A new feature of the Artists Network site: Reviews, tips and opinions from Araby Carlier.

Araby Carlier is a member of the see you in the streets generation that has brought us the anti-globalization and anti-war movements. As a young urban warrior she defended abortion clinics, stood with the people in the streets of Cincinnati during the rebellion after the police murdered Timothy Thomas, she led Philly Freedom Summer against the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal, and has spoken at countless demonstrations, conferences, radio shows, and workshops across the country. Most recently she co-produced for the Artists Network of Refuse & Resist!, "Unconventional Heroes"-- an evening of performance honoring courageous resisters presented in the thick of the protest against the RNC in NYC. Araby became obsessed with novels after tasting the liberation in Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga and Steinbeck's classic Grapes of Wrath. Armed with the certainty that anyone will LOVE a great book, Araby is applying her creativity and determination to write about novels in a fresh way because she is confident that another world is possible and many books that already exist may light the way. Araby's own blog is at: liveswemightlive.blogspot.com

Archived entries June 28, 2005- Sleater-Kinney new album May 23, 2005- PEN Conference: Making New Maps May 22, 2005- Public Enemy #2: An All-New Boondocks Collection May 7, 2005- PEN FOREIGN EXCHANGES: Conversation between Art Spiegelman and Marjane Satrapi April 18, 2005- PEN World Voices: NY Festival of International Literature April 16, 2005- The Onion: Pope Disappointed by Heaven April 5, 2005- Springsteen on U2

Sleater-Kinney

Don't miss Sleater-Kinney on tour and check out their new album The Woods:

www.sleater-kinney.com

I saw Sleater-Kinney perform for the first time about a year and a half ago and I remember wondering what all the hype was about. They played songs I love, but they seemed to be just going through the motions onstage - playing a mix of old and new songs, no one in the band seemed really excited.

Sleater-Kinney broke with their old record label, their old sound, their old producers, and challenged each other musically to record their latest album. The Woods is full of more determined, striking songs and Sleater-Kinney loves playing them live.

"... we have nothing to lose. What, we're just going to put out a record that sounds like One Beat? That would be a mistake, or it would be a bigger mistake—like, "Another Sleater-Kinney record, good job, girls!" That, to me, would be the bigger mistake. I would rather [hear] "God, it's so different. I can't stand it, I just hate it," than "It's just like their other records, and that's okay." That kind of middle of the road, not inspiring any opinion—to me, that's like the enemy of all creativity. The enemy of any artistic statement is to create something that no one cares about, in the sense they have no opinion either way. I'd rather have people be divided on it and feel passionately that it's our worst or best record than feel nothing. [Laughs.] So I mean in that way, it's not a failure, and like I said, it would feel much more detrimental to us as a band to just get a pat on the back, like, "Oh, it's another decent one out of the canon." I don't feel like it's a really good time to be sitting on the fence with anything, no matter what you're doing."

-Carrie Brownstein [of Sleater-Kinney] in The Onion's A.V. Club

"Entertain" by Sleater-Kinney

So you want to be entertained?
Please look away
We're not here 'cause we want to entertain
Please go away (don't go away)
Reality is the new fiction, they say
Truth is truer in these days, truth is man-made
If you're here cause you want to be entertained
Please go away

If you're heart is done, Johnny get your gun
Join the rank and file, on your TV dial

You come around looking 1984
You're such a bore, 1984
Nostalgia, you're using it like a whore
It's better than before
You come around sounding 1972
You did nothing new with 1972
Where is the fuck you?
Where's the black and blue

Hey! Look around they are lying to you
Can't you see it is just a silly ruse?
They are lying, and I am lying too.
All you want is entertainment,
Rip me open it's free

1, 2, 3! If you wanna take a shot at me,
Get in line
1, 2, 3! I've had all my shots
and I'm fine

1, 2, 3! If you haven't had enough of me,
Well get in line, line
1, 2, 3! You too deserve it now,
it's all right

1, 2, 3! We can drown in mediocrity
It feels sublime
1, 2, 3! It feels like someone pushed the rewind

1, 2, 3! Give it to me easily,
my feeble mind needs time
1, 2, 3! Make it sweet and syrupy with rhyme

[Don't drag me down,
I'm not falling down]

The grip of fear is already here
The lines are drawn,
Whose side are you on?