Downtown Top Rankin’ at Shaker Room on Sunday nights, the Tribe of Kings are making sure our souls are irie with the best in dubstyle, conscious dancehall, roots reggae, hip-hop and every damn bit inbetween:

Mondays @ Dub Dynamite @ Bar Dynamite
Tuesdays @ SideBar
Wednesday @ How The West Was One @ Martini Ranch - Encinitas
Thursdays Hi-Grade @ Galoka 
Reggae & Hip Hop Fridays @ L5 Nightclub
Legendary Downtown Top Rankin' @ Shaker Room on Sunday nights

The Wearhaus Fashion Experience
Friday, July 2 from 6:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m @ Ventanas
The goal of Wearhaus is to develop a network of local San Diego designers who can learn, create and prosper together as a community. Wearhaus wants to unite these local designers with boutiques, organizations and companies in the San Diego area that they can not only gain from but also give back to. The five local designers who created Wearhaus include Sally Smith of "Sally Bee", Vanessa Salazar of "Alterwear", Julie Anstedt of "Rambunctious Designs", Krystina Grammatica of "Grammatique" and Carman Stalker of "Stalker Designs".

The Wearhaus Fashion Experience was organized to introduce up-and-coming local designers via a one-of-a-kind event including live performances, a runway fashion show, DJs, vendor booths and much, much more. This event was created by five local designers who want to unite San Diego's independent designers and offer the consumer a new, fresh way of shopping. After participating in many shows in the San Diego and Los Angeles areas, and being held back by the large amounts of money necessary to be in several different shows, Wearhaus set out to create something inexpensive, beneficial and worthwhile for designers.

The Fashion Experience will take place at Ventanas at 338 Seventh Avenue between J and K Streets. Kick off time is 6:00 p.m., first fashion show at 8:00 p.m., second fashion show at 10:00 p.m. with live musicians and performers between the two shows. At least 5 DJs from Merge Events will be spinning along with visuals for a projection show. Instead of a normal runway fashion show there will be a few interesting twists planned to keep people intrigued and on the edge of their seats. Models and performers will be interacting with the crowd.

Urban Tribal Dance Company
Saturday, July 3rd
The gypsy dance troupe performs at "korova", 4496 park blvd., san diego. two show times: 7:30 and 8:30pm. $5 cover

S/he's Gender Bent: Exploring Sexuality and Gender Identity through Art
The S/he Collective is accepting submissions from women-identified artists, film makers, musicians, crafters, workshop leaders, dancers, poets, you name it, for the 3rd annual art and action festival.

To submit your work/craft/workshop idea, print out and fill in the submission form and artist release at www.theshecollective.org. Make sure to describe how you feel your work or your practice of art contests gender. Artist participation is $10 and will be required upon acceptance to the festival. Submissions must be postmarked by July 15, 2004

Milford Wayne Donaldson
Faia Pre-fab Plastic Phenomena: Prototypes for a Modern Age

Architect Milford Wayne Donaldson, appointed in April by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as the new California State Historic Preservation Officer, will lecture about a period in 20th century architectural history when plastics began to be used for their innate characteristics rather than just as substitutes for "natural" materials. This trend was exemplified by the Monsanto House at Disneyland in the late 1950s and culminated in the Futuro House, designed by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen in 1969—a UFO-shaped structure, initially created for use as a ski-cabin or holiday home. The design reflects the optimism of the time, when people believed technology could solve all problems of the human race. The ideal was of a new era, a "space-age," and the planned mass-produced Futuro was constructed entirely out of reinforced plastic, a new, light, and inexpensive material. However, the 1973 oil crisis raised the cost of plastic and production costs were too high for this utopian project to be profitable. Only a handful of Futuro houses still remain.

Wayne Donaldson's state appointment caps decades of distinguished architectural design work as a historic preservation specialist. From 1978 he was president of the firm Architect Milford Wayne Donaldson (now Heritage Architecture & Planning), and has been an active member in many preservation organizations, including San Diego's Save Our Heritage Organization (SOHO). With Richard Gluckman, FAIA, Donaldson has designed MCASD's new downtown museum adjacent to the Santa Fe Depot, overseeing historical restoration of what is now the Jacobs Building.

Thursday, July 8, 7PM MCASD La Jolla, Free to MCASD, AIA, and Soho members; $5 general public

Adult African Dance Class
World Beat Center
Develop your talent and repertoire with expert teacher, dancer & choreographer Kiki Ogulu. Dance to ecstatic rhythms of Lion King master drummer Nana Yaw Asiedu, with Menelik, Babacar & friends. Sat. 1:30 & Sun. 2:00 at the WorldBeat Center. $12, call 619-424-7242.

Monstropoly
The Object of is to maintain your freedom and stay out of jail; it's described as "a fun, exciting, interactive show about going to jail." Eveoke Dance Theatre productions onstage in Horton Plaza's Lyceum Space, through July 17.  Performances begin at 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays; 2 p.m. on Sundays; $25 general; pay-what-you-can one hour before curtain on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Sundays. 619-544-1000.

San Diego U.S. Open Sandcastle Competition
Sunday, July 11
Featuring professional and amateur sandcarving teams competing. Competition: 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; street festival, live music and entertainment (starting at 9 a.m.). Festivities get underway with parade at 10 a.m. on Saturday, July 10; Imperial Beach Optimist's Kids-n-Kastles competition at 2 p.m. Fireworks after sunset. Free. 619-424-3151.

Voz Alta
917 F St, Downtown San Diego

Saturday, July 10th
Manual 4 Existance
Manual 4 Existence is a conscious open mic for hip hop,spoken word, and poetry. Hosted by Ummah of San Diego and Jama'at of Shehu Uthman Dan Fuduye-San Diego Chapter. UMMAH OF SAN DIEGO is a non-profit, religious organization dedicated "to learning and teaching traditional Islamic sciences and principles for the empowerment of self family and community. Jama'at of Shehu Uthman Dan Fuduye.

Tuesdays, July 13th, 27nd
Brujas y Bellas
A Women's Writing Group Brujas y Bellas is a collective of women supporting one another in finding and refining their creative voice. They meet the 2nd & 4th Tuesday of every month. All genres welcome. For more info contact escritoras@vozalta.org, 7pm (Donations accepted)


Friday, July 23rd
The Science of Blowing Up
The Science of Blowing Up: preaching chaos in one of america's most conservative cities. Now your rum guzzling captain Jazz promises a night of lunatic fringe antics and the best spoken word in the country with local swash-buckling thinkers Michael Klam, Cecil Hayduke, and Jimmy Jazz. www.resistmuch.com 8:00 p.m. - $5.00 donation