Well, it got me. I am down for the count with this season's hottest item; the Flu. Whatever you do, do not contract this siht. I like to think I live pretty healthily and this thing is rocking me right now. Thus, I dont have a ton of energy to put into yet another whiny pseudo-funny and sarcastic post of my own with someone else's music pinned to the bottom of it, so I've compiled a few items of interest for you to chomp on for the next few days. Oh, and those of you on myspace.com, you can follow all the latest happenings with my new band, The Flu on the bulletin board there. Trying to get better in time for my gig with TK Disko at 1015 on Saturday night, and playoff softball on Sunday! [Laurent Garnier Cancels US Tour] France's beloved and one of the world's top dance music DJ's, Laurent Garnier, has announced he is cancelling his upcoming U.S. Tour. The tour included a scheduled date on March 4 at San Francisco's Booby Skye. Garnier himself released a statement today on the situation, and it is as follows: LAURENT GARNIER TOUR CANCELLATION STATEMENT LAURENT GARNIER US TOUR DATES Fri March 4 SF Ruby Skye CANCELLED Sat March 5 LA Avalon CANCELLED Mon March 7 NY Cielo CANCELLED I am very sorry to have to cancel my forthcoming U.S. tour due to what I consider to be completely unreasonable demands by the U.S. Embassy in France in order to renew my work visa. In order to obtain this new visa, the rules have once again changed since November 2004 and I would now have to not only fill out an exceedingly probing application form, but also be interviewed by a member of the Embassy staff, and provide proof of ownership of my house, details of my bank account, my mobile phone records, personal information on all my family members and more. I consider these demands to be a complete violation of my privacy and my civil liberties and I refuse to comply. I am horrified by these new regulations and feel really sad that this is what some call freedom and democracy. It has now become almost impossible for an artist to come and perform in the United States. And until this new proceedure changes I will unfortunately refuse to comply with this nonsense. Thank you for your understanding. Laurent Garnier Attempts to contact Garnier for further insight into this and other juicy bitz of info were unsuccessful. [Martin Gore Gets Minimal On 'Em] Listen to this DJ set by Depeche Mode's Martin Gore. Who knew dude played records? I didnt. Martin Gore in the Mix [Control Room: The Movie] Just peeped this fantastic documentary last night. It focuses on Al Jazeera, the subtleties of modern propaganda and how media outlets deals with disseminating news in times of war. The most fascinating thing about this film is that it was made at the very outset of the war. The literally caught the first bombs dropping on bagdhad while shooting. Nearly two years later, virtually everything the journalists at Jazeera said about the Iraqi people(they would not be happy with Americans being in Iraq for too long), about the emergence of outside influences into the conflict(it would happen), came true. One thing a reporter said that didnt happen though: that the american people would get rid of George Bush. [Irv "Gotti" Indicted by the Feds on Numerous Charges] Am I the only one who cringes when hip-hop cats try to fashion themselves after Italian mobsters? You're not Italian! And if I can use the guys in The Sopranos as a guide, they probably think guys that do this are total clowns. Like, "why the fuck are all these mulignane using our family names??" Apparently, no one in the world of Hip-Hop is surprised by the charges brought against Irv, and most expect him to serve time. It was only a matter of time. More on Irv "Gotti" [Francois K's Deep Space Comes to SF's Atmosfere] If was going to be well enough, I would definitely be checking this out. Francois K's latest offering, patterned after his club night in New York called Deep Space, will be in San Francisco tonight at Mighty. Atmosfere promoter and resident DJ Said will be alongside Francois. Apparently, it's going to be very dub influenced and Francois will be operating a full mixing board to enhance each and every record he plays. Get ready for lots of spacey echo. You can learn more about the Deep Space concept at the official website.... [Phil Sherburne is a Fascist?] Found a flyer for a party happening on Saturday night called The Facist Party. The event claims to be "an inaguration fesitivity" with a flyer that proudly proclaims "Forever Bush-Cheney." It also features world-reknowned spanish-speaker and creator of the term 'minimal house,' SF's own Philip Sherburne on the wheels of steel. Looks to be some combination fashion show, techno rave and highly sarcastic art installation. Learn more at http://www.fascistparty.us. Coming next week: the kick-off of my Black History Month special, "Questionable Black Fashion" and of course more of the hottest mp3 files to be found on any of the Internets.