January 30, 2007

Party Ben’s 2007 Mother Jones Mashup: Faithless vs. George W. Bush’s SOTU

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Hello internet. I’m Party Ben. You might know me from such films as “That’s My Monkey 2: Ookin’ it Up,” and “Arm & Hammer: a Company With a Future.” Not really. Actually, I make those most mockable of musical items: mashups! Plus I also DJ in the Golden State, and do something called “creative direction” for San Francisco radio station LIVE 105. Good times.

For reasons that are not yet clear to me, I’ve been asked to be a guest blogger on this blog, focusing on musical and cultural items of note. I guess I’ll bring a refreshing lack of “writing skills” or “journalistic ethics” that they couldn’t find around the Mother Jones offices.

To celebrate my acceptance into the liberal media elite, I’ve updated one of my more political tracks for exclusive download by readers of this fine blog. It’s based on a song by Faithless, “Mass Destruction,” a deceptively jaunty anti-war number that appeared on their 2004 album “No Roots.” At that time I produced a novelty version featuring some appropriate excerpts of George W. Bush’s anti-evildoer speechifying. Despite my version’s simplicity (like, wow, echo!) it proved inexplicably popular. As is my usual method, I produced at least six different versions, including a long one that appeared on my website and a shorter one that got some radio play on my own and other stations. This new version uses excerpts of Bush’s recent State of the Union speech as well as some of the clips I used in the original mix. Compare and contrast! It’s Faithless vs. George W. Bush, “Mass Destruction” (Party Ben’s 2007 Mother Jones remix). Enjoy.

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AN IMPORTANT UPDATE ON MOTHER JONES' FINANCES

We need to start being more upfront about how hard it is keeping a newsroom like Mother Jones afloat these days.

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