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ESSAY_ON_THE_UNDERGROUND

"The Essay on the Underground" was a
long set that I played on the radio            STRUCTURES
in the mid-90s.  I was attacking the
concept of the TAZ which was popular
back then, at least in some circles.

   The concept TAZ ("Temporary
   Autonomous Zone") was
   introduced by Hakim Bey (aka
   Peter Lamborn Wilson):

        A place and a time where true freedom
        can exist; though only in precarious        Or I suppose, before it
        form, before the authorities step in to     implodes of it's own
        shut it down.                               inherent instabilities.

                                    I've always assumed that "TAZ" was a
                                    generalization of the "rave"... the
                                    Toadkeeper suspected it was a more
                                    metaphorical, metaphysical concept.
                                    The "zone" as a state of mind?

                                                    TOADKEEPER
   Hakim Bey rants ecstatically
   about seizing what freedom
   can exist in the cracks in      But look again: isn't
   the structure.                  it a very bleak,
                                   better-than-nothing
                                   solution?

                   Wouldn't it be better if you
                   could change the structure,
                   create a world where real
                   freedom exists?

      The TAZ is the enemy
      of the Revolution.
                                        In later writings,
                                        ("Immediatism") Bey/Wilson
   "The Underground" once called up     tentatively creeps back to
   images of the Free French            the idea of revolution
   resisting tyranny, fighting to
   over throw it.

   In hipster parlance, "underground"
   seems intended to be a permanent
   condition.  A way of life.


At the moment I'm not sure what I played
in this set... in lieu of the playlist,
here's what I remember:


   Lead:
   "Poetic Terrorism" on the Hakim Bey cd (with music by Bill Laswell)

   In the middle things like:
   "Subway Culture" by the local punk band Cone of Silence.

   And at the close:
   "Niggers are Scared of Revolution" by the Last Poets.





But there's an appeal of the TAZ:
you don't *need* to "win".

You can live a life worth
living, in whatever world
exists.





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