Recently I've begun moderating a calendar of Chicago activism and although this is isn't entirely related to Agents of Change, I thought that maybe some of you out in TV land might be interested.

For those who are involved already you can e-mail abetterworld.now@gmail.com if you have events you want to be posted.

Essentially, this means if you have information on events pertaining to the following movements: peace/anti-war, environmental justice, racial equality, worker's rights, feminism/gender equality, LGBTQ liberation, animal rights, immigrant solidarity, fair trade, alternative/indy media, anti-gentrification, prison reform/abolition, political art (music, movies, paintings etc), alternative economic/political models, anti-authoritarianism, or any other movement that is part of the broader tapestry of social justice initiatives.

Events could include, but are not limited to:
Conferences, rallies, protests, film screenings, workshops, concerts, performances, tabling events, potlucks, craft fairs, direct actions, boycotts, strikes, walk-outs, speakers, permitted events, unpermitted events, gallery openings, tours, meetings, vigils, convergences, consultas, demonstrations, leafletting, block parties, radio/TV shows, parties, self-immolations (remember Malachi), ETC.!

Please hit me up, because the more people that get involved and contribute the better!

PEACE
L. Maximus

..tr>..table>

Hi everyone, this is Brian from Agents of Change. We have recently been sponsored by No Sweat Apparel (http://www. nosweatapparel. com), a company that adamantly supports workers rights and opposes sweatshop conditions. They are attempting to obtain a grant from a website named ideablob to help sustain their efforts. To help them, all you need to do is go to: http://www. ideablob. com/ideas/1699-Organic-cotton-sweatshop-free-T and vote for their idea to win. It requires a registration to their website, but that is free and you don’t have to worry about ideablob spamming you. The deadline is March 31st, so time is of the essence. If you are concerned about human rights, it is a very simple way to help a company that is attempting to act in an ethical and responsible manner. Thanks, Brian PS - Here’s the message I received from No Sweat: Hello Brian, Thanks so much for your sponsorship with us and your ongoing support for our business. As you may have already heard, the life of No Sweat is in great danger, as we have fallen on very rough financial times. As one of the only completely sweatshop free shopping alternatives out there, we want to be able to stay in business for you and for our loyal customers & supporters. This is why we need your help! We have been waiting for a break; a grant that could give us the adequate resources we desperately need to thrive. With a bit of luck and the support of our friends and family, we have just been named finalists in Idea Blob’s March contest. If we manage to win this we will be given $20,000 to grow our business. I’d like to ask you to go here: http://www. ideablob. com/ideas/1699-Organic-cotton-sweatshop-free-T and take five minutes of your time to vote for us.You will first be asked to register, creating a user ID and password. After simply confirming your email address, you will be able to vote. There’s only one day left to do so, so please hurry! We would greatly appreciate your help. If it’s not too much to ask, we’d love it if you could pass this plea on to your band mates, and even your fans. Thank you so much in advance. In solidarity, Christina

Currently listening: Pirate's Choice By Orchestra Baobob Release date: 05 December, 1996

That's right suckas, we got onto the tube. I had forgotten about this for a while, so here's the link to a CBS news report of the October 27, 2007 demonstrations against the war. We're only on it for like 6 seconds, but it feels good that we are slowlying seeping into the consciousness of the masses.

http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=36744@wbbm.dayport.com

PEACE
L. Maximus

Check it out, AOC is in today’s (4/20/07) Chicago Sun-Times! Check out the article here: http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/music/349730,WKP-News-hiphop20.article
Much love to Dave Jakubian who asked us to do the interview. He asked many good questions, and let us speak our mind. We appreciate that kind of thing, ya know?

[Editor’s note: The link no longer works, but here’s a text version of the interview. Hopefully I’ll get a scanned version up here eventually.]

Agents of Change having their say in hip-hop

April 20, 2007
BY DAVID JAKUBIAK Hip-Hop
Agents of Change is a trio of suburban musicians hoping their brand of live-band hip-hop is not only the antidote to the materialistic, self-destructive themes that have riddled the genre, but also for a generation they’re hoping is primed to protest the policies of their fathers -- from war to free trade.

"The truth is here," cracks drummer Mike Curran, with a cockiness ripped from 1970s punk. "Everyone is so sick of, ’Let’s put some rims on our Escalades,’ and people want to get something out of hip-hop, not just ’This Is Why I’m Hot.’"


Photo
Agents of Change — Brian Brown (from left), Adam Weidner and Mike Curran — plays hip-hop that’s live, raw and socially conscious.

HEIRUSPECS; GLUE; ABSTRACT GIANTS; AGENTS OF CHANGE
• 9 tonight
• Abbey Pub, 3420 W. Grace
• Tickets, $12 (18-over show)
• (773) 478-4408
What Agents of Change offers is a radical departure from that MIMS track that has burned up radio. Their sound is raw, with Curran on drums and Adam Weidner on guitar joined by MC Brian Brown, also is known as Lantern, whose lyrics rant against what he sees as injustices and challenge listeners to take a closer look at their actions.
"There are so many issues I feel compelled to talk about in regard to social justice," says Brown. "There are so many things that people choose not to care about or are completely oblivious to."

Raised in Arlington Heights and Northwest Indiana, Brown describes his childhood as "normal white-bread, suburban, Wal-Mart, Starbucks life." He adds, "I’m not trying to front and say I’m from the ’hood, or that I’ve struggled, but the source of my lyrics is trying to help people who might not have a voice."

And he’s unapologetic.

"Maybe I am trying to be preachy," he declares.

Agents of Change has charted a different path than many of the city’s live bands, having played a large slate of suburban gigs, sharing the bill with gritty punk acts, while also offering their talents to events geared toward community involvement -- from a war protest at Northern Illinois University to a Make-A-Wish Foundation fund-raiser in Hammond.

"We’re going to say what we want to say, and we are going to do it the way we want to do it," says Brown. "Most of the recognition we’ve gotten has been by standing on street corners handing out CDs and flyers until 3 in the morning."

While driven by their messages, the band also places a heavy emphasis on the music.

Agents of Change, in its current incarnation, formed when Brown linked up with Weidner, his co-worker at Whole Foods, and then brought on Curran, who Brown knew from the punk ska outfit Evil Empire.

The idea was to bring together musicians with varied experience and give the project a punk, hip-hop stamp.

"I’ve played in a punk band and in a progressive rock band, but never in a hip-hop band. This gives me opportunities to expand and use jazz or folk or something bluesy, and it all fits," Weidner explains. "There’s a lot more balance than in a rock band. In a rock band, it’s either all guitar solos, or it’s all drums, or it’s all screaming. With our songs, each of us has a part that we hold true."

While Agents of Change may have balance, Curran says their goal is to swing the pendulum of the genre back to social consciousness and activism.

"We all realize that this type of hip-hop is very funky fresh right now, and we have the power to take this and make it something totally our own."

David Jakubiak is a local free-lance writer.

So I got some fuckin ridiculous info:

On track 11 of our CD we feature a guy named the Fletch doing some crazy beat poetry shit. It sounds great, but apparently the lyrics are from some Stone Sour song called Omega. Now we didn't catch this pretty much due to our disdain for popular culture (and thus our ignorance), but that still doesn't mean we are gonna steal someone's lyrics/poetry and say it's our own (or say it's someone we know). We might sample some shit and loop a beat over it, but the words are what counts.

The simple fact is we were fuckin' tricked by this idiot and now we have tons of CDs with this stolen shit on it. If you want one we'll mail it out for free. If you bought one and you feel tricked/cheated we'll gladly refund your money.

I seriously am just so out of touch with modern music that I really just had no idea. The other 21 tracks are legit so if you want one we'll send it, just be forewarned about track 11.

Stay tuned we're in the process of getting together new shit right now, so hopefully this will all be in the past soon enough.

Just message us with an address or e-mail it to us at revolt@agents-of-change.com.

Sorry about this fuckin' horse shit.

PEACE
Mr. Lantern (aka CRACKhead aka Brian)

We did a show at NIU in DeKalb, IL and we made it into their student paper. Thought all y'all suckaz in TV land might wanna read it.

http://www.star.niu.edu/articles/?id=20893

If you read the article:
We didn't participate in the "march" at the end of the rally...

Since it's not a huge publication, I thought I would provide everyone with an interview that I did with a fanzine called Build Your Own Scene. They have a MySpace thing you should check 'em out. I think I'm gonna be giving out copies of the zine at the Needle House show too. But here's the interview in case you can't make it to the show or just want something to read: BYOS: how long have you been rapping? CRACKhead: Phew lets see...I've been writing/rapping for at least 5-6 years with many years ahead of me... hopefully, unless I get arrested or assassinated...or both. Yeah, if you see that I've died of mysterious causes or some shit like that, don't beleive it. BYOS: why the name crackhead? CRACKhead: Well first and foremost, it's an attention getter. I'm not gonna lie. With that in mind, I'm trying to grab your attention for a reason. I'm not here trying to fill my pockets with absurd amounts of cash or to sell my sneakers or whatever, I'm all about raising consciousness, waking people up from their hypnotized/zombified state. There's a lot of stuff that needs to be changed and people need to get up and do something about it. Oh and I'm skinny, use drugs, and talk in long, rambling sentences, so people have called me crackhead for a long time, probably as long as I've been spitting flows. BYOS: what inspired you to put politics into your raps? CRACKhead: A lot of stuff. Punk rock (none of that MTV BS, I mean real punk rawk), living around a bunch of religous zealots (backwater traditionalist preachers made me really disdain organized religion), and 9-11. Actually 9-11 was a huge catalyst for my mission through music. After 9-11 when everyone went out and bought as many flags as they possibly could...I felt ashamed to be an American. Not only was I ashamed at the commercial exploitation of the events (IE yuppies buying flags by the metric ton), but the fact that very few individuals saw the symbolism behind the attacks. The ignorance and arrogance of America is what forces me to speak out. BYOS: gotta say I dig your stuff (i like some hip hop but not most of what is cool today) any people who inspired you? CRACKhead: There's also a group called the Kottonmouth Kings from California, I don't really dig their sound nowadays, but their first CD Royal Highness, is what inspired me to start writing. On top of that there's a punk rock outfit known as Choking Victim (RIP), and a rapper named Immortal Technique. My sound is similar to Technique's, except he grew up in the ghetto, and I grew up on the cold hard streets of suburbia. OH and Hunter S. Thompson, god rest his soul. Don't beleive the lies, he was assassinated! do you do your own beats? any help? What programs? (tell me a little about your recording process) For the most part yes, I do my own beats. There's a couple that have guitar riffs in them, I don't play guitar so other people layed those down and I looped 'em. I primarily use Fruity Loops for the beat making and then for recording I've used everything from digital work stations to MAGIX to demos of CuBase and ProTools. I don't have ANY money for recording so, I usually just get a song fully written/layed out , then lock myself in the nearest bathroom or closet and click record on whatever I happen to be using (usually my laptop). I usually will record a song the whole way through if I can, it gives it a more authentic sound. That doesn't mean I won't do multiple takes/overdubs/record verses separately, but the rawest form appeals to me the most. If it needs to be tweeked with by means of technology, then I'm not gonna say NO, ya know? BYOS: so you have an album out? CRACKhead: Not any legitimate albums. I have tons of songs recorded (that are all floating around on various samplers/burned CDs/tapes). I'm planning on releasing an album called Thug Life (sarcasm, I can't stress that enough) in the next couple months (of course I've been saying that for months). It's gonna go all over the place musically, hip-hop, punk, acoustic style rock, ska, techno, country, gangsta rap, it's gonna be nuts. I just have to finish recording it, and maybe get it pressed, but I don't have any money so it'll probably be given away for free on the internet for a while or something. Who knows, just expect mad flava. BYOS: shows coming up? (this wont be in this next issue, but the next so if you dont know any yet, maybe you can tell me about the shows you play coming up here) CRACKhead: Yeah I'm doing a show on April 16 at a place called the Needle House in Chicago. It's a hip-hop/punk rock show. Should be good, the other acts that are performing are kick-ass, 5 bucks at the door, it's gonna be a good time. Then there's on on May 28 at a place called Blue Room Recording. It's some recording studio that's recording my set on audio. So yeah if you want to participate in CRACKhead history come yell some profanity into the mic and you'll be forever remember as the asshole who ruined the perfectly good live CD. There's gonna be more shows booked soon too, I guess I'll plug the web site here. If you want info on shows, lyrics, albums, street teams, free music, go to www.ineedcrack.com. Catchy isn't it? BYOS: chicago give you a warm welcome? (people seem to dig it?) CRACKhead: Yeah I've been getting really good responses, especially after I opened a show on the 26th of February (well me and a fellow rapper named Hoop Star opened it in a dual set thing thing). I'm finding that there's a lot of people interested in something/someone different than the weak, watered down shit that's on the radio, which is AWESOME. I've been getting lots of props through the internet too, it's always nice to hear people you've never met show love. Unity without conformity, or something like that. Fin. PEACE Grandpaw CRACK