The Benjamin Dixon Show
Andy's Podcaster Podcasting Podcast #24
Intro Music
ANDY
It’s Andy’s Podcaster Podcasting Podcast… episode 24!
SIRI
8am
SFX - Car door shuts
ANDY
Are you buckled?
Sierra & Blaise
Yes
ANDY
Got your mask?
SIERRA & BLAISE
Yes.
SFX - car starts, music begins to play, Raffi singing about his little red wagon
BLAISE
Daddy, What is this song about?
ANDY
I think it’s about about having a little red wagon and wanting someone to be your darling… He’s like - look at my little red wagon - come and be my darling… it’s a broken wagon, I have people to fix it! I don’t think…
SIERRA
Having a broken wagon is a good reason to get a darling.
ANDY
Right, I don’t think having a broken wagon is a good technique to get a darling, otherwise Joe down the street would be having to beat off potential darlings with a stick or broken lamp stand!
ANDY
Hey! Welcome to the show. I know, it’s been a while. What can I say, it’s summer, COVID Quarantine protest summer and I have of late and wherefore I know not why - LOST ALL MY MIRTH… Well I do know why actually, I think you'd have to be insane not to get a bit down about everything. The Trumpian vanity, lies and mendacious ignorance and the mishandling of the pandemic that is going to ensure more quarantine and lockdown because hospitals are going to be overwhelmed because he wants the economy reopened so fuck the poor and old and sick. We’ve just heard the kids aren’t going back to school until maybe the end of January now. I know we’re probably going to be able to handle it better than most but it does feel like a kick in the balls. Like a lot of people its tough trying to get anything done when you’re looking after children. It’s of course absolutely the right decision, I’m a mask wearer, we understand the science. Our county school system oversees 162 thousand kids and so I see people on line, white angry local people, saying things like but only .0.036 of children will get it. And it does almost sound ridiculous until you actually do the math - and that would be about 58 local kids dying and then also spreading it out further, infecting family members and beyond. And the numbers are still in flux it might be a lot more. And what about the teachers? Less teachers than kids but a higher death rate for adults and factoring in age and gender difference in deaths it’s going to be about 10-15 teachers dead. No. It’s not worth it, we love our kids. We don’t pay our teachers enough in normal times, and no I don’t consider the Active Shooter drills normal by any means… So yeah. Keep the schools closed. Anyone who is arguing against it is brainwashed by the Capitalist Extremists who are out to destroy humanity. Right… so there’s all that and then there’s the protest situation, Police turning up to peaceful protests and making them Riots - everywhere, sometimes literally hours after photo op moments of hugging protesters and pretending to be open to laying down billy clubs and then they start teargassing women and children. Then there is Trumps expanded ICE and border patrols acting like the Gestapo, just picking up random citizens and putting them in unmarked vans in Portland. Zero actual resistance from the Corporate Democratic leadership as usual, just the usual symbolic hand wringing from Pelosi et all with a sick pathological ignorance of the fact that they have been funding and rubber stamped the development of the Fascist States of America every step of the way. Obama and Biden built the kid cages on our border. Fact. look it up. Lost a few friends on Facebook pointing out that little nugget alone. Can’t criticize the Democratic party to a Neo-liberal, And of course they’ve just invited Republican John Kasich to speak at the Democratic convention. Insane. They are essentially a center right party that pretends it’s a center left party because the GOP has gone full fascist. crazy times… ‘AND indeed it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory!’ Yeah don’t know why I’m going all Hamlet on you. Maybe my subconscious is tell me it’s time to kill the traitor king or something. Something is certainly Rotten in the States of America… But, anyway, I’m trying my best. Trying to be a good dad. Being present for the kids. As you just heard, trying to explain the world with love a humor. In the car just there, taking a much needed break from the Moana soundtrack, I mean I like singing murderous Giant Crabs and Indiginous Power ballads as much as the next man but as Roy Ayres famously said, ‘A man can only take so much’ so I grabbed an old cd from the glove box and fired some - Raffi - an old favorite, the classic Canadian kids entertainer who was super popular in the 80’s - and he turned 72 last week. Jen grew up listening to him as a kid and so we’ve passed that on now. I think His Baby Beluga song is far superior to Baby Shark. So That’s the life - we’re trying to do our best - with all the usual stresses and the new ones of the time - sitting down and doing the math… Montgomery County has 162,000 students with a cover morality rate of 0.036 how many of Sierra and Blaise’s classmates will die? If Ms Smith dies from Covid contracted in her classroom and infects her mother and brother who can not afford healthcare how many molotov cocktails will you need to throw at the Health Insurance Lobby owned Joe Biden before we get Universal Healthcare… Dark dark shit… The math problems of our times… But we love our kids. Got to stay strong and do right. What’s that famous Philip Larkin Poem… Lets see - THIS BE THE VERSE…
Philip Larkin
They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.
But they were fucked up in their turn
By fools in old-style hats and coats
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another’s throats
Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don’t have any kids yourself.
ANDY
Yeah, I don’t think he had a very good childhood poor Philip. Honestly, listening to his thin reedy voice, I don’t blame Larkin’s parents he was probably an insufferable little shit. He’s lucky he wasn’t put in an orphanage or pushed up a chimney. I prefer the dearly departed anarchist poet - Adrian Mitchell’s response to Lakin’s poem with his own his take on parenting - called This Be the Converse: They tuck you up, your mum and dad, They read you Peter Rabbit too, They give you all the treats they had, And add some extra just for you. They were tucked up when they were small, (Pink perfume, blue tobacco-smoke), By those whose kiss healed any fall, Whose laughter doubled any joke, Man hands on happiness to man, It deepens like a coastal shelf, So love your parents all you can, And have some cheerful kids yourself… The podcast I’m reviewing today is a dad, amongst many things, but he made me laugh on Twitter the other day… he wrote something like - “Life in 2020 has been a constant negotiation between my desire to just be a mild mannered Disney Dad, enjoying summer BBQs and building Guillotines’… Yeah Mr. Benjamin Dixon, I hear you. I actually casually found myself looking up how to make caltrops at home the other day, they are the ancient defensive weapon for stopping vehicles - spiky tire poppers I would guess is a good description - because there has been about a dozen cases of cars driving into protestors around the country. So yeah, covid quarantine and systematic collapse continues but we’re trying to be our best parents for the kids, explaining what is happening but keeping them safe and happy but trying to also keep them informed…
SFX - Andy in car with kids listening to Raffi sing ‘Willoughby Wallaby Woo’ .
Sierra
Elephants are really dangerous. They would kill people if they sat on them.
ANDY
Yes. I don’t think elephants sitting on people is a good subject for a kids song… raffia is a monster. HE IS A MONSTER.
BLAISE
He sings songs that don’t make any sense…
ANDY
Willoughby Wallaby Noni - an elephant sat on Bonnie, Willoughby Wallaby Baron - An elephant sat on Karen! I think that’s something we can all get behind…
Music - rise of the black centipede - Mario rom’s interzone
ANDY
Its… Review… Time… Mmmmmwahahahahahahahahahahaha
AnDY
Reviewing The Benjamin Dixon Show today, Mr. Dixon is an author and political journalist and rising progressive voice. He’s a former preacher turned pundit. And he’s definitely a channeling a wonderful blend of Martin Luther King and Malcom X…
CLIP FROM THE BENJAMIN DIXON SHOW
“We have seen enough!….”
ANDY
He had a good month in Feb when he unearthed Michael Bloomberg’s 2015 Aspen speech where the Wall Street Billionaire basically defended stop and frisk and literally said you could just xerox the description of male, minority, 16-25 and hand it to the cops. Literally and without shame, actually outlining the very definition of racial profiling, and how many people said that Stop and Frisk was just another way of focusing and targeting of our bloated racist police and justice system on black people. yeah. I guess ‘Some of those who work forces are the same that burn crosses’. As written in the book of Rage chapter three verse 12… And given there readiness to kill innocent black or stand by and protect colleagues who kill innocent black men or happily go out to march like storm troopers to tear gas civilians peacefully protesting police murders of black men, I’m sure I’m not alone anymore in realizing that it’s a lot more than SOME of those who work forces are the same who burn crosses. As written in the book of Rage chapter three verse 12… SO Some have credited his finding and release of this audio as being key in ending Bloomberg’s run for the Democratic nomination. It was very good and timely work but it’s clear Bloomberg was a Corporate Democrat plant who shouldn’t have been allowed to attempt to buy his way onto the ticket and was probably only allowed to do so because Biden is an awful candidate who they were scared they wouldn’t be able to beat Bernie in a fair fight. Which he didn’t.
The podcast, the Benjamin Dixon Show is pretty damn near daily on week days and like many political commentary shows has him delivering - a take on the days events. He’s passionate, eloquent and often painfully right to the point that you will be unable to listen to the infuriating Neoliberal milquetoast murmurings of NPR without realizing just how utterly lost and complicit in our slow decent into outright police state that the mainstream media is. Here he is again -
CLIP From The BENJAMIN DIXON SHOW
ANDY
Yep. Damn. Right. Good turn of phrase. Our minds are sharpened by dialogue and you need his voice in your head, even if you might not totally agree with everything he says he will provide you with a explanation of our current world that you should be aware of.
SO you’ve watched all the videos of police murdering black men that have surfaced these past 10 years. And you’ve seen how the police get away with it over and over again and witnessed how the media turns the murdered into criminals by smearing them often before their families have been able to put them in the ground. But now You’re truly down with Black Lives Matter now. You understand it means ‘Black Lives Matter too’ and not ‘Only Black Lives Matter’, and you’ve even started to explain it to republican family members and your seeing how the very weird and pernicious automatic misunderstanding of the simple Black Lives Matter phrase highlights the very problem with how black people are judged in this country. And You’ve hopefully watched some documentaries under lockdown, The 13th on Netflix or maybe James Baldwin’s I am not your negro on Prime a couple of good ones. And maybe even, given the state of NY Times best selling nonfiction list, You’ve maybe picked up a book or two - maybe White Fragility or How to be an anti-racist. SO what’s next, do you want to live in Philip Larkin vision of the world or do you want an Adrian Mitchell one? Do you want our kids to hand on misery or happiness? We can make better choices, it is going to be hard. We and I mean we as in white people are going to have to us our privileged place in society to get arrested. But you know they will be bogus charges that will go against our 1st Amendment Freedoms. But we can make a change. We can stop these Capitalist extremists who are standing in the way of long long overdue social change… but you don’t want to backslide right? Because they will lull you into thinking voting for Biden or letting Kapernick throw a football or pulling down a few statues or going along with Pelosi’s weak clap back is somehow enough… So what’s next… I think you need to listen to The Benjamin Dixon Show and support the fine and vital work this man is doing. The episodes are about 30 mins and you need to hear him out. He’s a vital voice of the moment. Join the progressive army and lets be informed to help build a better world.
The Benjamin Dixon Show - gets 5 stars, two thumbs up, some Sarah Koenig… words from the book of rage, we are not a monothith… and a Malcom X… who was of course the first and founding member of the X-men before Stan Lee stole it and made it White for the Marvel Comics propaganda operation. Malcom’s special abilities were scaring the shit out the police and revealing that Liberals were fascist adjacent rather than actual enemies of fascism…
Music - rise of the black centipede - Mario rom’s interzone
SFX - RADIO SCROLL MONTAGE #24 - radio static - Phil Ochs - Love Me I’m a Liberal - from 1963
SFX - Radio Static - Preacher Screaming
SFX - radio static - Adrian Mitchell - To Whom It May Concern - Royal Albert Hall 1964…
Adrian Mitchell
I was run over by the truth one day.
Ever since the accident I’ve walked this way
So stick my legs in plaster
Tell me lies about Vietnam.Heard the alarm clock screaming with pain,
Couldn’t find myself so I went back to sleep again
So fill my ears with silver
Stick my legs in plaster
Tell me lies about Vietnam.Every time I shut my eyes all I see is flames.
Made a marble phone book and I carved out all the names
So coat my eyes with butter
Fill my ears with silver
Stick my legs in plaster
Tell me lies about Vietnam.I smell something burning, hope it’s just my brains.
They’re only dropping peppermints and daisy-chains
So stuff my nose with garlic
Coat my eyes with butter
Fill my ears with silver
Stick my legs in plaster
Tell me lies about Vietnam.Where were you at the time of the crime?
Down by the Cenotaph drinking slime
So chain my tongue with whisky
Stuff my nose with garlic
Coat my eyes with butter
Fill my ears with silver
Stick my legs in plaster
Tell me lies about Vietnam.You put your bombers in, you put your conscience out,
You take the human being and you twist it all about
So scrub my skin with women
Chain my tongue with whisky
Stuff my nose with garlic
Coat my eyes with butter
Fill my ears with silver
Stick my legs in plaster
Tell me lies about Vietnam.
SFX - radio static - top of the pops into music backing #2 - Sarah Koenig, Serial Season 3 summary - Malcom X ‘They make the victim the Criminal…’ - Benjamin Dixon from The Benjamin Dixon Show - News report from Portland - CNN 7/20/20
Captain Beefheart
Mr Zoot Horn Rollo, hit that long luna note and let it float….
ANDY
That’s a wrap….
Music - everything is permitted - Mario rom’s interzone
Andy
If you enjoy the show, please spread the word, and leave me a review on itunes. And if you really want to help, click the link and buy me a coffee for a couple of bucks! The Jazz is provided by the amazing Mario Rom’s Interzone. I don’t know who’s providing your jazz, but I think you should switch to these cats! NEW ALBUM OUT SOON - check the link in the show notes and on the webpage. ANDYS PODCASTER PODCASTING PODCAST is sponsored by the American shoe council over 30,000 years of Bi-pedal History. Shoes! How else you going to protect your feet? Have a great week, WEAR A MASK, Please. bbbb-bye…