Customer Reviews

Halliburton Boardroom Massacre (W/Dvd) (Dig)

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David expresses in song what people like Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn express in the written word. I can't imagine why a right wing person would even review this title, they are not who this music is for. They won't like it any more than I would like attending a fundamentalist sermon. This music resonates for me because it talks about the struggles of disenfranchised peoples. If you are conservative either religiously or politically you won't like it. Unless, of course... you are open to a different perspective. If, on the other hand, your are more left of center - have a concern for forgoten people, the enviornment, and political freedom... Then you will absolutely resonate with this music. The "Behind the Barricades" album is great also.

Rovics has done some compilations before, but for those brought up with 64-track studios, they might have that tentative quality that early Mountain Goats compilations had, before John Darnielle discovered the studio. The new Rovics CD/DVD combination, however, has a mix of electric studio productions (gasp, Dylan at Newport) and simple, almost bluegrass song styles. Now, keep in mind, David is a leftist topical songwriter, and by its nature, that means a certain song structure recalling Seeger and pre-1965 Dylan. But he can spoof his own political orientation, like the great "I'm A Better Anarchist Than You." The CD herein gives a great cross-section of recent songs, some of them re-engineered from the fantastic "Waiting for the Fall" CDR, and some of them brand new. Fans will want to act fast to get the bundled DVD in the early editions, because this DVD has a lot more substance than three-quarters of the bonus DVDs you get with mainstream pop music releases. There's several independent song productions from Fort Benning and the NYC 2005 anti-nuke rally, and a full concert from Toledo. This is the place for someone just getting familiar with Rovics' fantastic songwriting to start.

David Rovics is a dedicated, committed, and indeed eloquent progressive activist musician who believes that those who are responsible for perpetuating war and injustice in the interest of profit and greed must be directly opposed. His songs are in part metaphorical, which some of the reactionary reviewers below don't recognize, but in part not. Rovics takes the reality of class struggle seriously, and urges the vast majority to recognize it for what it is--of course ruling class representatives condemn the 'rhetoric of class warfare' because they can wage class war all the more successfully when few recognize it for what it is, let alone fight back. The power employed to exploit, abuse, and destroy, Rovics argues, must be actively resisted; that is the only way it can -- it will -- ultimately be overcome. If you have been paying close attention at all, you will know that a vast plurality of progressive, radical, and, yes, revolutionary, activist musicians are writing, and have been writing, songs arguing similar points in recent years, and indeed this is a time-honored tradition within popular protest music, including in the US. In short, there comes a point where even those deeply committed, in principle, to pacifism, contemplate the need to pursue different strategies. It may continue as non-violent resistance, but more aggressive, creative, confrontational, disruptive, and subversive--and it may move beyond that point. Rovics' songwriting registers what it feels like to be at this point of considering a sharp change in strategy for hitherto entirely peaceful opponents of imperialist war.

Another excellent effort from self-described "Leftist Cheerleader" David Rovics. The title track is the poignant story of a young soldier sent off to fight who learns too late that his country's reasons for starting a war, and the promises made by his country's military, were lies. He comes home disillusioned, broken and physically ill from DU (depleted uranium) poisioning. Before he dies, he decides to exact some frontier justice against some of those who lied and profited from his suffering and impending death.
The odd sound of the vocals are that of this young man's voice, recorded over the telephone in an interview given before he is stormed by the authorities after taking his revenge. "When Johnny Came Marching Home" tells another similar story of the returning soldier, forgotten by his country and his countrymen. This is not the empty, vapid sloganeering of "Have You Forgotten" and "Courtesy Of The Red, White, And Blue", it's speaking truth to power. (Something ALWAYS sure to rile the Reichwing lemmings...)

Another gem is "The Battle OF Blair Mountain" included on the DVD. This is probably one of my favorite Rovics songs because it deals with a forgotten piece of our history; The Coal Wars - a time when the Robber Barons and their "conservative" lackeys didn't just wage a war of rhetoric on the working people of America, they waged a real war with bullets, bombs and gangs of thugs killing women and children. (For a prologue to this story, see John Sayle's film "Matewan". It's the same period of history and many of the same people.)


All in all, a great album for the thinking American who loves his/her country too much to see it destroyed by a bunch of right-wing goons.

Why is Amazon selling this garbage? This CD advocates the assaination of Halliburton executives and the Vice-president of the US. The proceeds go to groups that treasonous organizations that advocate killing both Americans soldiers and Iraqis. I won't be buying anything from Amazon until they stop selling this trash!

From the lyrics:

...DU was in my blood and I was knocking on death's door

I can't tell you how it felt to be betrayed at every turn
Like the earth was spinning backwards, like my heart began to burn
Like I had to do something while I still had the strength to stand
While I still could run with a machine gun in my hand

I thought of Halliburton and the military brass
And the things they get away with all for their ruling class
But I'm not a pawn and I can't just let it be
And if I'm gonna die, I'm gonna take some of them f***ers with me

I'll spare you the details, I did what I had to do
There's a boardroom blown to hell and soon I will be, too
You can say I lost it, you can say that I'm insane
But may no one ever say that my death was in vain

I joined the army when high school was through I didn't know what else to do

Promotional materials [...] include downloadable posters that feature blurbs from Cindy Sheehan and Amy Goodman touting Rovics.

Sheehan is quoted saying, "David Rovics is the peace poet and troubador for our times."

Amy Goodman's quote is, "David Rovics is the musical version of Democracy Now!"

Sheehan has written about her desire to kill President Bush by going back in time and smothering him as an infant, so it's natural that she would endorse a fellow leftist's murderous diatribe.

United for Peace and Justice endorsed the killing of Iraqis and Americans in a statement issued by the World Tribunal on Iraq in June, 2005 that supported the insurgency in Iraq:

It is the occupation and its brutality that has provoked a strong armed resistance and certain acts of desperation. By the principles embodied in the UN Charter and in international law, the popular national resistance to the occupation is legitimate and justified. It deserves the support of people everywhere who care for justice and freedom.

United for Peace and Justice was created in 2002 as a project of Global Exchange, an outfit led by Marxist Castro groupie Medea Benjamin, in tandem with a sister organization Code Pink . Leslie Cagan, a communist relic from the Sixties, leads United for Peace and Justice. Code Pink's Gael Murphy is a leader of both Global Exchange founded groups.

The groups are leading a major rally and march on Saturday, January 27, 2007, in Washington, D.C. to call for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. and coalition forces from Iraq and Afghanistan.

A sticker on Halliburton Boardroom Massacre says "End All Wars! Support [...]"