the people's republic of sole

I recall you mentioning that you had some solo stuff done that you might release this month.

I saw your twitter post about being in jail due to involvement with the Occupy movement. If imagine youve been busy. Im just curious if theres new music on the way or whatever the case may be.

Thanks

Whoa... Let's not gloss over this sole is in jail thing... Anybody got any details on that? He still there?

whoa whoa whoa, if he's tweeting i doubt he's in jail still. i do want this desert eagle volume 2 asap though, please and thank you. much blood.

he posted on facebook about catching up on Mass Effect today, so I'm assuming he's not in a jail cell..

That said I'd like to hear this story

Sole Is releasing a new solo album from a jail cell he's sharing with the founder of twitter for starting the occupy Denver movement? Wow. Yeah, I agree, a new desert eagle-esque album with mass effect 3 samples sounds so dope.

Free Sole!

we were participating in some very successful direct actions downtown, and the police had gotten really frustrated with us... we were on our way to the jail to rally for someone who had been arrested earlier in the day... the occupy denver livestreamer and i had crossed the street holding this "we didn't star the class war" sign :



the police had blocked off the street and it was a red light. once we crossed the street they told us we were arrested for "obstructing traffic." the occupy denver legal team got in touch with our loved ones and we were bailed out & free within 6 hours. apparently they had to wait a long time for my fingerprints to clear, otherwise i would have been out instantly. the shittiest part was being locked in the actual cell... i kept wanting to read shit on my iphone and i couldn't... otherwise it wasn't a very big deal...

re: music... i've been making a lot of beats since i got back.... bought a big muff heavy metal distortion pedal and i've been experimenting with a lot of shit trying to come up with a new kinda sound... the album i was working on before tour needs to be completed, it still needs a few more songs.... since i got back from tour all i've really been doing is relaxing, reading, gardening, cooking, etc.

enjoying mass effect 3, sometimes i feel like there is a bit too much cinematography... the game itself is very challenging... the kinnect voice thing is an interesting touch...

Thanks, Tim

Sole is a freedom fighter for real. straight up frontlines.
crazy pictures. crazy day. 'cops ain't shit to me' would make a dope tshirt.
Can't wait to hear the progression of your new kinda sound.

all this antipathy toward the police is wasted energy.
the doughnut thing...however funny, this is pointless and discredits the movement.

Antipathy towards the police in a movement like this is a good thing, if it's generalized and not coming solely from a minority of anarchists or whatever (which is what these photos make it look like, but I've seen a lot of commentary elsewhere indicating that average people are beginning to grasp the social-structural function of the police vis-a-vis the capitalist class and state). The more the police are viewed as class enemies, acting in the interests of the capitalist class, the more potential this movement has.

the natural response to police repression is the yell at them.
it started to seem wierd to chant, "police are the 99%" while they beat on us. that chant was replaced with "police are the army of the rich"
or our favorite in denver, "from denver to greece, fuck the police."
i am usually mildly sarcastic and personable, polite and non-compliant with them. i see them as people doing their jobs, even if i think their job is an aberration.

fascinating that when you get an officer aside, in private conversation amid the hoop-la, they tend to agree with the movements' motives, ideals and general direction. It's happened to me a few times here in portland, or.

unfortunately, it boils down to "I'm just doing what my Sargent tells me" - what's it going to take for the chain of command to disintegrate? these cops are doing shit they know is wrong. i'm sure some of em are losing sleep at night.

homies just want that paycheck. it's sad, really. poor life decisions on their end.
a vital part of turning the tide will be getting police to leave their posts en masse to join "us".

That's never happened before in history, and theoretically it's impossible. Police have job security and a rate of pay that separates them from workers, along with a social position that places them above and in opposition to working class communities on a daily basis. It's structural. You're essentially asking them to choose between their livelihoods and their sentiments (which many don't even share). The police have to be understood as the means by which the capitalist class enforces its rule over the working class - the means by which the state exerts its will in the interests of capital. The origins of the modern urban police force even coincides exactly with the origins of formal working class organization - unions were legalized in England in 1824; the Metropolitan Police Act was passed to control this organized working class movement in 1829. This was the historical juncture at which the political class struggle between the urban bourgeoisie and the rural aristocracy was superceded by the struggle between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, thereby shifting the class struggle dynamic from one between the town and the country to one played out predominantly within the towns.

impossible? i do not agree.

once the SHIT really HITS the fan some of these cats are going to choose the right side.
i think there will be a civil war among the cops wherein the sympathizers will dip out and the hardliners will become more violent and get promoted.

Some, perhaps. What I said was theoretically impossible is "getting police to leave their posts en masse".

Police are objectively agents of the enemy (capital). It's the form that the coercive agency of the state has taken in industrial capitalist society. This can't be changed by winning hearts and minds. You're talking about vague sentiments of sympathy trumping concrete social relations of hierarchy, dominance and control.

Historically it's actually been soldiers that have often sided with workers. Police never have.