hello:
at the moment, i am too angry to produce something cohesive here...the
words nearly fail me. and i was just in kim's this morning. the strange
thing is that the air in there was 'normal,' meaning that no one spoke
of the incident (i myself was not made aware until the good mr. van veen
enlightened me).
it's too easy to simply say we lived in a fucked-up world. it's just a
way to paraphrase an old johnny hart "b.c." strip where one character
says, "yep, it's a funny world," to which the other character replies,
"everyone says that but nobody laughs."
no, the issues here that led to this nonsense are far-ranging, the seeds
having been germinated many many moons ago, more than likely within the
giuliani years, and culminating right on up to 9/11, with the wondrous
patriot act eating away into our civil rights like a worm gnawing
ferociously through the apple of sense and sensibility. shake your head
at the wonderfully brutal inanity of it all (it's difficult for me to be
wholly objective here as i know many of the clerks @ kims, and
especially craig willingham, who would buy a 'bootleg' about as fast as
a drowning man would a glass of seawater) as nyc's finest have nothing
better to do than shake down a bunch of dudes handing over change &
plastic, all in the name of uncovering some vast horde of alleged
illegal booty, the sales of which would surely rip asunder the very
heart of the record industry. it's especially amusing since, to the best
of my knowledge, kim's has never sold bootlegs of any kind (having never
done an inventory there, however, it might be prudent to not quote me on
that).
but that's far from the point. new york, still a city recovering from
9/11 malaise and fear, has about the biggest bullseye of any major
western city painted on it, has damocles' nuclear sword dangling over it
ever so precipitously, and keeping the riaa and its nazi hordes safe
from claiming every last bloodsucking dollar remains some politician's
easy-to-devise wet dream of a crackdown. it's virtually a lenny bruce
routine brought to life.
i feel for everyone down at kims, especially chuck and craig, having to
endure this feverish grip of insanity for even a nanosecond. i don't
feel at all for the vampires with their misplaced priorities, and
certainly not for kim, who oughta be ashamed of himself for not taking
care of his people (although perhaps the coming days/weeks might see
some change occur; chuck's description of events at least at this point
do not indicate kim has lifted his finger worth a farthing).
look past the obvious, which in and of itself is frightening and
bile-building (the indignities suffered in the pit by chuck are
disturbing enough), and at the bigger picture and watch that word
'democracy' start crackling and flittering in and out like moths hitting
a heat lamp. free society? it's a term that almost raises a chuckle...i
would like to believe that, but what keeps me up nights is that it's
only facade. and the kind of things that happened to someone like chuck
can come knocking at any one of our doors if the lights were aligned
just right enough.
be afraid - be very afraid.
darren bergstein
e|i magazine
- - -
jorge castro wrote:
chuck bettis (trance and the arcade) sent this letter
out to friends... i'm sure some people on this list
know chuck so i post it here. it is said that
electronic artist I-Sound was also arrested.
//
Subject: Yes, i was arrested and in jail....for
working at Kim's
Dear Loving Friends,
On June 8, 2005, i along w/ 4 other Kim's employees
were arrested during a raid on Kim's. The RIAA hired
some pigs to come and bust the store, the arrest was
totatlly arbitary. They were supoosed to be busting
down on bootlegs, thanks to the media exposure on Star
Wars bootlegs (it happened to be a live 50 cent
concert, so if he was involved in any way FUCK 50
Cent!). They took me since i am the manager on the 2nd
floor. Mr. Kim was no where to be found.
The store was shut down, employees lined up, a few of
us got cuffed w/out being told we are being arrested
and with out utilzing our miranda rights. We were
taken to the holding cell, where we waited approx 5
hrs before they fingerprinted us and put us into a
chain gang to take us downtown (despite them telling
us they were going to give us desk passes so we would
not have to spend the night in jail...FUCK THE
POLICE!!!).
So we went downtown, beforehand they confiscated our
cell phones and thanks to technology, was not able to
memorize anyone's phone numbers. The pigs still have
my cell phone & ipod. So we got put into a pen w/ a
bunch of other dudes. The cells were packed
constantly, filled w/ 30 or so people at a time,
having 10 bull pens down there, body heat made things
harder in the dank cells. Hours later i was separted
from the rest of my co-workers and put into a
different cell, separated from the one guy whom had
the name & number to the Kim's lawyer. Those who don't
know, i have a hard time w/ authority. i spent 30+ hrs
in jail for working at Kim's. All the other employees
were released from there cells before me, i had a
panic attack that was prompted by all this stress, not
eating (jail is not really vegan friendly) nor
sleeping the entire time i was in. i got really
claustrophobic, thought everyone was stealing my air
(for those who live in NY, the jail cell was 10x
hotter then the 2nd ave. F stop) my heartrate doubled,
i couldn't breathe and i started to
crack. i started to waddle back and forth like orphans
do from not being mothered long enough or at all.
My man Jerry Lim, whom is the only numbered i
remembered, for we call each other every day. He
worked his ass off to help me out, big ups for Lim,
when you see him, hug him and buy him a drink. Calling
mutual friends whom have lawyers and money to help
bail me out. The Correction Officers were very
reluctant to help him help me out in any way.
When i bummed a quarter off a fellow inmate, i was at
the point of cracking, mumbling w/ the entire cell
yelling and overall carrying on like it was a party
for them. Some also had arbitrary arrests, like
walking through the park at night or some for more
"serious" crimes like selling weed. i would like to
take this moment to give Guiliani & Bloomberg a big
fuck you! i can honestly say i hate these men.
Hours later, at a point i was almost convinced i was
going to spend 72 hrs or more in jail (they can
legally hold you for 72 hrs, but if it falls on the
weekend, you stay over the weekend regardless), i got
called, went to my arrainment and senteced to one day
of community service.
i was arrested apparently for making and distributing
bootleg material (a felony offense aka your going to
Rykers), which is not true, obviously. Charges were
lowered to a misdeamor and i was sentenced to a day of
community service. That was a relief in a sense. You
can only imagine how intensely pissed i am at Mr. Kim
at this moment and was ready to quit when i go out.
Below is a clipping from NY Times, which article
helped speed up our arrainment (so i hear). Mr. Kim is
supposedly turning himself in on monday, i have no
idea was it going out (that is how it was the entire
time i was locked up, the pigs like to keep you in the
dark).
So, i am sorry i can't call everyone right now, but i
thought this may be best way for mass communication.
Needless to say i hate cops even more now and have
even
less faith in the united states legal system.
Thanks for all your support. Hope to see you all soon.
luv,
chu
///
from nytimes.com
Police Raid Video Store in East Village in Piracy Case
By THOMAS J. LUECK
Published: June 10, 2005
A longtime fixture in the East Village, Mondo Kim's, a
mecca for independent music and video at 6 St. Marks
Place, was raided and closed for five hours on
Wednesday by police officers who left with boxes
filled with CD's, DVD's and computer equipment. Five
store employees were charged with trademark
counterfeiting.
According to several employees of the store, known
widely for the its independent labels, and sometimes
ornery staff, the police arrived about 1 p.m. on
Wednesday, and ordered all customers to leave.
Then, all of the 20 or so clerks, managers and other
employees who were working in the three-floor store,
which sells DVD's, CD's, books and production
equipment, were told to line up on the ground floor.
The police quickly identified four men and one woman
and led them away in handcuffs. They ordered everyone
else to leave and searched the store until about 6
p.m., when officers filed out carrying boxes.
The police said yesterday that investigators had
carried out a search warrant for counterfeit
trademarked goods and that the material seized
included nine computer towers, a CD burner, a laptop
computer, 471 compact disks and 53 videos.
The employees charged with counterfeiting were
identified as Theo Frimpong, 39, of the Bronx; Diana
Kinscherf, 19, of Queens; Donald Stahl, 26, and
Charles Bettis, 29, both of Brooklyn; and Craig
Willingham, 32, of Manhattan.
Mondo Kim's is on a block of St. Marks Place, between
Second and Third Avenues, that has long been a
crossroads of bohemian culture. It and three other
Manhattan stores known as Kim's Video and Music are
widely known among the cognoscenti of new,
experimental and esoteric music and film.
Many customers seek out the four Kim's outlets for
recordings they are unable to find in even the largest
music stores, and they often say they patronize the
St.
Marks Place store despite the attitude of its staff,
which is not always welcoming.
"It was a rite of passage to go in there, rent a movie
and get snobbed on by some disdainful clerk," said
Mike
Doughty, the former singer of the band Soul Coughing.
Veterans of the East Village arts scene said the store
had a devoted clientele.
"They fill a niche," said Mike Stuto, an owner of Hi
Fi, a bar on Avenue A. "It's the difference between a
corner bodega and a special newsstand that carries
every publication you can imagine, but may not have
Time magazine."
Colin Moynihan contributed reporting for this article.
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