Contents
Publisher Paul Blake paul@columbiacitypaper.com
April 6, 2011 VOLUME 6 Issue 21
the longest war
p. 3
ARTS EDITOR Judit Trunkos jtrunkos@columbiacitypaper.com
News.Politics.Commentary. Commentary GOP has more job security than any union regional news greenville silences its harshest critic cover celebrating 10 years of spreading democracy with bombs in Afghanistan vocal booth Nathaniel ‘Nate Dogg’ Hale news 25 Years After Chernobyl books As China Goes, So Goes the World
3 4 6 10 11 12 13
colatheater.com S.M. Baleem, Garrett Kellerhals Design Lisa Corbin Music Kingsley Waring Pg. 4
Movies.Entertainment.Etc. soundboard punk/indie/emo/ska/hardcore/metal/rock movie times Music mash out posse at NBT savage love adult sex advice Jonesin Crosswords Cartoons Derf & Red Meat Sudoku
10 12 12 13 14 14 15
Account Executives James Wallace, Jen Snyder DISCLAIMER: The crosshairs depicted on the front cover are really just geological surveyor marks. Wink-wink, SP. Contributors S.M. Baleem, Garrett Kellerhals, WR Marshall, Todd Morehead, Will Moredock, Ted Rall, Dan Savage, Kingsley Waring, Baynard Woods
Pg. 10
Columbia City Paper 2965 North Main Street Columbia, SC 29201 803.218.9455 (dial area code)
Advertisers in Columbia City Paper assume responsibility for the entire content of the advertisements. The first copy of Columbia City Paper is free. Additional copies are $1 and two-bits each. Views expressed do not necessarily represent the opinions of Columbia City Paper or its publisher. (C) Columbia City Paper, LLC
Ultimately, we get the government we deserve. The cynicism with which white people go to the polls and vote Republican in this state is matched only by the cynicism with which those elected Republicans betray the voters who put them in office. The Nikki Haley administration is barely two months old and the pattern is clearly repeating itself. Mark Sanford was the most recent GOP wonder boy, twice elected governor with overwhelming majorities. He mouthed the Republican platitudes of small government, low taxes, family values. But as the world now knows, he also had a mistress in Argentina and he abandoned his office – abandoned his state – to visit her there in 2009, while lying about his whereabouts, and authorizing no one to act for him in case of an emergency. When the ruse was exposed, both the governor and the state were reduced to punchlines in the national media. Yet the GOPdominated Legislature took only the mild measure of censuring him; no serious effort was made to remove him from office. It has been suggested that one reason the solons did not bring impeachment charges against Sanford was that the person in line replac him was Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, another GOP whiz kid, an amazingly callow and self-indulgent young man, now remembered primarily for his reckless driving and flying. But the white people of South Carolina demonstrated that they had learned nothing from the experience. They were ready to elect to the highest offices in the state anyone who recited the GOP mantra of small government and low taxes. And so they elected Republicans down the line, putting GOPers in all nine statewide executive offices, and extending the Republican majority to more than 60 percent of the General Assembly. Most significantly to many observers, they turned out 28-year
congressional veteran John Spratt from his House District 5 seat, replacing him with a York County real estate developer who had a record of sleazy and questionable dealings. Spratt was chairman of the powerful House Committee on the Budget and one of the most respected members of Congress. But he was a Democrat and that wasn’t good enough for the white folks of South Carolina. Now we have Gov. Nikki Haley. Even before she was elected there were serious questions about her marital fidelity and her business practices. But when Sarah Palin swept into town to anoint her at a rally on the steps of the Statehouse, white people got the message. They gave her the gubernatorial nomination over four male opponents, and elected her governor over an
about her character and if she was hiding income from the IRS, she might have much bigger problems. More recently, she removed from the University of South Carolina Board of Trustees one Darla Moore, the greatest benefactor in the history of the school, having given $70 million over the years. She replaced Moore with a friend who had donated $9,000 to her gubernatorial campaign. Her only explanation was that she wanted “fresh eyes” on the board. Again, nothing criminal or impeachable, but the behavior certainly puts Haley’s judgment in question. So far the General Assembly has no reason to consider removing her, but if it should, who is standing by to replace her? Lt. Gov. Ken Ard was elected overwhelmingly last November in the GOP sweep. He brought little experience to the job: two terms on Florence County Council. But he has brought a lot of baggage. T h e Associated Press reports that the state Ethics Commission has accused Ard of 92 ethics violations, including using campaign funds to pay personal expenses. Ard has hired an attorney. His friends and former colleagues in Florence County defend his integrity, saying any shortcomings were errors and oversights, but it should make reasonable people wonder if a man who could not run his campaign for lieutenant governor is ready to run the office of lieutenant governor – or even the office above that. But the white people of South Carolina are not losing any sleep over this question. They know there is a Republican in office and that is all they want to know. Any further information would be irrelevant. talkback@columbiacitypaper.com
“Haley removed Darla Moore, the greatest benefactor in the history of the school, having given $70 million over the years. She replaced Moore with a friend who had donated $9,000 to her gubernatorial campaign. Her only explanation was that she wanted “fresh eyes” on the board.” appealing and moderate young Democrat. Palin’s own ethical and intellectual failings were never an issue for the majority of white voters. Since taking office, Haley has already found herself in two messy pieces of business. Columbia journalists obtained Haley’s application for employment from her last job and tax records from the job prior to that. In applying for the new job at Lexington Medical Center, she claimed to be making $125,000 a year at her old job and expected as much at Lexington Medical. In fact, tax records showed she claimed only $22,000 a year in that previous job. Was this a crime? No. An impeachable offense? Hardly. But it does say something
February 24, 2010
3
Opinion By Dan Ruck Greenville, SC – Greenville County’s most prominent critic, the colorful and outspoken former county councilman Tony Trout, is in jail again, but not for as long as he might have been. Trout was convicted in state court in Greenville March 31 on charges of attempting to influence a grand jury. A judge sentenced him to six months behind bars, but the defiant Trout was found not guilty of misconduct in office – a misdemeanor for which he could have served 10 years – and his lawyer said after the trial that with good conduct Trout might be free in three months. Although the state might not have muzzled this rebel for as long as it wanted, it appears to have accomplished its objective because Trout told the judge while appealing for a reduced sentence, “I’ve learned my lesson. You’ll never hear from Tony Trout again. I’m going to spend the rest of my life quietly with my son and family.” Despite that appeal, 13th Circuit Court Judge D. Garrison “Gary” Hill sentenced Trout to a maximum of six months. He probably will spend most of that time at the South Carolina Detention Center in Columbia, according to Trout’s lawyer, Ken Gibson.
Kernell, dithered over the idea, citing cost considerations. Then, after the International Olympic Committee decided that the Olympic Torch should not be carried through Greenville because the county was one of the few, if not the only, counties in the country which had not created a King holiday, Trout along with current county council chairman H.G. “Butch” Kirven was elected and one of their first actions in office was to provide the deciding votes in favor of the holiday. So Trout’s tenure as a county councilman started off on an adversarial basis with Kernell and bitter King holiday opponents former councilman Scott Case and current council vice chairman Bob Taylor. Things quickly went downhill from there. One of Trout’s 2004 election campaign issues had been the state of Greenville County’s $11.6 million roads program, and feuding over that might well be why Tony Trout is in jail today. Road Czar In Greenville County, road paving is the province of one company, Ashmore Brothers, Inc. The 80-plus-years-old company provides 90% of the county road paving under terms of a 10-year contract, Judy Wortkoetter, one-time county engineer, testified at Trout’s trial. Trout testified during his trial that
“The former councilman “wasn’t committing a crime, he was trying to prevent crime,” she lamented. “You try to do what’s right (in Greenville County), and look what it gets you.” Hellraiser Trout’s current legal troubles began Feb. 15, 2011 when a state grand jury in Columbia indicted him on charges of misconduct in office and attempting to influence a (grand) juror, but the former policeman and security company owner’s whole feisty, five-year term as a Greenville County councilman, 2005-2010, is rife with stories of feuding with higher-ups and charges of corruption and misconduct in public office. The embattled councilman-elect entered office in January, 2005 near the end of a lengthy, bitter fight to establish a Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in Greenville County. Citizens crowded county council chambers in protest at the height of that row, but councilmen, led by county administrator Joe 4
April 6, 2011
citizen complaints about the state of county roads was a chief reason he made it a 2004 campaign issue and, in fact, rumors of corruption were rampant then. The Beat, a defunct Greenville free newspaper, tried for months then to confirm rumors that one reason Ashmore Brothers had such a tight hold on road paving was that one Ashmore family member was having an affair with a county employee with oversight over the road program. David Smith, a Greenville County contractor, close friend of Tony Trout and critic of the road program, took Beat reporters on tours of roads Ashmore Brothers had billed the county for paving but in fact were little more than cow paths. Other roads that were freshly paved led to dead ends and had no lived-in houses along them.
Trout said in court that the reason Ashmore Brothers paved the roads to nowhere was because “no one would complain because no one lived along them.” The embattled ex-councilman infuriated Kernell and some county council members when he published on a Web site once-everyfour-years assessments of the conditions of the roads and then charged those assessments were altered so roads in which some councilmen had an interest were paved while other roads perhaps in greater need of paving were left in disrepair. “That’s just the way things were,” Trout testified. He said he first learned “how things were” when as a young policeman in Mauldin, SC he noted that all the roads in front of city councilmens’ houses were kept freshly improved. Road blocks The rebel with a cause charged that his work as a councilman was frustrated by Kernell and other county employees. The county administrator in particular, Trout complained in court, would let information the councilman had requested “sit on his desk for two or three weeks” before turning it over. Much of that requested information concerned the roads program and Trout voiced his impatience at the time in e-mails and telephone conversations with Smith and Beat reporters. Eventually he resorted to sharing, or placing, computer spyware on a computer used by council chairman Kirven. Meanwhile, animosity between Trout, Kernell and fellow council member over various issues had reached the point where Trout during one open council meeting angrily told Kirven to shove his council gavel up a body orifice. The computer spyware, to which Trout retained contact, eventually found its way to the county computer of county administrator Kernell, and through that contact Trout has asserted he found out that Kernell had on his county computer tapes of supposedly secret county grand jury proceedings and private e-mails with sex-for-hire women in Georgia. Asked by attorney Gibson during his most recent court appearance how the spyware got on Kernell’s county computer, Trout testified, “Kirven did that.” After Trout began publishing on the Web suggestive e-mails and photographs he claimed came from Kernell’s county computer, he was indicted and a federal jury found him guilty in April, 2009 of four counts of computer spying and wiretapping. The Greenville county council admonished
Kernell for his supposed conduct but Trout was sentenced by his federal judge to a year in a West Virginia prison. The former councilman’s February indictment and March, 2011 trial stem from attempts he made to carry his complaints of alleged county corruption before the county grand jury. His sentencing March 31 came less than a year after his release from the prior jail term. Justice done? Trout’s four-day trial in Greenville March 28-31 before circuit court judge Hill was highlighted by a tearful, two hours of testimony by Trout in his own defense. That rambling monologue, supported by stacks of documents the defendant said supported his position, followed three days of prosecution in which state assistant attorney general Creighton Waters carefully documented how incriminating evidence had been obtained from telephone records and computers confiscated from the homes of Trout and Smith. Remarkably, Waters raised no objections during Trout’s two hours on the witness stand. After the trial he said there had been points to which he might have objected but he did not because he was offended by suggestions by defense attorney Gibson that Trout’s prosecution had been a politicallymotivated “treasure hunt.” “They want Tony Trout’s head,” Gibson said at one point, suggesting that a second jailing of the former councilman would discourage other rabble rousers. “They want to shoot the messenger because they want to prove a point,” Trout testified, but Waters countered that the matter was an issue which the state “could not overlook.” Still, he told Judge Hill in a presentencing statement seeking leniency that Trout “is not the worst person in the world,” and Gibson asked the judge to allow Trout to at least remain free long enough to take his ailing father to a doctor’s appointment in Columbia. Hill denied that request, as he had denied every motion made by the defense in Trout’s four day trial. Was justice served? “Absolutely not,” said a teary-eyed, long-term Greenville county councilwoman Lottie Gibson, who sat through much of Trout’s four-day trial. The former councilman “wasn’t committing a crime, he was trying to prevent crime,” she lamented. “You try to do what’s right (in Greenville County), and look what it gets you.”
Above: Injured soldiers from 4-10 BCT in MRAP destroyed by IED in Pakhab-e’Shana, March 19, 2011 (Photo censored according to army rules) LOGAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan -- On April 15, 2002, in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan, at least five U.S. Army soldiers from a Explosive Ordnance Disposal team -- a military bomb squad -- were working to dismantle a stockpile of old, Soviet-designed 107-millimeter rockets. The munitions had been discovered during the U.S.-led invasion targeting the Al Qaeda terror group and its Taliban protectors. There was an explosion. Sergeants Brian Craig, Daniel Romero, Jamie Maugans and Justin Galewski died and a fifth soldier was wounded. Initial reports labeled the blast an accident. Later, as it became apparent that one of the rockets had been rigged to detonate as the Americans worked nearby, the media referred to the rocket as a “boobytrap.” It would take several years and another war thousands of miles away from Afghanistan for the current term to take root. What claimed the lives of those four Americans is now known as an Improvised Explosive Device, or “IED.” After becoming the biggest killer of U.S. troops at the height of the Iraq war, IEDs spread across Afghanistan like some kind of suddenly-erupting, fatal disease. Originally honed in its current form by Chechen rebels battling the ruthless Russian army in the early 1990s, the IED is now the deadliest weapon of the Afghan insurgency -- and the single biggest reason the free world’s armies have failed to subjugate the Afghan countryside. Their variety is staggering. The earliest were simply leftover artillery shells or rockets connected to a triggerman by a length of copper wire and ignited with the press of a button. More sophisticated current versions explode on command via a distant radio signal or go off when something passes over a pressure plate. Still others feature infrared “tripwires.” They can be buried in dirt, paved over by April 6, 2011 6
asphalt, placed in culverts or drainage pipes alongside or under roads or on footpaths or packed into cars, trucks or donkey carts or on motorbikes. Some pack sophisticated mixes of modern explosives or speciallycrafted shaped charges capable of punching through thick armor. There are some made of commercial fertilizer. Some are encased in shrapnel-producing metal. Others, in undetectable plastic or wood. Their sheer diversity complicates ISAF’s efforts to find them in time to defuse them. Every permutation requires a different method of detection and defusing. ISAF engineers and Explosive Ordnance Disposal teams admit that they could never prevent every bomb blast. Every month, the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force discovers around 1,300 IEDs. Some get spotted before they explode. Many don’t. As of this writing, 1,513 Americans have died and thousands more have been wounded in Afghanistan. The war has also claimed no fewer than 867 members of the ISAF coalition plus tens of thousands of civilians. Bombs have accounted for around 90 percent of the American casualties so far -- and that percentage could be increasing as IEDs continue to proliferate. I understood all this at around 3:00 PM, local time, on March 19. But I didn’t appreciate it until around 3:02, after the vehicle I was riding in with members of the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division had been demolished by a buried bomb in the village of Pakhab-e’Shana, just outside Logar’s Baraki Barak district. Five soldiers were injured and required aerial medevac. I escaped with bruises and cuts. Surviving the blast did not alter my negative opinion of the now decade-long Afghanistan war, but it did anchor my opinion in something more personal than politics or analysis. As I write this, I number
among the many thousands of Americans whose lives balanced on the razor’s edge of a conflict that shows no sign of tipping our way. In direct financial costs alone, the bill for the Afghanistan war currently totals some $300 billion. Add to the ledger the blood of 1,500 slain Americans and we’re paying too high a cost for debatable gains in a conflict that years ago drifted far away from its original purpose. We are no more preventing domestic terror attack in Afghanistan than we are building a free and functional Afghan state. At a decade and running, the Afghanistan war now vies for the title of longest American war. It’s inevitable, and right, that funding, political will and popular support would wane. As our enthusiasm has flagged, our desperate, last-ditch efforts to cobble together something resembling victory is producing a divided Afghanistan -one that will continue consuming American cash and, more tragically, American lives ... until the day we finally leave. For Want of Volunteers “Our forces lack the full support they need to effectively train and partner with Afghan security forces and better secure the population ... The status quo is not sustainable,” U.S. President Barack Obama said in December 2009, acknowledging what close observers of the Afghanistan war already knew. Obama announced the deployment of an additional 30,000 U.S. troops, boosting America’s ISAF contingent to around 100,000. The “Afghanistan surge” was modeled on a similar campaign in Iraq in 2007 that was spearheaded by Army Gen. David Petraeus. Tens of thousands of U.S. reinforcements flooded into Baghdad; a year later, violence in that city -- and across much of Iraq -dropped 90 percent.
But the real reason the Iraq war ended the way it did had little to do with the American reinforcements. Around the same time fresh U.S. troops were deploying throughout Baghdad, an experiment in creating proU.S. Iraqi volunteer forces spread from the deserts of western Iraq to the opposite side of the country. These “Sons of Iraq” represented kind of “neighborhood watch,” in the words of U.S. Army Capt. Shannon Reickert, who as a young lieutenant witnessed the group’s rise. The Sons of Iraq were decisive in creating the street-level security that broke the insurgency’s momentum. Today Reickert commands a company of 150 U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan’s Baraki Barak district, 50 miles south of Kabul. Baraki Barak, population 180,000 is a key crossroads district between Kabul, Pakistan and the restive mountainous regions that lie in between. For all its importance, Baraki Barak is patrolled by just a few hundred American and Afghan soldiers and, most worryingly, fewer than 50 police. Poor leadership, inadequate pay and a reputation for corruption and brutality have stymied the Afghan National Police force’s growth. A shortage of security forces means ISAF has had to effectively surrender portions of Baraki Barak to the Taliban and other extremist groups. “In some ways you can only be in so many places at one time, so you have to pick your priorities and move forward with that plan,” said Capt. Paul Rothlisberger, Reickert’s predecessor. In theory, a Sons of Iraq-style organization could help ISAF retake lost ground. Indeed, the alliance has tried no fewer than six times to raise pro-U.S. Afghan volunteer groups -- most recently in the months after Petraeus’ assumed command in Afghanistan last summer. Each time, the initiative has failed entirely or stalled at the local level.
“The difference between Afghanistan and Iraq and their volunteers is that here they [the civilian population] is more hesitant because they look at them as militias. They’re wary of that kind of thing.” And for good reason: even amid the insurgency, local warlords and their personal militias are still the source of a high proportion of the violence in Afghanistan. Today there is no nationwide localvolunteer organization in Afghanistan, leaving just half a million ISAF and Afghan troops and police to protect 30 million people living in a rugged country the size of Texas. While that might seem like a lot of troops, at least half of them play supporting roles -- training, logistics, administration, etc. -- and many of the Afghans aren’t yet fully trained. In reality, there are probably fewer than 200,000 alliance combatants spread across 400 districts, each roughly equivalent to a U.S. county. Most U.S. counties have a higher ratio of police patrolmen to civilians -- and none of them are at war.
towns -- or, as ISAF calls them, “key terrain districts.” “Our priority is to focus where the population centers are,” Rothlisberger said. That makes some sense, as ISAF has always enjoyed its strongest support among Afghanistan’s wealthier, better-educated, mostly Tajik urban population, centered around Kabul and a handful of other cities. The insurgency, by contrast, is rooted in the country’s rural south and far east and their
The suspects included six men. Two, Ajan’s brother and nephew, had clear ties to Ajan’s activities. They quickly disappeared into the murky U.S.-Afghan detention system that includes an Abu Ghraib-style prison at ISAF’s Bagram air base outside Kabul. The four remaining suspects insisted they were innocent. The police in Baraki Barak conceded that there was no firm evidence against them and, after one night in jail, released them -but not before requiring they sit down with local subgovernor Mohamed Rahim Amin. Still sore from the IED blast, I rushed to Amin’s dimly-lit office to see about interviewing the detainees. I didn’t expect them to talk: why would they? But to my surprise, all four agreed to go on the record. Laborers Gulla Agha, Said Rahman and Barayali and taxi driver Said Omar all said the same thing. They did not know why they had been arrested. They were not upset at the coalition for detaining them. They knew nothing about the Taliban. Things were going great in Baraki Barak. On the face of it, their shared response was absurd. But it made sense in context. Here were four men violently yanked from their beds by armed Americans, held overnight by the notoriously illdisciplined police then paraded in front of the subgovernor and an American reporter. Of course they would say exactly what they think their foreign occupier wanted to hear. They were afraid. At least as afraid I had been for an entire week, as the emotional trauma of my near-death experience slowly faded. Agha said as much in a surprise interjection after I had asked my last question. He wanted to know if I could write him a letter stating that he sometimes worked in a local quarry, with explosives. He said he if he got arrested again, the police might detect traces of TNT on his fingers and use that to brand him an insurgent. “They’ll send me to Bagram,” Agha said, his eyes growing wide. Improvised bombs and late-night raids represent the tragic, daily stuff of our war in Afghanistan -- and a price too high for the dubious gains of an occupation that should have ended nine years ago. With our military ambitions bumping up against the hard limits of our trillion-dollar budget deficits and understandable war-weariness, our involvement in Afghanistan can only wane. One way or another, we’re headed for the exit. To an extent, it’s up to us what kind of country we leave behind. We can make a swift departure and allow Afghans to work out their own future, however violently -while we remain off-shore, vigilant against terrorists everywhere. Or we can continue deepening Afghanistan’s existing divisions in an unnecessary effort to salvage something from our bloody, pricey, decadelong misadventure in nation-building. talkback@columbiacitypaper.com
“As of this writing, 1,513 Americans have died and thousands more have been wounded in Afghanistan. The war has also claimed no fewer than 867 members of the ISAF coalition plus tens of thousands of civilians.”
Fortress Towns An already stretched-thin ISAF is about to get stretched farther, as the Afghanistan surge expires and the first U.S. combat troops leave the country for good in July. The Obama administration is hardly a bunch of doves, but even it realizes that with a struggling economy and rising budget deficits, America can no longer afford its wars. Petraeus anticipated removing the bulk of U.S. combat troops by 2014. In one sense, that’s a dozen years too late. By our original definition of victory, we’ve already won this war: we won it in 2002, when a battered Al Qaeda fled into neighboring Pakistan. But rather than quitting Afghanistan after the Taliban’s defeat, ISAF -- conflating nation-building with counter-terrorism -- “picked sides in the Afghan civil war,” to quote analyst Robert Lamb from the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Today ISAF’s main enemies are the Taliban and several other extremist groups whose most immediate beef is ISAF’s very presence -- and whose long-term goal is to displace the current government in Kabul. We could leave Afghanistan today, allowing Afghans to fight among themselves, without jeopardizing our national security. Our retreat could only bolster our counterterrorism efforts worldwide by freeing up hundreds of billions of dollars and 100,000 troops for raids against international terror groups. But that’s not the plan. Instead, ISAF is hoping to salvage some kind of nationbuilding victory from the ruins of an illconceived, under-resourced war -- by fortifying a small number of Afghan communities and effectively cementing the country’s division into opposing armed camps. Baraki Barak is one of those fortress
ethnic Pashtuns. Even as ISAF begins its slow, overall contraction, Baraki Barak and as many as 100 other fortress towns are getting more foreign and Afghan troops, more money for development projects and more attention from Kabul and ISAF headquarters. The result is a dichotomy between the fortress towns and the surrounding countryside that could inspire jealousy among the have-nots ISAF is aware of this possibility. Indeed, the alliance is betting that the resources it pours into fortress towns will inspire jealousy in outlying villages and convince them to lay down their arms, eject their extremists and side with ISAF. “If they give us a chance to show [that] these are the services ourselves in conjunction with the ANA [Afghan National Army] can provide to them, hopefully we can turn them into pro-coalition villages,” said U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Sean Mahard, deployed to Baraki Barak in 2009. But that jealousy could just as easily inspire conflict. Baraki Barak has scores of mosques. ISAF has donated paint, rugs and other supplies to some mosques in exchange for the cooperation of their imams and mullahs. Attendees of neighboring mosques have raided the recipient mosques to steal their supplies. Scaled upward, that kind of banditry could exacerbate existing tensions in Baraki Barak and across Afghanistan. As the country becomes increasingly divided along lines established many years ago -- a process ISAF is inadvertently encouraging -- U.S. troops, manning that contact zone between the two sides, will remain at risk. Fear A week after I’d been nearly killed outside Baraki Barak, the score evened somewhat when Mohamed Ajan, a notorious IED-maker based in Baraki Barak, accidentally blew up himself and another man while working on one of his improvised bomb. In the blast’s aftermath, U.S. Special Forces launched a nighttime raid to round up anyone recently spotted near Ajan.
April 6, 2011
7
8
April 6, 2011
LOCK IN YOUR PRICE FOR ONE YEAR!
NO
NO Eq St to B uip ar m t- uy! en Up t Co st s!
120
NOW GET ACCESS TO OVER
CHANNELS
LOCAL CHANNELS INCLUDED* in over 97% of the U.S.
Peace and blessings!!! Back with another edition; hope the last edition gave you more than enough information to stay focused on great music. St. Patty’s Day was a great celebration as always. I know all of you had a safe and happy start to spring. Much love to all of you out there who have endured winter and are looking forward to the great South Carolina weather coming. Get ready to fire up the grills, place the drinks in the Igloo, and keep the music on blast. Let’s get it!!!!
past March 15, 2011, Nathaniel ‘Nate Dogg’ Hale died of complications from two previous strokes (2007 & 2008). In his career, Nate Dogg released two official albums, 1998’s ‘G-Funk Classics Volume 1 & 2’ and 2001’s ‘Music & Me’, but has been apart of some the greatest records ever released (The Chronic, Doggystyle, Get Rich or Die Trying, and the Marshall Mathers Lp just to name a few). Nate Dogg always kept in step with his signature mellow smooth tone. Nate Dogg was not a crooner in the sense of Al Green or Marvin Gaye, but his style was more Curtis Mayfield or Syl Johnson with a huge splash of Donald Goines. If you are familiar with this man’s work, you know there is never a shortage of banging songs he sang on during his career. Nate Dogg enhanced songs like ‘F Wit Dre Day’, Ain’t No Fun’, ’21 Questions’, ‘Big Pimpin’, ‘Westside Story’, ‘Can’t Deny It’, ‘The Next Episode’, ‘Kush’, ‘Let’s Play House’, ‘All About You’, ‘How Do You Want It’, and the West Coast multiplatinum classic with his 213 partner Warren G, ‘Regulate’ to the delight of all who listened. The songs above were just the tip of the iceberg of the songs that Nate Dogg sang on. Nate Dogg was one of the greatest to ever do it; a huge ‘middle finger’ to all who say otherwise. “I CAN’T BE FADED” – Nathaniel ‘Nate Dogg’ Hale (1969- 2011)
EVENTS 1) NonStop Hip Hop Live 1) Chuck Berry – The Best Of…(MCA) 2) Pharaoh Monch – WAR (Duck Down) Presents… Shekeese Tha Beast Birthday Event featuring the legendary M.O.P. on 3) Lupe Fiasco – Lasers (Atlantic) 4) Chef Raekwon – Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang April 16th @ New Brookland Tavern. Advance tickets are on sale now @ Papa (IceH20) 5) Mary Mary – Something Big Jazz Record Shoppe (5 Points), Scratch & Spin Records (West Columbia), and The New (Columbia) Brookland Tavern (West Columbia). Will Call & Etix can be found by calling 803-791-4413. REVIEW CURRENT LISTENS
Nationally for the past 20 or so years, Nathaniel ‘Nate Dogg’ Hale, respectfully known as the ‘G-Funk’ has really laid down a yellow brick road that few have been able to walk. From certified classic song appearances, blockbuster singles, and contributions to albums that have already garnered over 20 million in sales, no other singer in Hip Hop history has had this kind of success. His success has led to many memorable verses and hooks that many still can belt out to this day. From the total vocal support of every major former Death Row artist (Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Lady of Rage, Tupac, Dogg Pound, etc.) to collaborating with some of Hip Hop’s brightest stars (Eminem, Busta Rhymes, 50 Cent, Missy Elliot, etc.); Nate D-Odouble G was in a class all by himself. On this
10
April 6, 2011
For more information: Browse NON STOP HIP HOP LIVE on FACEBOOK, CALL 803-546-2319, or EMAIL NSHHLSC@ GMAIL.COM. WORDS OF WISDOM Spring is here and the kids have plenty of free time (with Spring Break around the corner). Be sure to take the time to teach them something that can affect the world they live in a positive way. Stay Free!!! DJ KINGPIN-Villain of (kingpinvillianofvinyl@gmail.com)
Vinyl
LIMITED TIME ONLY
29
$
99^ mo.
FOR 12 MONTHS
Ask how.
After rebate
Prices higher and terms & conditions vary in select markets, also dependent on the package selected. All offers require 2 year agreement.° Package pricing may vary in certain markets. Offer ends 7/20/11. Credit card required (except in MA & PA). New approved customers only (lease required). $19.95 Handling & Delivery fee may apply. Applicable use tax adjustment may apply on the retail value of the installation.
Switch in minutes! 1-888-485-2950 °2-YR. LEASE AGREEMENT: EARLY CANCELLATION WILL RESULT IN A FEE OF $20/MONTH FOR EACH REMAINING MONTH. Must maintain 24 consecutive months of your DIRECTV programming package. DVR Service $7/mo. required for DVR and HD DVR lease. HD Access fee $10/mo. required for HD Receiver and HD DVR. No lease fee for only 1 receiver. Lease fee for first 2 receivers $6/mo.; additional receiver leases $6/mo. ea. NON-ACTIVATION CHARGE OF $150 PER RECEIVER MAY APPLY. ALL EQUIPMENT IS LEASED AND MUST BE RETURNED TO DIRECTV UPON CANCELLATION, OR UNRETURNED EQUIPMENT FEES APPLY. VISIT directv.com OR CALL 1-800-DIRECTV FOR DETAILS. Advanced receiver instant rebate requires activation of the CHOICE XTRA Package or above; MÁS ULTRA or above (for DVR Receiver, OPTIMO MÁS Package or above); Jadeworld; or any qualifying international service bundle, which shall include the PREFERRED CHOICE programming package (valued at $38.99/mo.). Second advanced receiver offer requires activation of an HD DVR as the first free receiver upgrade and subscription to Whole-Home DVR Service ($3/mo.). Additional advanced receiver upgrades available for a charge. INSTALLATION: Standard professional installation only. Custom installation extra. ^BILL CREDIT/PROGRAMMING OFFER: IF BY THE END OF PROMOTIONAL PRICE PERIOD(S) CUSTOMER DOES NOT CONTACT DIRECTV TO CHANGE SERVICE THEN ALL SERVICES WILL AUTOMATICALLY CONTINUE AT THE THEN-PREVAILING RATES. LIMIT ONE PROGRAMMING OFFER PER ACCOUNT. Account must be in “good standing” as determined by DIRECTV in its sole discretion to remain eligible for all offers. In certain markets, programming/pricing may vary. *Eligibility for local channels based on service address. Not all networks available in all markets. Programming, pricing, terms and conditions subject to change at any time. Pricing residential. Taxes not included. Receipt of DIRECTV programming subject to DIRECTV Customer Agreement; copy provided at directv.com/legal and in first bill. ©2011 DIRECTV, Inc. DIRECTV and the Cyclone Design logo, CHOICE and CHOICE XTRA are trademarks of DIRECTV, Inc. All other trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners.
On March 28, Sustainable Carolina, Friends of the Earth, and the Sierra Club proudly sponsored presentations by two Russian nuclear activists’ called “25 Years After Chernobyl: What Can We Learn?” When the anniversary trip was organized for the nuclear safety activists to visit the United States, the Fukushima disaster in Japan had not yet happened. By the time they arrived to Columbia, there was a Chernobyllike situation at the Fukushima plant. Dr. Natalia Miranova and Natalia Manzurova’s visit served as a great warning about the dangers of nuclear power and about plans for building Nuclear Power Plants in South Carolina. With the William States Lee III Nuclear Station currently under construction near Gaffney by Duke Power and The Savannah River Site operating on the inactive New Madrid Fault line, many S.C. residents and students attended with questions and concerns about the safety of nuclear power. Dr. Mironova is the founder of the movement for Nuclear Safety, former legislator, engineer and author of several books. She has written extensively on the role of non-governmental organizations in abolishing weapons of mass destruction. “Today, I use Fukushima as my main example of my presentation about nuclear safety. When we look at the price of political errors we can compare how during WWI 21 million people died, but Chernobyl still has long-term effects on an estimated 600 million. Keep in mind that Chernobyl only had one reactor, Fukushima has six.” Dr. Miranova hopes to make the government accountable for nuclear mistakes. She says it should start with acknowledging the dangers of nuclear power and we must stop nuclear waste by decommissioning Nuclear Power Plants. “We must help politicians all around the world steer away from Nuclear Power towards a new way. They face a lot of
pressure from Energy Companies and other companies,” said Dr. Miranova. The other anti-nuclear power presenter, Natalia Manzurova, is one of the few survivors involved directly in the clean up process after the Chernobyl accident. She now serves as international activist for the protection of the rights of victims of radiation exposure. Manzurova discussed the environmental issues that occur followed by a nuclear explosion pointing out that the nuclear particles circle around the globe in the atmosphere, it cannot be contained to one country only. “Nuclear radiation is an invisible enemy that can kill you for many years. In Fukushima currently the evacuation zone is only 20 km. The Japanese evacuation zone is not large enough. In the area, food is already contaminated. They should keep the crops and animals inside and bring food in from outside.” Manzurova went on to describe the Chernobyl accident, “In affected areas the government had to remove entire forests because they were too contaminated. They used remote controlled machines because it was too dangerous for humans to be in the area. Effected people were taken to Moscow into a special hospital where most of them died. Doctors had to be careful and not directly touch the patients as they were sources of radiation.” The Russian activists came a long way to warn about the long-term environmental and humanitarian effects of nuclear radiation. Even though the Fukushima reactors were built using an older reactor design, the bottom line is that Japanese issues are raising the question of safety of nuclear plants and their designs. Many who attended the event may now be more cautious about supporting future power plants in South Carolina. April 6, 2011
11
Utopia Papa String Band
Thursday April 7 The Tin Roof Chuck Wicks New Brookland Tavern Senseless Beatings Forces Of A Street TBA Utopia Open Mic w Bentz Kirby The White Mule Ernie Halter w/ Jared McCloud Friday April 8 New Brookland Tavern Cherry Case Andy Lehman & the Night Moves Frontier Sons Kevin Harrison
The White Mule Anne McCue w/ Nikki Lee Sunday April 10 New Brookland Tavern Farewell Flight Timshel Sing Sing 76 TBA Monday April 11 New Brookland Tavern Singer Songwriter Night w/: TBA Tuesday April 12
The White Mule Chords For Kids w/ Prettier Than Matt, Don Russo, Mike Willis, & Whiskey Tango Revue
New Brookland Tavern NBT’s “Low Dough Show” w/: Sun-Dried Vibes The Velvet Jonez Chad L. TBA
Utopia Blue Train
Utopia Open Mic w Vic Scaricamazza
Saturday April 9 New Brookland Tavern Gaslight Street TBA
The White Mule Stephanie Briggs
Wednesday April 13 New Brookland Tavern NBT’s “Low Dough Show” w/: Vindictive Soverign Pig Mountain Grass Abacus Utopia Jonathan Rooks The White Mule Matthew Mayfield with Anderson East Thursday April 14 New Brookland Tavern Fusebox Poet The Dirty White Postcard Fiction Sugar Glyder Fallen Kings Seeking Serenity Utopia Johnny Few The White Mule Gareth asher & The Earthlings w luke Cunningham and Matt MacKelkan Friday April 15 New Brookland Tavern David Liebe Hart Live Band (from Tim and Eric Awesome
Show, Great Job!) TBA Utopia J’Ouvert Steel Drum Band Saturday April 16 New Brookland Tavern Non Stop Hip Hop Live Presents Shekeese Tha Beast’s B-Day Event Featuring: M.O.P. (Mash Out Posse) Special Guest: Fat Rat Da Czar & Ben G w/ DJ Peoples of The Cut Fresh Crew Utopia Total Denial Monday April 18 New Brookland Tavern Ska Is Dead ‘Young Guns’ Tour w/: We Are The Union The Forthrights Stuck Lucky TBA Tuesday April 19 New Brookland Tavern Brokencyde Vampires Everywhere! Dot Dot Curve It Boys
The Hypsys Rye Bar Athens, GA The Train Wrecks Rocks on the Roof Savannah, GA The Infamous Stringdusters Salif Keita Savannah Music Festival Savannah, GA Dave Matthews Tribute Band Retriever’s Statesboro, GA Widespread Panic JJ Grey & Mofro Asheville Civic Center Asheville, NC Mount Kimbie Grey Eagle Asheville, NC
April 6, 2011
many more. Making this only their 2nd trip here to the ‘Capital City’, M.O.P. will be live and direct at The New Brookland Tavern (122 State St., West Columbia, SC 29169) on April 16th, 2011. In celebration of co-founder Shekeese Tha Beast’s Birthday, Non Stop Hip Hop Live have joined forces with Official Block Bangaz Promotions to bring M.O.P. here. Along with M.O.P. that night, Fat Rat Da Czar (still riding the success of ‘I Know You Don’t Love Me Reloaded’) and up and coming Ben G will both grace the main stage. Sounds will be provided by DJ Peoples of The Cut Fresh Crew & DJ Kingpin-Villain Of Vinyl all night!!!! -KingPin
Road Trip
04/08/11 :: Friday Citizen Cope 40 Watt Club Athens, GA J Mascis Kurt Vile Melting Point Athens, GA
12
If you are familiar with this group’s work, you know there was never a shortage of banging artists or songs that M.O.P. have worked with. Comrades of M.O.P. are both numerous and respected. Busta Rhymes, Heather B., the late Big Pun, Termanology, Bun B, Naughty By Nature, Bumpy Knuckles aka Freddie Foxxx, KRS-ONE, Redman, Kool G. Rap, Jay-Z, the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard are just a few of the artists who have shared the stage and vocal booth with M.O.P. They have been featured on classic albums such as Gang Starr’s “Moment of Truth”, Bumpy Knuckles “Industry Shakedown”, Pharaoh Monch’s platinum “Internal Affairs”, Termanology & Statik Selektah’s debut “1982”, and so
NC
Lubriphonic Orange Peel Asheville, NC JazzChronic Big Daddy Love The Emerald Lounge Asheville, NC Velvet Truckstop The Lab Asheville, NC DogTale UNC Asheville Asheville, NC Brandon Pruitt Wild Wings Cafe - 99 KISS FM “Country Fried” Fridays Asheville, NC Sam Robinson The Town Pump Black Mountain, NC Junior Brown Neighborhood Theatre Charlotte, NC
Sanctum Sully Jack of the Wood Asheville, NC
The Bridge The Double Door Charlotte, NC Zac Brown Band Littlejohn Coliseum Clemson, SC
Big Something MoDaddy’s Bar & Music Club Asheville,
Papadosio Tiger Park Clemson, SC
Henry’s Attic The Surf Bar Folly Beach, SC
The Hypsys Dingus Magee’s Statesboro, GA
The Wilderness Of Manitoba Horizon Records Greenville, SC
Domino Effect Topsail Tybee Island, GA
Jonny Lang Moreland & Arbuckle House of Blues N. Myrtle Beach, SC Wicked Jones Ground Zero Spartanburg, SC Travis Allison Band Home Team BBQ Sullivan’s Island, SC 04/09/11 :: Saturday Abbey Road LIVE Melting Point Athens, GA Toubab Krewe RUBBLEBUCKET New Earth Music Hall Athens, GA
Widespread Panic JJ Grey & Mofro Asheville Civic Center Asheville, NC Asheville Symphony Asheville Civic Center Asheville, NC The Mantras Duende Mountain Duo Emerald Lounge Asheville, NC
Vampirates The Get Down Asheville, NC Slaughter Amos’ Southend Charlotte, NC The Avett Brothers Grace Potter and the Nocturnals Bojangles’ Coliseum (Formerly Cricket Arena) Charlotte, NC Psychedelphia Double Door Inn Charlotte, NC Melanie Fiona Marsha Ambrosius McGlohon Theatre Charlotte, NC
J Mascis Kurt Vile Grey Eagle Asheville, NC
Farewell Flight The Evening Muse Charlotte, NC
Col. Bruce Hampton Lexington Avenue Brewery Asheville, NC
moe. The Fillmore Charlotte, NC
Eli Young Band Brandon Pruitt Coyotes Augusta, GA
Jahman Brahman The New Cosmic Band Mo Daddy’s Asheville, NC
James Cotton Savannah Music Festival Savannah, GA
Fair To Midland Scale the Summit Periphery Orange Peel Asheville, NC
Jackass Flats Olde Hickory Taproom Hickory, NC Dreamkiller The Wizard Saloon Hickory, NC Rob Ickes Jailhouse Gallery Morganton, NC
movie times Movie times listed are for the weekend of April 8. Please confirm times with theater.
Carmike Wynnsong 10 5320 Forest Drive, Columbia, SC 29206
Nickelodeon Theatre | 937 Main Street | 803.254.3433
Hop new! (PG) DP (Digital Projection) 1:05 2:00 3:30 5:25 7:00 8:30 9:25
RABBIT HOLE In this raw drama based on David LindsayAbaire’s Pulitzer Prizewinning play of the same name, Becca (Nicole Kidman) and Howie (Aaron Eckhart) grapple with the realities of life eight months after the death of their 4-year-old son, Danny. Even with Becca’s well-meaning mother (Dianne Wiest) offering comfort and weekly group therapy always available, the couple go about their own secret ways of coping. John Cameron Mitchell directs. APRIL 8-12, FridayTuesday Friday Apr. 8th - 3:00, 6:00 and 8:00 Saturday Apr. 9th - 3:00, 6:00 and 8:00 Sunday Apr. 10th - 3:00 and 8:30 Monday Apr. 11th - 6:00 and 8:00 Tuesday Apr. 12th 8:30 ONLY Regal Columbia Cinema 7 3400 Forest Drive Suite 3000, Columbia, SC 29204 Arthur new! (PG-13) DP (Digital Projection) 2:30 5:00 7:40 10:10 Hanna new! (PG-13) 2:00 4:45 7:30 10:05 Soul Surfer new! (PG) DP (Digital Projection) 2:05 4:35 7:10 9:40 Your Highness new! (R) 10:15pm DP (Digital Projection) 2:40 5:10 7:50 Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (PG) 2:15 4:40 7:00 9:30 Limitless (PG-13) 2:20 4:55 7:25 10:00 The Lincoln Lawyer (R) 2:10 4:50 7:35 10:20
Insidious new! (PG-13) DP (Digital Projection) 1:15 4:00 7:15 10:00 Source Code new! (PG-13) DP (Digital Projection) 1:10 4:05 7:10 9:40 Sucker Punch (PG-13) DP (Digital Projection) 1:00 4:10 7:05 9:55 Battle: Los Angeles (PG-13) DP (Digital Projection) 1:00 2:00 3:50 5:20 7:00 8:30 9:45 The Adjustment Bureau (PG-13) DP (Digital Projection) 1:05 4:00 7:15 9:50 Hall Pass (R) DP (Digital Projection) 1:10 4:05 7:10 10:00 The King’s Speech (PG-13) DP (Digital Projection) 1:15 4:10 7:05 9:55 AMC Dutch Square 14 800 Bush River Rd., Columbia, SC 29210 Soul Surfer new! (PG, No Passes) 11:00am 1:40 4:20 7:00 9:40 Regal Columbiana Grande Stadium 14 1250 Bower Pkwy, Columbia, SC 29212 Hop new! (PG) 12:50 1:20 3:00 3:30 5:10 5:40 7:20 7:50 9:30 10:00 Insidious new! (PG-13) 1:40 4:30 7:10 9:40 Source Code new! (PG-13) 12:55 2:15 3:15 4:40 5:30 7:30 8:00 9:45 10:15 Sucker Punch (PG-13) 1:50 4:35 7:15 9:55
Battle: Los Angeles (PG-13) 2:20 5:05 7:45 10:25 Mars Needs Moms 3D (PG) 1:00 3:10 5:20 The Adjustment Bureau (PG-13) 2:00 4:50 7:40 10:10 Beastly (PG-13) 1:10 3:20 5:25 7:35 9:45 Rango (PG) 1:35 4:25 7:00 9:35
DP (Digital Projection) 1:45 4:20 7:05 9:55 Gnomeo and Juliet (G) DP (Digital Projection) 2:20 4:30 7:20 9:30 Gnomeo and Juliet 3D (G) Digital 3D 1:50 4:00 6:45 9:00 Justin Bieber: Never Say Never 3D (G) Digital 3D 1:35 4:10 6:55 9:30
Hall Pass (R) 2:10 5:00 7:55 10:20
Regal Sandhill Stadium 16 450 Town Center Place
I Am Number Four (PG-13) 8:05 10:30
Arthur new! (PG-13) 12:00 2:30 5:00 7:30 10:10
Just Go With It (PG-13) 1:05 4:45 7:25 10:05
Hanna new! (PG-13) 1:30 4:30 7:20 10:00
The King’s Speech (PG-13) 1:30 4:20 7:05 9:50
Soul Surfer new! (PG) 12:15 2:45 5:15 7:45 10:20
Carmike 14 122 Afton Court, Columbia, SC 29212
Your Highness new! (R) 1:40 4:10 7:10 9:45
Arthur new! (PG-13) DP (Digital Projection) 1:40 4:25 7:15 9:45 Hanna new! (PG-13) DP (Digital Projection) 1:10 4:05 7:10 9:50 Soul Surfer new! (PG) DP (Digital Projection) 1:30 4:15 7:00 9:35 Your Highness new! (R) DP (Digital Projection) 2:20 4:45 7:30 10:05 Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (PG) DP (Digital Projection) 2:00 4:25 6:50 9:10 Limitless (PG-13) DP (Digital Projection) 2:10 4:45 7:15 9:45 The Lincoln Lawyer (R) DP (Digital Projection) 1:20 4:15 7:00 9:50 Paul (R) DP (Digital Projection) 1:45 4:35 7:20 10:00 Red Riding Hood (PG13) DP (Digital Projection) 1:00 2:15 3:45 5:00 6:45 7:30 9:15 10:05 Unknown (PG-13)
St. Andrews Cinema 5 527 St Andrews Road (803) 772-7469 Please call Regal Pastime Pavilion 8 929 North Lake Drive, Lexington, SC 29072 Arthur new! (PG-13) DP (Digital Projection) 2:00 4:30 7:00 9:30 Hanna new! (PG-13) 2:45 5:20 7:45 10:20 Soul Surfer new! (PG) 2:15 5:05 7:35 10:10 Your Highness new! (R) DP (Digital Projection) 2:30 5:00 7:30 10:00 Hop new! (PG) 2:10 4:35 7:05 9:35 Source Code new! (PG-13) 2:25 4:50 7:20 9:50 Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (PG) 2:35 4:45 7:10 9:45 Limitless (PG-13) 2:50 7:50 The Lincoln Lawyer (R) 5:15 10:15
By Judit Trunkos Dr. Karl Gerth’s Presentation on China’s Consumerism Dr. Karl Gerth will visit Columbia on April 7th to talk about his new book “As China Goes, So Goes the World” at the Learning Center for Sustainable Futures at USC. The former USC history professor will speak about his new study on China’s newly developed consumerism and its effects on the world concluded by a book signing. Dr. Gerth is currently a lecturer in Modern Chinese History at Oxford University and Tutorial Fellow of Merton College. His main research interest is China’s impact on the world since the nineteenth century. Prior to teaching at Oxford, Dr. Gerth was Associate Professor at University of South Carolina’s History Department and he was the director of the Asian Center in the Walker Institute of International and Area Studies. In his new book Dr. Gerth points out China’s deep consumer impact on the rest of the world. While Americans and Europeans have become defensive about
China’s competition for manufacturing jobs and energy resources, they are missing the real threat, which is according to Dr. Gerth; China’s rapid development of an American-style consumer culture, which is revolutionizing the lives of hundreds of millions of Chinese and has the potential to reshape the world. Clear changes have been already occurring in China for the past decades. China has become the world’s largest consumer of automobiles and beer, just to mention a few, and begun to adopt American-style mass consumption and wasting habits. Even rural Chinese, long the laggards of consumerism, have been buying refrigerators, televisions, mobile phones, and larger houses in high numbers. Dr. Gerth will discuss these dramatic changes in consumer habits in China and how they impact the world. To hear Dr. Gerth’s presentation about his study and book, visit to the Learning Center for Sustainable Futures at USC on April 7th at 7:00 p.m. Copies of “As China Goes, So Goes the World” will be available for purchasing at the site.
Curious about men? Other guys are too.
TRY FOR FREE
803.409.0011 Discreet Talk
18+
April 6, 2011
13
SavageLove Sex Advice by Dan Savage
Three months ago, my sociopathic girlfriend dumped me because I was going into the military. Afterward, I found out she was cheating on me with a married man. The one great thing about her was that she opened me up. At 22, I’d been in only a few other relationships. The sex with her was amazing, and she opened me up to different things (kinks, dirty talk, foreplay). I’m now having a hard time finding people willing to have casual-yet-kinky sex. I tried online, but the minute someone sees the “going into the army” portion of my profile, they assume I’m some sort of conservative prick. But I am liberal and open-minded and just looking to have some NSA sex before I leave for the army. Help! Kinky Open-Minded Soldier
If the “going into the army” portion of your profile is preventing you from finding kinky NSA sex partners, KOMS, omit the “going into the army” portion of your profile. Your NSA sex partners may, after meeting you, inquire about your future plans. But you don’t need to disclose your hopes, dreams, and political leanings to potential NSA hookups, particularly if you feel that your plans are prejudicing kinksters against you. But I’m not sure the army portion of your profile is the issue. There are a lot of conservative kinksters out there (I hear from them whenever I tear into a conservative politician in this space), and there are a lot of liberal/hippie/NPR- listening kinksters out there who are attracted to military guys despite their politics (I hear from them whenever they want permission to cheat on their pansy-ass, hypersensitive hippie boyfriends with gruff ‘n’ buff military guys). Have a kinky and/or adventurous friend take a look at the rest of your profile. It could be that some other part is giving off a creepy, unsafe, or inept vibe—do you mention that you hadn’t heard of foreplay until you were 22?—and it’s that part that’s turning off otherwise up-for-army-boy kinksters. I’m a youngish (barely under 30) woman, currently involved in a great hetero relationship: My boyfriend is caring, unlike some men I’ve dated before, and I see him as a life partner. The trouble is, I find sex profoundly boring. I get vaguely “horny” maybe twice a year, and I don’t like sex. Now I’m starting to wonder if being sexually uninterested disqualifies me from being with my BF. Judging from your past advice, it does. Is this something I should disclose so that he can leave me? I enjoy the cuddling and kissing, talking and outings that are part of coupledom, and it pains me to think I’m doomed to be alone, forever, just because shoving genitals together sits at #48 on my life priority list. Please let me know what I should do. He’s talking about a future together. Doesn’t Really Yearn Either you’ve misread my past advice to the sexually disinterested, DRY, or you’ve only read mischaracterizations of my past advice on angry asexual blogs. So once more with feeling: Being asexual or minimally sexual does not disqualify you or anyone else from having a relationship or enjoying all of the swell, non-genitalia-related things that come with coupledom. But you can’t—you shouldn’t—mislead your boyfriend about who you are. He has a right to know how you feel about sex before he marries you, DRY. At the moment, he assumes—and it’s an entirely rational assumption— that you’re attracted to him not just in the cuddling, kissing, talking, and outing departments, but
14
April 6, 2011
sexually as well. That you’re not all that interested in sex with him or anyone else is something he has a right to know before marriage and/or kids. But even if your current BF leaves you, DRY, you’re not necessarily “doomed to be alone.” There are men out there who feel the same way about sex that you do. If your boyfriend dumps you, come out as very nearly asexual and go find yourself a very nearly asexual guy who wants to cuddle, kiss, talk, and out. And if you do ultimately wind up alone, DRY, no whining: There are lots of happily partnered asexuals out there and lots of unhappy sexuals who wound up alone despite their interest in sex. My husband and I hired an electrician, whom I will call “Sparky.” We hired Sparky once before, and he was completely professional. One quirk: He would call me “Ma’am” instead of my name. Halfway through Sparky’s four-hour re-wiring marathon in our kitchen, he handed me an envelope and asked me to fill out a survey regarding his service. I read the following: “My name is Mistress [REDACTED] and I control the male who just gave you this letter. He and I live the lifestyle of Female Supremacy. In our lifestyle of Matriarchy, women issue direction and men obey.” The letter went on to ask for feedback about his performance, whether he was appropriately submissive, whether he addressed me as “Ma’am” or “Mistress,” and it ended: “To obtain the best possible service, order this male to give you his key. Keep the key until you are completely satisfied with his attitude or work. Use him as you wish. He must obey.” I don’t know much about Dom/sub culture, Dan, but I can’t shake the feeling that by hiring this particular electrician, I was unwittingly included in his sex life, and that totally creeps me out. Am I wrong? Are we judgmental prudes if we never hire Sparky ever again? Apparently Naive Housewife You were dragged into Sparky’s sex life not when you hired him, ANH, but when he made the choice—perhaps he felt he was just following orders—to hand you that envelope. At that point, he involved you in his sex life, which was rude and unprofessional. Most women who aren’t interested in sharing an erotic moment with Sparky—because they’re not into Dom/sub play or not into Sparky—would feel uncomfortable reading that letter, which suddenly sexualized a nonsexual exchange of goods and services. Some women would feel deeply violated. Making women feel uncomfortable or unsafe in their own homes by springing your erotic submission on them—and requiring them to participate without first obtaining their explicit consent—is sexual aggression masquerading as erotic submission. And it’s not okay. Professional Dom, sex bomb, and sex blogger Mistress Matisse (www.mistressmatisse.com) agrees with me: “That’s totally inappropriate,” Matisse said in an e-mail. “Those folks did not agree, either overtly or by any action, to be involved in topping that man. If his Mistress really exists, then they are both complicit in creepiness.” If I were you, ANH, I wouldn’t hire Sparky again. Not because I wouldn’t mind having a submissive electrician around the house—that sounds like fun, actually—but because I wouldn’t want an electrician around the house, submissive or not, who displayed poor judgment and had no boundaries. CONFIDENTIAL TO KIMBO: It sounds like you made the right choice when you DTMFA’d that dude. Find the Savage Lovecast (my weekly podcast) every Tuesday at thestranger.com/savage. mail@savagelove.net
JONESIN’ CROSSWORDS “Westerns Philosophy”--one comes to mind.
by Matt Jones Across 1 Company behind FarmVille and CityVille 6 Perrins’ steak sauce partner 9 It may get passed in secret 14 Tennis star Chris 15 Clip-___ (tie types) 16 Magazine edition 17 Follow through on a promise 20 Leaky tire sound 21 Gave a rat’s ass 22 Super Mario World console, for short 23 Isolates 25 Sudden increase in wind 29 Dig one’s claws into 34 Be a positive, on balance 38 Went out with 39 “Ruh-___!” (Scooby-Doo line) 40 “Beavis and Butt-Head” spinoff 41 Gave the thumbs-up to 42 Portions (out) 44 Schooner filler 45 Debussy’s “La ___” 46 Hands-free phone feature 48 Medvedev’s country: abbr. 49 Breakfast cereal brand 51 Doing the nasty
55 Split-second look 56 Cream in the hair care aisle 58 Like some pantyhose 59 Swiss cheese 60 Baby docs 61 “It Was Written” rapper 62 180 degrees from NNE 63 Highest point Down 1 Letters in a British puzzle? 2 Cosmetician Rocher 3 Wilco guitarist Cline 4 Gray, in Grenoble 5 Off-road rambler 6 Ecological Seuss character, with “The” 7 ___ nous 8 Phoenixes rise from them 9 Lively dance 10 Bears, in Bolivia 11 “Help ___ the way!” 12 Like some art class models 13 Dick Tracy’s girl 18 Bad bacteria 19 She was told to “stifle” by Archie 23 Ran in the laundry 24 Have to have 25 Not Gomorrah
26 Reason for 2011 relief efforts 27 Speak 28 Filled with wonder 30 Simple rhyme scheme 31 Harder to find 32 Fond farewell 33 Russian rulers, once 35 What some are destined for 36 “A Buddhist walks up to a ___ stand and says, ‘Make me one with everything’” 37 Blue man group? 42 Singer Etheridge 43 Folk singer Pete and his poet uncle Alan, for two 46 Go on 47 Candle-making material 49 MDXXV doubled 50 Actor Neeson 51 Amorphous horror movie villain, with “The” 52 Mid-road turnarounds 53 Final, for instance 54 22-across rival, once 55 Ronny & the Daytonas hit 57 Oscar winner Harrison ©2011 Jonesin’Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com)
Curious about men? Other guys are too.
TRY FOR FREE
803.409.0011 Discreet Talk
18+
April 6, 2011
15