[Click through to the post to listen to audio]

Yo, we're going to have the word love
in many different languages translated all through the track
So, whenever you hear the word love
Know that, it's going to be in a different language
The language of love cannot be translated, yo

Love is blind, you just see bright light
You up in the club feelin' the night life, lookin' for the right type
Blood rushing to your heart making it beat
When she swept you off your feet and made it complete
You know the plan you had to conquer the world
Thinking you Scarface, looking for that perfect girl
And now you found her
Started with romantic, then got to frantic
Then things thats normally small become gigantic
Now y'all sinkin like the Titanic here come the panic
Bein with you like a habit without you I can't stand it
It's tragic when you wonder when you lost that magic
Without understanding that you never had it try to grab it
In the bed gettin a nut off, communication cut off
Getting mad cause you turned on wondering where she shut off
Constantly comparing you to someone in my past
We don't smile anymore, and we argue over cash
Advance to that physical shit
See what happens if you keep talkin
See what happens if you lay a finger on me motherf...
Yo, see what I'm sayin'
It's like one big mind game that everybody playin and
Niggas say bitches is trife, bitches say niggas is
We just don't understand our fundamental differences
I'm still learning though, actually
I just do what come naturally, naturally, naturally

(Chorus):
L'amour n'a pas de, frontiere (Love has no boundaries)
Restes car je t'aime comme tu es (Stay because I love you as you are)
J'ai traverse l'ocean du verbe (I crossed an ocean of words)
Et je t'ai trouve (And I found you)

[Talib Kweli]
Women thrive on emotions, men refuse to acknowledge
So when we arguin nobody win
Words get in the way time and again
Sticks and stones break your bones words break your heart
Whether you in touch with that part or not say "word"
Words are weapons for the revolutionary
Used for evil make the situation very scary
Word up, but love is brave
It flies in the face of fear
Yo, wherever you want to go love'll take you there
Let's go, you know a flower that grow in the ghetto
Know more about survival than the one from fresh meadows
It got love for the sun, that's where I'm comin from
Spit in this fashion cause I love rockin over drums
Word (te quiero) I put my love into my music
If you with me then you love how I do it
If my heart you're livin' in your ocean I'm swimmin' in
Never drowning got me floatin' watching you in slow motion
Love potion overdosin approachin
The explosion of my senses everyday without your heart
is like a sentence in jail
Trust I'll always be mentally free
You got the key to let it out I'll show you how it could be
Love {*different language*} it ain't nuttin but a word
A chicken ain't nuttin but a bird
Yo, yo, yo

(Chorus):
L'amour n'a pas de, frontiere (Love has no boundaries)
Restes car je t'aime comme tu es (Stay because I love you as you are)
J'ai traverse l'ocean du verbe (I crossed an ocean of words)
Et je t'ai trouve (And I found you)

[Talib Kweli]
Some of y'all in love with that material but
love enter my life like a miracle and
It reciprocal that's why I'm feeling you love
We exibit our natural behavior
Like making love under the moon in Jamaica
Get you so hot you call the name of the creata
The morning we hop back into action again
Up on the wall lovin how the sun blacken your skin
Remember when we explored the beach
Swam in the ocean and saw beneith
How the colors of the coral reef looked like the illest floral peice
That's what your beauty remind me of
It's hard to find a love like ours, taking it high above
Them other duns try to spit game but, I dont sweat it though
Know in my heart that we connected so I let it go
Now if they call you out your name and that's a different thing
Anything but Queen I'll go to war like a King
Your friends sweat you cause you aint got a band
But they dont understand
Some things is meant to stay between a woman and man
And they ain't privy to it so they try to get into it
Both you and me see through it so the way we flow is fluid
We speak the love language, they speak from pain and anguish
Some don't love theyselves so they perception is tainted
Out they joint like "Shit, he payin for your rent" missin the point
When you rub me into your skin just like an ointment
It's more than pillow talk, it can't be translated
Learn how to speak it, and become emancipated
It's a language

Universal love...

(Chorus):
L'amour n'a pas de, frontiere (Love has no boundaries)
Restes car je t'aime comme tu es (Stay because I love you as you are)
J'ai traverse l'ocean du verbe (I crossed an ocean of words)
Et je t'ai trouve (And I found you)

Love love love love, love, love (Repeated)

(from fistfulayen)

One of the acts that played, IWTDI, is tied to DMP through their drummer, James Hepler, and bassist, John Booker -- both members of long-time indie rock band Sorry About Dresden, our first headlining act last April.

Sounds like they rocked the crowd and the vote.

Be there or be busy doing something else. So there!

• Sorry About Dresden
  Thursday, Nov. 6th 10:15PM @ Duke Coffeehouse, Crowell Building, Duke
• The Wigg Report
  Friday, Nov. 7th 11:55PM @ Bull McCabe's, 427 West Main Street

For the full schedule, be sure to hit up the Trokia Music Festival website.

Here's a great intro to the festival:

(found on WSQE)

photo by paul goyette

In September of 2001, I was consulting as an Information Architect for Organic Online out of the Woolworth Building, just a few blocks uptown from the towers. I lived a stone's throw away in Gowanus, Brooklyn -- the self-proclaimed taint between Park Slope and Carrol Gardens.

Luckily for me, both of those facts came to be a reality.

Two weeks before 9/11, I applied for a gig that would've had me working in an office whose address was smack dab in the path of the first plane that struck the South Tower. As fate would have it, I returned to work with my old pals up the street before getting a return call from the sub-contracting firm.

After the towers were destroyed and I had driven overnight from my consulting gig in Houston, TX in a rental car to my home on 4th Ave, I spent the remainder of the week following the news, wandering around NYC trying to help however possible, trying to connect with my neighbors, but not being able to make any sense of my time on this spinning rock.

photo by shesacoustic

The sheer amount of destruction and loss of innocent life gripped my soul.

A few days later, President Bush told us that the most patriotic thing we could do was to shop and get back to a normal life while he planned his jab in Afghanistan to draw attention away from his sweeping right to Iraq.

I caught a plane soon thereafter -- actually, the following Monday when the airports opened once more -- and headed back to my gig in Houston, TX. The internet bubble had popped, I was living on my credit card -- how else was I going to do my part if I couldn't afford my rent and a plethora of material goods?

That was a semi-rhetorical question, forgive me.

Fast-forward a year. After taking a job across two rivers on the banks of Jersey City, I found myself commuting through the rubble of "Ground Zero" twice a day.

That took a toll of its own.

photo by 1115

People sold merchandise at the grave site at all hours of day and night. Terrible icons of cross-hairs across a bold typeface of GROUND ZERO were found on t-shirts, hats, coffee mugs, and the vast majority of people supporting such sick profiteering were tourists.

Families and friends, some from across the US and others from abroad, posed by the massive fences that surrounded the excavation project, as someone took picture after picture of them where the beacon to The City once stood.

Cheese!

Month after month passed as I briskly walked past the onlookers and trophy hunters.

Over a stretch of my commute prior to reaching the West Side Highway foot bridge, I noticed graffiti, street art and tags begin to appear as a collective form of cathartic release on the construction walls that carved a path around the once smoldering pit.

photo by dbull1

Each day, a new message would appear -- some offered personal remembrances of the dead; some proclaimed messages of peace in uncertain times; others screamed for focus to catch the evil mastermind behind the box-cutter wielding perpetrators who caused this horrific loss of human life and faith in our common humanity.

And like clockwork, every few months these utterances were painted over by the city.

In retrospect, I view those actions as a symbolic glimpse into the attitude this administration has regarding the voice of the people, particularly the ones most affected by 9/11.

Move on, there's nothing to see here. Nothing to feel. Nothing to relate to...

Shock And Awe

President Bush pressed hard in Afghanistan for a minute and then we moved on to attack Iraq.

The game plan was obvious prior to the towers falling and took priority over the largest homicide in US history. The most notorious mass murderer of innocent life on American soil was left to taunt us on video tapes from a cave in the middle of nowhere, while we pursued a false campaign against Islamic Fascists.

Ask a New Yorker how they feel about that.

photo by Clam227

I could go on and on about this past administration, but there would be no point to it. You've experienced the same exact obstructive, patronizing, arrogant, murderous and unconstitutional agenda that I've been witness to.

I was so sick of this administration and the apparent drivers behind the agenda of this nation, that three years ago to this month, out of protest, I refused to purchase any more red or blue clothes.

That choice didn't heal the sick or change anything in particular, but it did lead to me re-focusing as a person first, and an American second.

dotmatrix's brand language -- once a tip of the hat to my Irish heritage with the red and blue complimentary colors of green and orange -- became reinforced with an even deeper element of anti-establishment thinking.

Our government and major corporations make moves with a top-down infrastructure, so I'm going to invest in the processes of bottom-up evolution.

They use the media to mass market for growing their reach and bottom-line, so I'll grow organically by investing in the product and the people to evolve with me.

I set forth a challenge to myself to never become complacent, to never settle for anything that would even innocuously nest me within a problem, rather than the solution.

It's a steep challenge, one full of self-doubt and frustration, but shoot for the stars, I say.

So last night, when an African-American senator named Barack Obama -- the epitome of a bottom-up community organizer and the inspiration of folks both alive and dead -- put the finishing touches on a breathtaking campaign steeped in hope, change, transparency, service and sacrifice... I was at a loss for words.

Thankfully, I'll have this to hold on to:

Back To The Beginning

As of this afternoon, I own my very first American flag -- a flag that will be waving proudly by my front door as soon as I can mount it.

While nothing has changed, everything has changed.

A sense of national pride has been restored in me, and I can't describe the feeling in words.

Barack Obama is only one man, but the millions of citizens within this nation that stand behind him -- people from all walks of life who also believe in common sense, common respect and common purpose -- wholeheartedly believe that he is willing and able to lead us into doing what we can, when we can, in order to better our situation and the world around us.

One man.

One love.

Fellas, if you ever get tired of the big time noise and the big time people and the big time to-do, don't hesitate to give us a call. We've got just the intimate setting for you at a DMP show.

On a similar note, pigs are still earthbound.

Stupid pigs.

How great is this?

Obama on the left
McCain on the right
We can talk politics all night
And you can vote however you like
You can vote however you like, yeah

Democratic left
Republican right
November 4th we decide
And you can vote however you like
You can vote however you like, yeah

(McCain supporters)
McCain's the best candidate
With Palin as his running mate
They'll fight for gun rights, pro life,
The conservative right
Our future is bright
Better economy in site
And all the world will feel our military might

(Obama supporters)
But McCain and Bush are real close right
They vote alike and keep it tight
Obama's new, he's younger too
The Middle Class he will help you
He'll bring a change, he's got the brains
McCain and Bush are just the same
You are to blame, Iraq's a shame
Four more years would be insane

Lower your Taxes - you know Obama Won't
PROTECT THE LOWER CLASS - You know McCain won't!
Have enough experience - you know that they don't
STOP GLOBAL WARMING - you know that you won't

I want Obama
FORGET OBAMA
Stick with McCain and you're going to have some drama
We need it
HE'LL BRING IT
He'll be it
YOU'LL SEE IT
We'll do it
GET TO IT
Let's move it
DO IT!

Obama on the left
McCain on the right
We can talk politics all night
And you can vote however you like
You can vote however you like, yeah

Democratic left
Republican right
November 4th we decide
And you can vote however you like, I said
You can vote however you like, yeah

I'm talking big pipe lines, and low gas prices
Below $2.00 that would be nice

But to do it right we gotta start today
Finding renewable ways that are here to stay

I want Obama
FORGET OBAMA,
Stick wit McCain you gone have some drama
MORE WAR IN IRAQ
Iran he will attack
CAN'T BRING OUR TROOPS BACK
We gotta vote Barack!

Obama on the left
McCain on the right
We can talk politics all night
And you can vote however you like, I said
You can vote however you like, yeah

Democratic left
Republican right
November 4th we decide
And you can vote however you like, I said
You can vote however you like, yeah

The dream I had last night?

Yeah... that one will work.

[Click through to the post to listen to audio]

Not quite the collaboration Q-Tip alluded to, but hey...

From monkeywhale.com:

Robin Doby Easter, Greensboro Resident, singer, actor, sits in for an interview and talks about the Gate City, her life and her struggles as an artist. Robin is the lead singer for one of the hottest Blues bands around, "The Stovepipes," who are playing at the Greensboro Coliseum on Tuesday for the election night Obama Rally.

I finally got mine.

That's tight, folks. On the evening that America elected our new president and changed the course of the future, DMP is proud to release The Tiny Meteors Live at the dotmatrix project.

Notice the button Kemp is sporting on the album cover? You'd never guess that our supremely talented photog who took that shot, John Leonard, is a die-hard Republican.

We may not be crafting legislation or saving lives here at DMP, but we roll like a tight knit family -- no talking religion or politics over the dinner table.

The Amie Street album is available for $.63, but will be soon jumping in price. If you're new to that process, be sure to use our promo entrance page to sign up for an account and receive free money to support our local artists by putting coin directly in their pockets.

Recording Engineers: Don Ravon, Dan Bayer
Mixing Engineers: Don Ravon, Dan Bayer
Cover Design: Sean Coon
Cover Photograph: John Leonard

[Click through to the post to listen to audio]

We shot this video of The Wigg Report on October 19th, 2007. Ben, Christine and Stephen were gracious enough to come out to ConvergeSouth Music and play for practically nothing.

Andy and I didn't plan on making a music video until the very last minute. I shot the band with my Fuji FD31 digital camera, while Andy used his professional HD camera. We mixed both files in post and reduced the output to a consistent, grainy, b/w style to hide the major differences between the two cameras.

The show was fun to put on and even more fun to document. That night was absolutely the genesis of the current DMP shows.

So here we are, a full year later with 14 more local acts documented with music videos, as well as hordes of top notch photographs and live albums. And to come full circle, we have an open invite to reconnect with and document The Wigg Report at a DMP show sometime next Spring.

That had to be the longest intro to an afternoon radio spot in the history of long ass blog promotions.

Turn on your radio. 4pm. 88.7 WXDU.

My favorite line in the interview:

There ain't nothin' happening here (Greensboro). You know, if you don't make it happen, uh, it ain't gonna happen.

Exactamundo.

We've had Bruce on the DMP radar for a bit now, but after experiencing the energy of last month's performance by his friends, we're itching for another listening audience.

Brought to you by monkeywhale.

Lyrics by Ron English
Music by Jack Medicine
Arrangement by The Electric Illuminati

Chaos, destruction
Chaos, destruction
Death and Disorder
Fences and walls
Barriers and borders
Mullahs and ministers
Diplomats and lawyers
Malcontents and terrorists
Bigoted governments

Propaganda dissonance
Ruling class extravagance
Narrow minds intolerance
Aggression vs. self defense
Misguided reverence
Self diluted arrogance
Ignorance and violence
& things, that we can't put behind us
Degradations, Dogma
Hamanee, Osama
And America, just wants to believe in Barack Obama
Revelations, dharma
Shariah Law and Karma
And America, Just wants to believe in Barack Obama

Iran, Afghanistan
Taliban, Klu Klux Klan
Christian, Muslim
Secular Utopian
Mythical Holy Land
Magical slight of hand
Neo Con Barbarians
Starting wars without a plan

John McCain and Vietnam
The Great Satan and Uncle Sam
Tax and loot Republicans
Super Sized Americans
Al Qaeda and Pakistan
Democracy is in Demand
Economy is in the can
How long before we lose our land
And things that we just don't understand

Jesus Christ, Madonna
George Bush, Pollyanna
And America, Just wants to believe in Barack Obama
Politicians, Drama
Children love their Mama
America, Just wants to believe in Barack Obama

Ron English, the lyrical mastermind behind America Believes In Obama, has his show opening on November 1, 7:00 - 11:00 pm at The Shooting Gallery in San Francisco.