Sunday 6 January 2008

Free Fouad Ahmed al-Farhan/BugStep



Fouad Ahmed al-Farhan usually blogs here, but since early December he´s been banged up in a Saudi jail for “violating non-security regulations”. Sounds vague dunnit?

In an e-mail sent to friends prior to his arrest, al-Farhan explained that he had received a phone call from the Saudi Interior Ministry instructing him to prepare himself “to be picked up in the coming two weeks” for questioning by a high-ranking official. He also stated in the e-mail that he believed he was being summoned “because I wrote about the political prisoners here in Saudi Arabia and they think I’m running an online campaign promoting their issue.” In one of his last posts before his detention, al-Farhan sharply criticized 10 influential Saudi business, religious, and media figures.

Saudi Arabia is one ´ucked-up place. Former British Prime Minister, Tony B.Liar definitely ain´t no sweet-bread, as his finger-prints are all over the decision to stop an investigation in a massive arms deal with BAE and Saudi Arabia early last year or in 2006. He claimed he had nothing to do with the investigation being halted, but secret documents acquired by the Guardian show the contrary.

In other news Ztohoven, a group of hackers/pranksters/artists...(take your pick) in the Czech Republic pulled a stunt reminiscent of 1938 radio transmission of HG Wells´ War of the Worlds. Word is though they may find themselves in the slammer for a few years ´cos they hacked into a transmission of a weather broadcast and inserted a mushroom cloud as the camera panned across a mountain scene. See the action here.

Nobody flies on Christmas Day, unless you got wings, which means your either a bird or The Bug. Mr. K-Mart took a holiday down our way, so we showed him the sights of Tenerife. He really shoulda been working his bugbutt off, to finish his album for Ninja Tune, but hey, one has a limit when it comes to being stuck in a studio in London´s Bethnal Green, and the cry for a break was louder than the scream he emitted when he stepped into our surrounding seas for a dip on New Years´s Day...bliss!
We shared words, food, music, photos etc., and my first radio prog´of 2008 will a BugStep/WattsRiot soundclash selection, taking in his remix for Thom Yorke, Loefah´s remix of The Bug´s ´Jah War´, Vangelis´extra bits for Blade Runner, and some Aziz Mian and DJ Krush with Mr. Lif from my end. Ear Conditioning return to the airwaves Jan. 14th.

2 comments:

ripley said...

nice you are linking with the bug. Got great respect for his music. played a good gig with him and Warrior Queen a few years back, still treasure the experience.

and i am indeed a big fan of ice cream & cake. what's not to love?

happy new year!

Anonymous said...

hadn't heard of the weather report stunt by the czech artists....excellent stuff....