It’s the end of July, which means it’s the unofficial end of Covers Month here. (But given the fact that I was gone almost half the time, it’s a miracle I managed to post anything at all.)

Too bad — I would have loved to have had more time to pull out some more cover songs, familiar and unfamiliar, from my boxes of burned mix CDs around here: Radiohead doing “Nobody Does It Better,” Elvis Costello doing “Poplife,” Prince doing “A Case of You,” Richard Thompson doing “Psycho Killer,” Lisa Loeb singing “Keep On Loving You,” Natalie Merchant singing “Space Oddity,” and so on.

So I end this month with a non-cover, made “famous,” I guess, because it was covered by R.E.M. and buried, uncredited, as a hidden track at the end of their best album, Lifes Rich Pageant — and was associated closely enough with R.E.M. so that non-diehard fans yelled “Sellout!” when it appeared in an IBM ad.

I know very little about The Clique (I just couldn’t be bothered to look them up on the atrocious revamp that is AMG), but I like their sound: bubblegum-era rhythms, the constipated vocals (at least until you get to the bridge, sung in unison), with a garagey, ramshackle feel to the instruments. “Superman,” in any case, is a nice precursor to the Police’s stalker anthem “Every Breath You Take.”

Next: the month of August has no official title to its theme, except that it’s something along the lines of “Why aren’t you listening to these people?” “You,” of course, is the tricky part here, since I have no idea who downloads the mp3s — jaded indie vets who own every Deerhoof EP, maybe.

Hear it. (3.6 mb)

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For copyright reasons, I have to figure out different passwords every semester for each class with readings on electronic reserve. Let me tell you, it all becomes a blur after a while:

The word “*****” [deleted from post] will work fine as a password for your AAS 363 class this Fall. Here is a list of passwords that you have used in the past:

WITCHVEIL
ANTHRONIGHT
FLIPID
RICEDOG
ETHNODOG
CORNDOG
GOLLUM
SMEAGOL
HOKEY
POKEY
anthrodog
FLIPDOG

You may want to keep this list as a reference, as you cannot reuse any of these passwords (or slight variations of them) for future course web sites.

Sincerely,

Reserve Book Room Staff

Too bad: I really liked my Gollum/Smeagol combo for a couple of Asian American Culture sections. Hokey/Pokey was a poor spur-of-the-moment substitute.

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I can’t find the original article anywhere online — the Daily Tribune‘s archives seem to be down, and the other Philippine papers aren’t carrying the story — so I’ve decided to post the whole thing here (since it’s circulating via e-mail anyhow):

IN THE AFTERMATH OF RP PULLOUT IN IRAQ
US to deport 300,000 Pinoys
By Michaela P. del Callar
Wednesday, 07 28, 2004
Daily Tribune

The US squeeze is on, despite denials from American officials and their claims of a continuing strong relationship with the Philippines. The United States is expected to intensify its crackdown on illegal Filipino workers following Friday’s deportation of 89 Filipinos, a ranking Foreign Affairs official said yesterday.

They were sent back home for various offenses ranging from over-staying, assault, car theft, fraud, extortion and drug-related cases. They served time in jail before being sent back to the Philippines, authorities said.

“We expect more Filipinos to be deported,” the official, who declined to be named, said.

There are about 300,000 Filipinos in the US absconders’ list.

A source said US Immigration officers have already informed Philippine officials they will be deporting Filipino absconders every three to four months.

The DFA source hinted broadly that the recent deportation of Filipinos could be the US government’s way of retaliating against the Philippine government on account of President Arroyo’s decision to bow to the Iraqi terrorists’ demands to withdraw the Philippine troops from Iraq, a move that has been criticized by international allies as well as the international media, all whom claimed that the precedent set by Mrs. Arroyo was dangerous and placed the coalition forces in Iraq in greater peril.

The DFA official also questioned the timing of the deportation of the Filipinos, which was done a few days after the 43-member contingent was withdrawn from Iraq.

Earlier, BusinessWorld reported that a US commodity loan, in the amount of $20 million that was expected by the Arroyo administration failed to push through, as US agriculture officials were said to have refrained from forging a memorandum of agreement that would have allotted the Philippines $20 million under the US Public Law 480, owing to Washington’s disappointment over the pullout of Filipino troops from Iraq.

Although Philippine authorities downplayed this US loan removal, saying the country can do without it, its absence presents a serious loss of funding for projects reportedly get their budget from the PL 480 commodity loan program since beneficiaries of the PL 480 program can either augment their local inventories of rice, corn and wheat or use sales proceeds to fund agricultural projects.

The Philippines and other developing countries compete for benefits under the program, whose terms include a payment period of 30 years and a 1 percent annual interest.

It was also admitted by the incoming Agriculture Secretary Arturo Yap that the removal of the US commodity loan would mean additional budgetary pressures for the government.

The Cabinet-level Investment Coordination Committee on July 13 approved the signing of the loan document for a $20-million commodity loan to cover about 41,000 metric tons of rice. The Philippines last year got $40 million worth of surplus commodities under the program.

“We will have to look at other sources (to fund the projects). At this point of a high deficit we have to catalogue ODA (official development assistance) projects and evaluate foreign-fund sources,” Yap was quoted as saying.

The Tribune also recently reported US officialdom was mulling over the idea of issuing a travel ban against the Philippines on grounds of a serious terrorist threat against American nationals and business establishments, allegedly based on intelligence reports, which would serve as strong message from the US government to the Arroyo administration of its “displeasure” over Mrs. Arroyo’s decision to pull out the troops in Iraq, bowing to the demands of the Iraqi terrorists. The Philippines is now seen as “the weakest link” in the global war against terror by the international allies.

Diplomatic sources also intimated to the Tribune that the Arroyo administration can kiss the promised helicopters for the Philippine Air Force goodbye, as they are not forthcoming, as a result of the Philippine pull-out.

The same sources pointed out that the word they have been getting is that there would also be US visa restrictions implemented and that even personalities closely identified with the Arroyo administration, including police and military generals and their families may be denied visas.

It was not clear how the US Embassy can deny Arroyo officials visas, especially if they travel with a red passport, on official mission, or a blue diplomatic passport.

Further sanctions that may be imposed, the sources said, could cover restrictions on particular exports or imports, a denial of US assistance and aid as well as a denial of loans and, if need be, investments. The sources also told the Tribune that US officialdom is “not happy at all” at the defiant stance Mrs. Arroyo has been taking, and was especially “pissed” with her statement made in her State of the Nation Address last Monday, where she said if she had allowed the hostage Angelo de la Cruz to die, his death “would not have changed Iraq for the better.”

International allies have placed the blame on the Philippines for the upsurge in kidnappings by terrorists, which they publicly say has placed the coalition forces and the Iraqi interim government in more danger. The terrorists have also used as example the Philippine pullout of troops as a means to get the governments of the kidnap victims to either break their ties with the US-led coalition forces or cease doing business in Iraq.

The criticisms from allies have not stopped. The latest scathing remarks on the decision of Mrs. Arroyo to bow to terrorists’ demands came from an editorial published in the Asian Wall Street Journal, entitled “Putting the world at risk.”

AWSJ pointed out that her giving in to the demands of the Iraqi terrorists emboldened them to take more hostages.

“Mrs. Arroyo seems sadly oblivious to the consequences of her folly. On Friday, she only made matters worse by arguing that the Philippines should be considered a special case because it has more workers — an estimated 1.5 million — in the Middle East than any other nation. According to her logic, those large numbers give Manila the justification to cut and run, while other countries are left to cope with the consequences.

“The President’s insistence that her actions were ‘driven by the supreme interest of the Filipino people’ showed a warped sense of national priorities…They are all at greater risk, now that Mrs. Arroyo has shown the terrorists how profitable it is to hold a Filipino hostage.”

The humanitarian mission was pulled out from Iraq, about a month before the expiration of its tour of duty on Aug. 20 to heed to demand of Khaled Ibn al-Waleed Brigade in exchange for the freedom of Filipino De la Cruz. De la Cruz was freed a day after the Filipino troops left Iraq.

The Philippines has drawn sharp rebukes from the US as well as Australia for bowing to the demands of terrorists.

After the pullout, the US said it will review its relations with the Philippines. US Ambassador to Manila Francis Ricciardone went back to Washington for “consultations” with US officials on the matter.

Australia, on the other hand, criticized the Philippines for being weak. It also blamed the Philippines for the latest terrorist threat against Australia.

And here’s a press release in response from the Support Committee for the Cuevas Family:

Advocates of Recent Filipino Deportees, the Cuevas Family, Call for the End of Unjust Deportations as Filipino Deportations Increase Post-Philippine Troops Withdrawal

Contact: Robyn Rodriguez (510) 209-9428.

Union City, CA–Only a few weeks after the tragic deportation of the Cuevas family of Fremont, California another 89 Filipinos were deported last Friday from the United States.

Philippine officials report that an estimated 300,000 Filipino immigrants are being targeted for deportations from the United States. Some even suggest that deportations, as indicated by the most recent mass deportation of 89 last Friday, might be a retaliatory measure on the part of the U.S. against the Philippines’ withdrawal of troops in Iraq. The troop withdrawal led to the release of Filipino migrant worker Angelo de la Cruz who was held hostage by an Iraqi group.

According to Robyn Rodriguez, immigration scholar and convener of the Support Committee for the Cuevas Family states, “Though it is likely that increasing deportations are linked to the Philippines’ troop withdrawal, the reality is even when the Philippines was staunchly allied with the United States earlier on in this war, the Bush administration was already targeting Filipinos for deportation. Since 9/11, the U.S. government has indiscriminately criminalized and demonized all immigrants, regardless of national origin”. Rodriguez continued, “Immigrants have been scapegoated in the name of ‘national security’ in an attempt to draw attention away from the United States’ international isolation in its global war on terror and the government’s failure to effectively deal with economic recession at home”.

Advocates of the Cuevas family are calling members of the Filipino community to continue the fight against unjust deportations. Executive director of Filipino Community Support (FOCUS), a community based organization in San Jose and coordinator for the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (NAFCON) states that, “We have to continue fighting against the unjust deportations of our community members. Our experience in the Cuevas case proves that we need to continue to build our collective power in order to demand for the immigration reforms we deserve”. Mendoza continued, “We can draw inspiration from the struggle to free Angelo de la Cruz in Iraq. ‘People Power’ can work. Angelo was not freed because of the Philippine government’s humanitarianism; he was freed because the Filipino people rose up and pressured the government to intervene on his behalf”.

The Cuevas family, supported by nearly 200 organizations and over 3000 petitioners, campaigned for personal legislation from first Senator Feinstein then Senator Boxer to allow them permanent residence in the U.S. They had been living in the country for nearly 20 years when they were ordered to depart. Despite widespread support and media coverage, neither Senator supported the family. Yet, shortly before their departure, Senator Feinstein released a public statement noting her support for another immigrant family.

Cuevas family advocates are joined by Philippine-based organizations like Migrante International in calling for justice for Filipino immigrants in the United States. Meanwhile, Cuevas family advocates support Migrante and its allies’ call on the Arroyo administration, and all “war on terror” coalition members, to recognize and prevent the grave human costs suffered by all migrants, like the Cuevas family and Angelo de la Cruz, in this time of war.###

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I came home last night to find Oscar committing yet another misdemeanor (a different kind this time).

This morning is cooler. There is no food to be had at the conference center (everything is either closed or not running: the cafeteria, the shuttles, the dorm office), so rather than have vending machine Skittles or Reese’s Pieces for breakfast, a bunch of us drive out to a Waffle House about a mile away. Tony Cordova — the youngest-looking 55 year-old I’ve ever met — and I sit with each other. He talks about being a percussionist & jazz singer (and life as a son of the Cordovas); I of course sit there fascinated.

Then it’s off to one last panel: Eloisa Borah on the commissioners at the Fair, and Sharon Delmendo on photographs of the fair as “colonial snapshots.” (I’m also embarrassed by the number of plugs my book keeps receiving throughout the conference; my identity as self-effacing professor can’t take it.) Sharon and her mother and I (and later, Marie and Joyce) make our way back to Metrolink for a ride downtown to the civic center, accompanied once again by Cardinals fans.

And so a few hours later, I’m typing this in a Cheers bar at the STL airport. The Giants are leading, and I’m still digesting the greasy pepperoni pizza I had for lunch. It has finally rained a little, so the long humid spell has been broken. No music stores, alas, so I can’t buy my Nelly CD. (I read that J-Kwon is from STL too.)

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Mostly panel discussions today. Jean continues to amaze me, with a fascinating paper on Filipino American bands with the Redpath Chautauqua Traveling tent show. (I was just reading her piece in Interlope last night — .)

Annalissa’s paper on the U of Michigan archives prompts a germ of a project: a secret history of American cities and towns, a Philippine archaeology of our traces on the American landscape.

After the panels, Marie Sulit (who works on Ely Mabanglo), Joyce Ramirez (who works on “Philippine diasporic philanthrophy,” and gave a fascinating paper about it), Annalissa, Jason and I decide to go visit the Arch. We hop on the Metrolink, walk through the parking garage and the park, and there it was: all 630 feet of Saarinen-designed steel and concrete.

It’s a lot smaller than I thought, but it’s magnificent regardless; the clouds would drift across the sky and be reflected on the arch’s surface. We go through security and check out the Westward Expansion Museum, where Annalissa is met by an overenthusiastic ranger (he wanted his picture taken with her). It isn’t particularly exciting visually, but well-detailed in historical content; we notice as well that the font for the 1898 section (there are separate display panels for each year of the 19th century) has been changed, and it’s clear that someone — maybe Filipino, perhaps Cuban or Puerto Rican — had demanded it be changed.

Then we finally get onto the tram into the Arch; we’re stuffed into these tiny ferris wheel-like pods that look like they come straight out of 2001: A Space Odyssey. (Saarinen had to design special elevators to be able to move up in a curve.) The view is great, although the observation deck windows are deceptively smaller — almost like a castle’s arrow slits — than they look from below. (Outside you can see the stadium, where the Cardinals are playing against the Giants; I discover later, on the Metrolink going home, that the Giants won, and I am cheerfully booed by the train riders for being a San Francisco resident.)

Our sightseeing done, we come down and walk back out through the park to get some dinner. Familiar music is coming from somewhere; I recognize it as Liz Phair’s “Never Said.” “It sounds like a CD,” someone says. Jason says, “No, it’s live drums.” “Maybe it’s a Liz Phair tribute band,” someone suggests. “What if it’s really Liz Phair?,” I say skeptically, thinking there was no way Liz Phair could be in St. Louis.

So finally Annalissa asks a passerby who’s playing tonight. “Liz Phair,” the woman answers. We walk down to the edge of the park and see a few hundred people sitting on the lawn in front of the stage.

A few minutes later, I am 8 yards away from Liz Phair’s bare feet. She looks great. I still can’t believe I’m so close to the stage. She plays “Mesmerizing,” “Fuck and Run,” “6’1,” “Divorce Song,” some songs from the latest album, (we skip “Why Can’t I,” walking away in horror, in order to get drinks), and ends with “Supernova.” I stand there with a huge grin on my face, the monument above us arcing into the night, a cold glass of Foster’s in my hand. It’s a perfect summer evening. We are thrilled. It’s a free gift from the wonderful city of St. Louis. (To top it off, a fireworks show followed.)

That’s little Liz there (my Zire doesn’t handle the dark very well, so she looks really tiny). I feel like buying a Nelly CD just to celebrate St. Louis.

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