Christopher Hitchens speaks on Crucibles: Past and Present followed by a conversation with PEN World Voices Festival Chair, Salman Rushdie. Hitchens is a contributing editor to Vanity Fair and a visiting professor of liberal studies at the New School. He is the author of numerous books, including works on Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, George Orwell, Mother Teresa, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Henry Kissinger, and his No. 1 New York Times and National Book Award nominee , God Is Not Great. His next book,Hitch-22: A Memoir, will be released this June.
Video Rating: 4 / 5
Frank Zappa (December 21, 1940 December 4, 1993) was an American composer, electric guitarist, record producer, and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, electronic, orchestral, and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed album covers. Zappa produced almost all of the more than 60 albums he released with the band Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. In his teens, he acquired a taste for percussion-based avant-garde composers such as Edgard Varèse and 1950s rhythm and blues music. He began writing classical music in high school, while at the same time playing drums in rhythm and blues bands—he later switched to electric guitar. He was a self-taught composer and performer, and his diverse musical influences led him to create music that was often impossible to categorize. His 1966 debut album with the Mothers of Invention, Freak Out!, combined songs in conventional rock and roll format with collective improvisations and studio-generated sound collages. His later albums shared this eclectic and experimental approach, irrespective of whether the fundamental format was one of rock, jazz or classical. He wrote the lyrics to all his songs, which—often humorously—reflected his iconoclastic view of established social and political processes, structures and movements. He was a strident critic of mainstream education and organized religion, and a forthright and passionate advocate for …
bubblebutt1950
January 25th, 2012
@MoscowMaestro Fck you dick breath,,, have a nice day mate.
lightandbeautiful
January 25th, 2012
Please visit my channel for the unpopular truth about homosexuality.
A person does not need hatred or any kind of phobia in order to acknowledge important differences between heterosexual attraction / behavior / marriage / adoption and homosexual attraction / behavior / marriage / adoption. Even non-religious people know this.
Homosexual activists, with support from the media, have succeeded at framing themselves as noble victims; it’s an effective way to push a social agenda.
TheServiceWeb
January 25th, 2012
NEW BOOK FOR DEBATES AND GOVERNANCE
Topics: DEADLY ARGUMENTS NOW ADDED For The Creationism-Evolutionism Debate (See Subchapter 10.2.2.), The Issue On The Criminal Liability Of Foretelling The END OF THE WORLD, Other Debated Issues, Terrorism, War, Law, Politics, Religion, Philosophy, Science, Others.
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See Announcements at announcements-balancedway.weebly.com
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JoshwithaJ
January 25th, 2012
I love Rushdie’s sense of humor! Also, apropos of nothing, I hate when people pronounce “PZee Myers” as “PZed Myers”, it just sounds wrong.
unlyckystrike
January 25th, 2012
@hznfrst well, apparently that isn`t something he need to worry about any longer :/
hznfrst
January 25th, 2012
As much as I admire Mr Hitchens, I’ve always wondered why he couldn’t have someone keep his hair under control!
trinigma
January 25th, 2012
This is such a tough discussion to watch. Both of them are brilliant and I absolutely love Hitchens – he’s undoubtedly one of the most brilliant men alive – but it depresses me to no end that only a few weeks after this was filmed he was diagnosed with the cancer which is keeping him away from allowing the thousands (I hope millions) of us who wish to keep hearing his brilliance and insight.
Hitchens may have the greatest voice I’ve ever heard, and his throat cancer is such an awful irony.
06mustangCE
January 25th, 2012
“There’s never a good occasion for keeping your mouth shut!” love that
gh778jk
January 25th, 2012
as always Hitch rules!
princemuqrin
January 25th, 2012
Great integrity here. Hitch is invited to speak at an even honouring freedom of expression under Arthur Miller’s name and shows how AM didn’t meet every test here himself. And this is not polemically done but with some understanding, short of approval.
EdJ343
January 25th, 2012
Re the spartacus petition for Salman Rushdie: someone needs to get on that now.
telejimmy57
January 26th, 2012
@MoscowMaestro It’s quite amusing to read a Russian calling someone else a warmonger. Quite amusing indeed. You’re a citizen of a nation that was imperialist LONG before there was a United States.
whysers
January 26th, 2012
99 percent approval rating on the video… fuckin a
whysers
January 26th, 2012
@MoscowMaestro atrocities are committed in all wars this has always been true it doesn’t mean the war was not just.
Kargoneth
January 26th, 2012
I didn’t realize how cowardly the US media behaved. I am shamed by a country that supposedly values freedom of expression.
juikm
January 26th, 2012
@MoscowMaestro The image of you impotently assulting your keyboard is making us all smile.
MoscowMaestro
January 26th, 2012
@sulljoh1 Obviously CUNTS like you don’t follow the news, But SCUM like you never listen to news that isn’t neocon yankee propaganda, do you CUNT??? Have you seen the story of the four soldiers being tried for shooting people for fun in Afghanistan?? NO, CUNT, YOU HATE TO HEAR THE TRUTH.
sulljoh1
January 26th, 2012
@MoscowMaestro Murdering kids for fun? Where the hell did you get that idea. Have you ever heard of a straw-man argument. Saddam’s police raped and murdered young women, then they presented a tape of the scene to the parents. Why did they do that? Just to show who was boss. You want murder for fun? Iraq was the place to look. Tell me, if you could have killed Saddam would you? or is a Islamic dictatorship just fine with you as long as they aren’t from America the great Satan
MoscowMaestro
January 26th, 2012
@sulljoh1 Well, CUNT, you’ve already said Hitchens convinced you about the need to mass-murder non-white people for fun, CUNT??? I hope you die of cancer like Hitchens, SCREAMING IN AGONY like the people you’ve MURDERED in Iraq, YANKEE SCUM!!!!
sulljoh1
January 26th, 2012
@MoscowMaestro Fine. Whatever man. Any American must be a dumbass warmonger. We are getting pretty sick of those stereotypes. Tell me how many of the worlds best universities do you have in your country? I’ll leave it to anybody who is still reading this to decide who sounds reasonable and who sounds like a ranting psychopath.
MoscowMaestro
January 26th, 2012
@sulljoh1 You’re a CUNT warmonger. A CUNT. A FUCKING CUNT. That’s the only issue. I don’t care if you let Hitchens give it to you up your stinking ass or not. You’re still a CUNT. And that’s the only issue.
sulljoh1
January 26th, 2012
@MoscowMaestro You touch on one of the things that actually impressed me about Hitchen’s arguments. Not only did Hitchens make very little of the WMDs in arguing for war, he made little use of them BEFORE THE INVASION. That is what got me interested in thoughtfully looking up the arguments, rather than blindly assuming I was right as you seem to be doing. Oh sorry, I forgot to add the cunt shit cock douche whatever part. You seem to think that stuff improves an argument.
MoscowMaestro
January 26th, 2012
@sulljoh1 Keep supporting genocide, yankee sack of fucking shit. Keep taking it up the asshole from Christopher the WMD-man. You’re a knuckledragger. A real asswipe. A *cunt*.
steleta9
January 26th, 2012
just in case, the 2 lead voices are Mark Volman & Howad Kaylin…AKA Flo & Eddie… also former members of the turtles…..
steleta9
January 26th, 2012
If I have to explain it, you just wouldn’t understand……Frank at his absolute FINEST………
probrojeffro
January 26th, 2012
This makes me think of a bunch of kids putting together a play for their parents. High brow. Love it.
judecreek2
January 26th, 2012
When I was a teen in the 70′s. I would play this and my parents would go nuts. This was the first time I ever heard the word fuck in a song.
MrFirthguy
January 26th, 2012
@ahitler1000 oh thanks this is such an awesome song
ahitler1000
January 26th, 2012
@MrFirthguy mark kaylon and howard volmer , [ flo and eddie ]
chiconmaui
January 26th, 2012
poor billy
MrFirthguy
January 26th, 2012
who is the main singer for this
probrojeffro
January 26th, 2012
BILLY was a mountain
(BILLY was a mountain!)
ETHELL was a tree
Growing off of his shoulder
(ETHELL was a tree growing off of his shoulder)
(hey, hey hey!)
Billy had two big
Caves for eyes,
With a cliff for a jaw
That would go up ‘n down,
And whenever it did,
He’d puff out some dust,
And hack up a boulder
(HACK!)
Hack up a boulder
(HACK! HACK!)
Hack up a boulder
(HACK! HACK! HACK!)
Up a boulder
sammiller254
January 26th, 2012
i really like just another band from LA, a great live flo and eddie record, yet i think fillmore east june 1971 is better.
sammiller254
January 26th, 2012
i really like just another band from LA, a great live flo and eddie record, yet i think fillmore east june 1971 is better.
sammiller254
January 26th, 2012
i really like just another band from LA, a great live flo and eddie record, yet i think fillmore east june 1971 is better.
sammiller254
January 26th, 2012
i really like just another band from LA, a great live flo and eddie record, yet i think fillmore east june 1971 is better.
JoeySunB
January 26th, 2012
listened to this w. my friends at college in 1972 who had never heard Zappa before –
EVERYDAY in freshman year Fall I played this for them .
the transformation was major !
TheGwipster
January 26th, 2012
god this is awesome!
ROYALTYYYYYYYYYYYYSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!
jlhyz2
January 26th, 2012
@dann3th3manni3 it’s alot to memorize
dann3th3manni3
January 26th, 2012
Has anybody else noticed the mistakes in the Zappa Plays Zappa version of Billy the Mountain (from “The Return of the Son of…” album). The part where the newcast announcer mentions a “recent narcotics crackdown in…” 7:18 In the Zappa plays Zappa album version, the vocalist forgets the order of a few cities (I’m insinuating this because there is a long pause) and messes up the order. It’s noticable, and pretty funny! lol
breebear111
January 26th, 2012
my daddy used to have the cd with this on it
we used to listen to it, he knew it word for word <333 i miss him so dam much
harkrum
January 26th, 2012
It doesn’t, don’t, and never will get better than this…
joey1127
January 26th, 2012
LOL…I played the hell out of this album back in the day! Thanks for posting this!!!!
xplanetstudio
January 26th, 2012
Happy and fun thats all right from me the hillbilly producer clockclean
2000toddowen
January 26th, 2012
Mujhammed Ali said:
“It’s just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up.”
I think he could have also added:
“Flo and Eddie are quite extraordinary.”
ThePappadeux
January 26th, 2012
Holy underwear ! Cannot believe this is floating around in cyber space. One of the best Zappa and The Mothers songs. Now, let’s just find “Do You Like My New Car” from FZ and the Mothers Live at the Fillmore East. Long Live Studebaker Hawk !!!
dave2124
January 26th, 2012
I also have seen him and the Mothers at least 5 times as well, He was the best guitar player Ive ever seen and Ive seen a lot of fine ones in my life! In case you weren’t aware of it, Along with Frank on vocals on this album and “Live at the Fillmore East” (Great album too!) were Flo and Eddie ( of The Turtles), But you probably new that! If you new that then you also know that Zappa was a perfectionist ! Witch definitely paid off for us fans.
Dave
IAMIRISHRU
January 26th, 2012
I cant believe I remember every single word to this song… must have listened to it a few hundred times back in the 70s