Last year, at a rare in-store performance at Lost Weekend Records, Cleveland’s Bill Fox played a tune called “Men Who are Guilty of Crimes.” I don’t know when he wrote it, but it felt particularly timely last summer, given that the cleanup of the BP oil spill was ongoing and the song implored Congress to “put the blame on BP.”

Ex-Clevelander Michael Nigro realized the song’s 2011 potential as the anthem for the Occupy Wall Street movement and tracked down a recording of the unreleased tune to soundtrack an OWS video montage called “Faces, Signs and Sentiments at Occupy Wall Street.” Check it out, above. (HT: I Rock Cleveland.)

Bill Fox was slated to play the Megacity Music Marathon last month at Woodlands Tavern but couldn’t make it. Fortunately, he’s coming back to town Nov. 5 for a show at Cafe Bourbon St., along with two acoustic sets from Jim McKeivier and Marcy Mays (doors at 9pm, $6).

“Men Who Are Guilty of Crimes” lyrics:

Oh canvassers, activists, congressmen plead
Put the blame down on Dow, put the blame on BP
But the ones who are guilty are the ones we don’t see
These men are guilty of crimes

Polluters of earth, they stand far away
They lay in their mansions, they hide away
Send down their lawyers, send them for pay
To get themselves out of their crimes

Now this earth is yours and this earth is mine
This earth has been trampled for a sad design
Children are poisoned, there’s lives on the line
These men are guilty of crimes

Crimes against love, crimes against birth
Crimes against women and flesh of the earth
Crimes by the men who would lead us to dearth
These men are guilty of crimes

In a downtown skyline, towers they leap
To the birds of the air where the soil’s not deep
And every day there are contracts to keep
Signed by men who are guilty of crimes

Crimes against me, crimes against you
Crimes against many for the profit of few
What can be done? What will we do?
These men are guilty of crimes

Then a courtroom, some corporate judge will sound
Pounding his gavel with the lights all around
And the only ones who will not be found…
Men who are guilty of crimes

The Intelligence played Cafe Bourbon Street with The Guinea Worms not too long ago and are documenting their journey for The Stranger. Basically it’s just dude talking sh!t about people that were nice enough to put them up. Here’s what they had to say about our fine burg-

If you are looking for skuzzy rock and roll underbellies, this is your spot, folks. But I like Columbus. I think. Cafe Bourbon St. always treats us well, and we get to have dinner with Eric’s parents at a brewery downtown called Pardon My Reach, or maybe that’s all I can remember after the waiter said it to the point of Chinese water torture. His parents are cool and fun, and in an effort to relive their fears after seeing the club we were playing tonight, I tell them we’re playing a festival with Weird Al Yankovic in a couple weeks (TRUE), and it seems to help. The Soft Pack and Kurt Vile are playing tonight too, and we run over and catch three great Soft Pack songs. Wish we could stay, but you can’t beat the Free Hot Dogs Clause at Bourbon St. I dig the first band and tell them so, and they respond with “Even though our drummer has a beard?!” I can only think to tell them “It’s better than dreadlocks?” A nice friend of ours offers to put us up. We stayed there last year, and it was pretty raunchy (a deep green, spore-covered coffee pot immediately comes to mind), but we don’t have any other offers. He has to “run an errand,” and asks to meet at a party down the street.

The party is a pretty sad sight—a deep, dark, cocaine den of inequity, and the jaw-grinding and chattering and eyeballs poppin’ out is pretty grim. But it’s also pretty impressive for a Tuesday. Errand Boy wants to stay, and graciously gives us his keys and we split. Unfortunately, the squalor of his place has evolved into true hoarder-style horror. The guest room door is hard to push open, and is filled with old rotten half-full beer cans, dirty take-out containers and mold-filled margarita glasses. We flip a coin to either kill ourselves or get a hotel and the hotel wins out. When we leave, I look back to see a cat in the window, and the moonlight reflects off its single tear

Make sure to read the Cleveland entry in order to understand just how appreciative these guys are when you let them stay at your place.

MP3: Pontiak – Young

The double bill at Bourbon Street tonight is headlined by Virginia’s Pontiak, a band of stoner rock brothers. They are currently on tour in support of new album Living, out this past Tuesday on Thrill Jockey. The new record picks up where 2009′s Maker left off, delivering psychedelic jams in (mostly) pop song-sized packages of varying textures. The live show will likely shred. Labelmates Arbouretum open.

Juelz  Dip Dip. Santana Set Set.

Columbus rules because in one night Psychedelic Horseshit, Unholy Two, Blueprint, Envelope, The Catalyst, Juelz Santana, Jim Jones and Weedsteeler all partook in New Years Eve events.

After the jump it gets uncomfortable and self-indulgent.

I detest New Years. The combination of contrived partying on a scheduled mixed with a benchmark date that calls for reflection is usually fairly depressing and neurotic for me. I was already leary and then I heard about some truely gnarly news about someone that had been around the Columbus Hip Hop scene for sometime.
After talking to a couple folks on the phone that I knew were prolly going through some really fucked up emotions right now I decided that this was not gonna take me under.

What do the 5 Percenters say?
P.ositive
E.negry
A.ctivates
C.onstant
E.levation

SO…I was like whats the best thing about New Years Eve. Hella shows and parties.

I decided to start off at Bourbon Street where Psychedelic Horseshit, TV Ghost, Unholy Two and others were playing. My schedule only alotted for 15 minutes to eat a veggie dog from Extreme Wieners. It was mad early so no bands played when I was there.

I am still impressed with the idea of actually putting a real pickle on a hot dog instead of relish so this was a 15 minutes well-spent. In addition to enjoying Extreme Weiner’s culinary innovation ; I also took note of the beauty that a music community can possess. Just a quick glance at these year-end lists  and the C-O should be proud of  the impact that its  rock n rollerz  influence had this year. So after looking at the interwebs and then seeing all the Siltbreeze and CDR cats hanging out on a holiday; it was kinda affirming that internet hyped music movements have genuine roots complete with family members and friendships beyond the blogosphere.

I guess later in the evening a flood happened before TV Ghost performed. The Bobo crowd took an Ark to a house and the show went on.

But I still sag my jeans, and yell fuck the police at any given attempt. So I missed all that cause I wanted to hear raps

Bridget Eshbaugh took this photo.

Raps I heard. I made it to the Weightless NYE at about 11:30. Envelope and Blueprint were on stage. Envelope finished up “Motivations” and that segwayed into “Tramp” by Blueprint. Place was packed and bustling with excitement.

Envelope told me the next day that he dipped after the ball dropped. I guess he recruited a homeless man as his hypeman, and performed at a house party off an IPOD.

I had left before this occured to meet up with Johnny Cashola who was spinning at the Circus.  The balldropped and then him and I jetted off to Club Karma to see Young Buck and Juelz Santana. A text message later told me that one of the dejays at the Circus beat up a photographer.

But I didn’t see all that cause I was at Club Karma.

Young Buck was suprisingly dope. He did not perform off of an IPOD. He performed off of Serato which is a great innovation for a mainstream rappper. Usually these cats rap over their cd’s vocal version which never made much sense to me. How can you be rich enough to have like zillion dollar chain,but not afford to not buy a Mac, and computer program for your performance to be worth the 50 bucks or whatever people paid to get into the show?

But Buck had Serato. He came out to “Swagger like Us” but flipped it to Swagger like Buck. It was pretty hard. He then went into “Stomp”. That was gully too. The night took a weird turn though. He did some spoken word thing about how it was ok for real g’s to cry when they feel pain. He was referencing his much publicized incident in which Buck cried on the phone to 50 Cent.

Yah Yah. Men can cry. But no one wants to hear that shit at 2:30 am on NYE. So I hit the bar like; Buck cool for breaking format but yer breaking my heart over here.

Juelz Santana didn’t cry. He rocked  tons of hits. “Shottaz”, “Crunk Music”, “Hey Ma”, “Santana”, “Oh Boy”, “Make it Work” all got the crowd bumping. The first 8 rows were girls, me and Cashola. (Who took the photos with his I-Phone).

At this point I realized that there was something wrong with me. I am in a club full of girls on NYE and alls I care is hearing music. I am willing to bet Cashola and I were the only people this lame in the whole city of Columbus.

Yeah. I go to Club rap shows for, you know, art reasons.

I also believe that I maybe somewhat sexist or racist. Women were flirting with me. Rubbing my back and such. I was nice but kept it moving because I figured they were only trying talk to me because they wanted to get their boyfriends mad.

Which once again makes me corny as fuck for not trying to get on at NYE and being at a fucking club rap show because of art.

Besides this obvious flaw in my person, the show itself was awesome.

Juelz said it was Dipset for life. He did “Pop Champaign” in solidarity with Jim Jones who was playing at Club Ice on Long Street. Which made me think Columbus was real cool cause it had two different Dipset members playing at seperate clubs on NYE. Especially when the crew is not exactly as strong as they used to be.

After this we dipped to the Weedsteeler NYE party. But everyone was already coupled up. I ate some chips. Dipped them in humussss. And went home.

Illogic is giving away a free ep called One Bar Left. It’s produced by Ill Poetic. Illogic will be performing at Cafe Bourbon Street as part of the 2-year Aniversary of So What Wednesdays this week. Intricate Sunz will open. Blueprint will host. This download will show what Illogic and Ill Poetic have in store for Illogic’s new album Diabolical Fun, due out on Weightless on March 24th, 2009.

MP3: Illogic-One Bar Left Ep

If you want to buy the cd of this it will be availble at the show. For more info head over to  www.weightless.net.

Micheal “Gaybar” Carney lining up  um a, gay disco record.

Moral Tales is the new skin of Columbus future dance offering options for  the following: any lady with discerning taste; harlots that shop at both vintage stores and American Apparel; cordially mannered sociopath hustlers,; well-educated gentleman that are products of proper breeding; exquisitvely dressed nancyboys; rock n roll narcotic users; any other combination that requires both being attractive and well-versed in something . The first one installment of this monthly gala launched Last Saturday. The music provided by DJ Tru Skills, Gaybar, and DJ Detox centered around Exotic Funk, Disco, Electo and then ventured into R+B/blog house/bmore/ dance musics of the now at the end. The event’s host was a Mr. Scotty Neimat whose past endeavors include but aren’t limited toboth Sweatin Dance Party and the place Columbus DIY took root, the Neil House.

photos by danielle kline

DJ Detox. Polite societies number one dejay. MGMT/Kid Cudi/PYT/Jodeci/MIA+more.

Benco’s got another great one coming up this weekend but this one is sliding in under the radar (no preview in either the Other Paper or the Alive this week). Meredith Godreau began performing under the name Gregory And The Hawk in 2003, added Mike McGuire in 2005, self-released an EP and a full length which sold about 15,000 copies, and signed to FatCat Records (where she joined Frightened Rabbit and The Twilight Sad among others) in 2008. Last month, Gregory And The Hawk’s FatCat debut, the excellent Moenie and Kitchi, was released and music bloggers around the globe are falling in love with the simple-yet-elegant indie/folk rock and Godreau’s almost childlike voice.

You can probably pick out the influences in GATH’s music but Godreau has gone so far as to clearly say that The Lemonheads, The Blake Babies, My Bloody Valentine and The Sundays (DEFINITELY The Sundays … and, while she didn’t say so, how about Lisa Loeb and/or Tanya Donelly too?) are important parts of her musical identity.

MP3: Doubtful

Benco says this will be an early one by Café Bourbon Street (2216 Summit St.) standards with Gregory And The Hawk playing around 9pm following an opening set by locals Our Cat Phillip. If you’re looking for a way to unwind after the Buckeyes stomp the Wolverines, this would be a good and safe bet. Cover charge is $8 and it’s an ALL AGES show (additional surcharge for those under 21). Info here.

I asked Meredith and Mike to snap some road photos on this leg of the tour and they were kind enough to oblige the request. You can check out the Gregory And The Hawk Photo Tour Diary over on AtomicNed.com.

The picture above is from a 2004 Killed In Action Show. The Catalyst is the guy standing on a table looking angry.

Anyway its 08, and his new mixtape, Fuck The Radio, is an instant classic. Dood has the voice and patterns of someone from the Rakim school. Bo has the humor and shock value of Big L and Eminem. He has the relevance of a T.I. or Wayne. And he can make social commentary like Rass Kass or Canibus. And he delivers it all with the clarity of Ludacris.

Sucks I put such a silly looking photo of him up there, huh. Cause dood could easily be the next great. Plus he reps the O-H, like iono, John Kasich. Anyway him and I got drunk and I documented the conversation. I am gonna completely misrepresent him by posting said interaction.

(The Catalyst will be performing tonight @ Cafe Bourbon Street. DJ Top Speed from Indy will be performing as well.)

Wes Flexner:Who is a bigger wigger Envelope or Copywrite?

The Catalyst:(Laughs)Definitely Pete(Copywrite). If I didn’t know Tony(Envelope) I wouldn’t be able to tell he even listened to rap on first impression.

WF:Why are you so fond of hanging out with wiggers?

TC:Cuz half of me is a huge wigger. The black side of me is an oreo. He’s comparable to that of Bryant Gumbel.The white side of me is a West Side Hilltop Resident with bangs.

WF:How does the blackside manifest itself?

TC:Through attempting to rap and occasionally smoking Newports while drunk.

WF:That doesnt sound like Byrant Gumble?

TC:Well see… that’s where it gets complex.the black side manifests itself through the white wigger. Cuz the black side isn’t black at all.The black side reads the Wall Street Journal while drinking lots of milk.And listening to Abba. And it has good credit.

WF:There seems to be a pressure on artists especially in hip hop to promote positivity. Does art have a moral responsibility?

TC:Which I understand to an extent. There is a lack of responsibility being taken… and the overabundance of negativity is unrealistic… However… Completely censoring something and taking out all negative aspects is equally absurd I don’t think art has a moral responsibility per se… Nobody is required to do anything they don’t want to do.
But if you want to have a clear conscious you should probably try to balance what you create with something redeeming in value.

WF:Do you think black artists are held to an accountability to their community that white artists arent?
TC: Yea that’s possible… For example take O’reilly’s various attacks on rappers with endorsements from major corporations… Yet a figure like Ozzy Osbourne can keep his Pepsi Endorsement intact without as much as a complaint. But on the flipside… The ratio between positive/negative in the world of black entertainment versus that of white… Is probably more off kilter.

WF:What do you think of Nas calling his album the n word?
TC: I don’t understand the hype first of all. I’m surprised after the overuse of the word for the past couple decades it’s still striking a chord with people. You see movies now with white people saying nigger as a gag now. And the entire crowd laughs

WF:Well its because of the Imus situation.
TC: I feel that certain leaders just feel forced to have to take an objective stance so they can look like they’re doing something. Imus being a white man making derogatory racial statements doesn’t seem to relate to Nas being a black man calling his own album nigger. And for the record imus was blown out of proportion

WF:But basically they are using Imus’ defense of his comment because rappers do it.
TC: And Sacha Cohen makes fun of Jews. He’s Jewish. Fat comedians make Fat jokes
It’s not just a black people being able to say nigger issue.

WF:I just have one more question..and I think we are done.
TC: Can I say Nigger more and have it printed?

WF:White people are terrified of the nword. Half of them would rather say it than have sex or win 1 milllion dollars. So they can’t be around it. Because its too tempting. The other half think that hearing the word makes them klansmen.

WF:The song greed. Whats the concept of that song
TC:Me just rhyming from the standpoint of the concept of greed personified.

WF:Seems like you reference religion in that song
TC:I do. It gave me an excuse to show my hate for religion real fast

WF:Whats the relationship between greed and religion?
TC:It’s kind of a stretch… I could probably find more ways they correlate then the one example used in the song. but the way i see it… The powers that be find it desirable for the masses to follow religions. It keeps them complacent. They can continue to take and take and do what they want without fear of retaliation. Cuz the adherents of religious beliefs won’t do anything to change it.for one they don’t believe their true happiness lies here on earth… And they believe it would be a sin to use force anyways.
WF:what was the religious make up of your home again?
TC:Methodist, Agnostic, Muslim/former Nation Of Islam , Bahai, and Jehovah Witness

WF: Do you believe in a mystery god?
TC: Not at all. But i’m also not an atheist. Best term to describe is probably “deist”
I find it likely there is a larger force at work… but for one… it’s not something you can describe as “he”. God wouldn’t have genitals to give him a gender classification. And God is definitely indifferent to the state of our existence
God is probably a force in the same veign as something along the lines of gravity .Just more powerful and all encompassing

WF:I kinda believe God is the sum of things but nothing more or less
TC: That would also make an equal amount of sense. I could see that .I got real weird elaborate theories that are too long to even go into right now.