Archive | September 25, 2012
September 25, 2012  

Tuesday Night Jams: A.P.E.S. (Adam Autrey,Pete Larson, Erik Talley, Scott Nydegger)

I was making dinner tonight and put my MP3 player on random. On comes a tune, and I’m thinking to myself, “Wow, this guitar player sounds great!” 10 minutes later, I realize that the person playing guitar is myself.

Erik Talley is a violinist and luthier from North Carolina. If you listen to the tunes, you will hear how good he is.

Adam Autry is one of the craziest drummers alive and used to play in the legendary Olneyville Sound System. Both Adam and Erik live in Providence, RI. Both are far better musicians than me.

Rounding out the group was Scot Nydegger of Sikhara/Radon Records fame. For some odd reason, we had him playing bass (he normally plays percussion).

We recorded this in either late 1999 or early 2000 at my warehouse space in Providence, “the Bulb Clubhouse” where we used to host live bands and spontaneous recording session. I probably hadn’t listened to this since the day we recorded it, but it still sounds great. The guitar player is less impressive to me, after realizing that he’s me, but it still makes some great cooking music. Enjoy.

You can download it here:
Single zip file of all mp3s and artwork

or just listen to it here:

Candles
Rats
Late Night Break In
Stolen Window
Nigerian Church
A Jeweler’s Nightmare

September 25, 2012  

Rising Food Prices Might Be Causing Unrest in the Middle East and North Africa

Rising food prices and food riots

Last week, I put together a small post hypothesizing that rising food prices are associated with protests in South Africa. I showed how the pattern of newspaper reports on protests follows the current pattern on rising food prices, as measured through the FAO worldwide Food Price Index.

Turns out, researchers at the New England Complex Systems Institute had the same idea, but they applied it to food riots in the Middle East and North Africa. The results of their research are presented to the left.

The pattern is the same. Riots tend to be clustered during rapid price increases, and sparse (non-existent) when prices drop.

I have already written on the influence of Wall Street on price rise and volatility. This frightening pattern is no accident. If this result and mine are any indication, unrest will continue. Food prices will likely continue rising, with some intermittent drops.

My feeling is that the recent explosion of protest in Islamic countries is less related to a childish video, and more about individuals unable to properly feed their families. Given the United States financial sectors complicity in creating these conditions, they are right to be angry. Until the Americans become proactive toward regulating food commodity speculation, this situation will only worsen.

It is my opinion that this will be the most important issue of our time, and could very lead to massive instability and violence.

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