Book Review: The Spirit Level - Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger

The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger, written by British sociologist Richard Wilkinson and epidemiologist Kate Pickett, is a monumental book on the links between inequality and social problems. The first premise of the book argues that developed countries (i.e. those of western and central Europe, the anglo-nations, Japan, Singapore, and Israel) have reached a crucial point of economical development where economic growth and further increases of material wealth no longer improve real quality of life or measures of happiness. (*It is important, however, to note the distinction between wealthy developed countries and underprivileged  developing countries, where economic growth still plays a vital role in improving living conditions). From an economic -- and intuitive -- standpoint, this makes a lot of sense and is known as the law of diminishing marginal utility: owning one washer and dryer may be great, but owning two, or even ten, does not improve one's personal conditions. So economic growth is not always associated with increased standards of living.

On the contrary, when economic growth actually intensifies income equality -- as is the case in the U.S., Britain, Portugal, and many other countries --, then overall quality of life is decreased in ways that can be objectively measured. This brings the reader to the second premise: More unequal societies suffer dramatically higher rates of essentially all modern social problems than more equal societies. These social ills include obesity, cardiovascular disease, lower life expectancy, homicide and violence, mental illness, anxiety and depression, drug and alcohol abuse, teenage births, higher imprisonment rates, lower educational achievement, lower levels of social mobility, and lower levels of social trust. The data supporting these conclusions is abundant and compelling. 

But why is this the case? Here, The Spirit Level offers a few plausible and interconnected explanations, based on numerous social experiments. First, inequality creates hierarchical societies where status and competition matter a great deal -- in contrast to more egalitarian societies, where there is a marked emphasis on cooperation and the well-being of the collective. Status competition pressures people to measure themselves against others (the desire to "keep up" and not lose one's place in the social ladder) and is likely a root cause of social problems, encouraging a culture of status differentiation though conspicuous materialism. Those on the bottom of a hierarchical society suffer the most, with studies of primate showing the harmful effect of low social status on brain chemistry and pleasure. Sociologist use something called the bicycle reaction to describe social interactions in unequal societies: Imagine a speeding cyclist peddling aggressively with her head down, bowing to those above her (people of a higher social position) while simultaneously stepping on those below her (the lower class/es) in an order to preserve social status. 

The data insists that increased equality not only demonstrably benefits the middle and lower classes, but also the upper classes -- even the superrich. This is because, while social ills affect the lower class the most severely, society is a community and no individual or class is completely immune to the corrosive effects of a deeply stratified community. The authors make another salient point, describing that it is not important how equality is achieved -- be it the Scandinavian style of redistribution of wealth through social expenditures, or the Japanese system where wages are much more equal to begin with and social expenditures are very low -- the key thing is simply attaining relative equality because it measurably benefits all members of society.

The prevalence of psychosocial problems in modern societies implores us to change our current social and economic trajectory. As inequality increases, community relations and social trust deteriorate. We approach social problems as isolated, unrelated issues that can be treated by piecemeal policy efforts and/or new profit-oriented institutions. Yet real progress constantly eludes our efforts, and in many cases, we are losing ground to these urgent social problems. In today's U.S. political climate, it is highly unpopular to advocate equality, and those who do are often defamed as un-patriotic and inherently opposed to liberty. The Spirit Level convincingly argues that it is not equality that is opposed to liberty, but rather quite the opposite: Inequality fundamentally challenges freedom, fairness, and community. 

Today, achieving something closer to relative equality may seem impossibly far-fetched. Martin Luther King Jr. reminds us to be optimistic and farsighted: "The moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends towards justice." 

Confronting PoliMigra: Drawing the Line Between Police/ICE Collaboration

Confronting the PoliMigra: Drawing the Line Between Police/Ice Collaboration.

On  11/5, I was fortune to attend an eye-opening conference at Willamette University: Confronting the PoliMigra: Drawing the Line Between Police/ICE Collaboration. Put on by CAUSA, this day-long workshop examined the contradiction between federal immigration policy and actual local practice of immigration enforcement, including specifically Oregon. 

To begin with, it is important to note that local law enforcement is not intended to enforce immigration; Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the federal agency responsible for that work. In most immigration hold cases -- especially those resulting from minor (what would normally be ticketable) offenses -- local law enforcement is not required by state or federal law to honor requested ICE detentions. In fact, Oregon law 181850 categorically prohibits using local law enforcement resources for the purposes of immigration control. 

Current federal immigration policy unequivocally affirms that deportations are reserved solely for “the worst of the worst” undocumented citizens. A memo released in June 2011 by John Morton, the director of ICE, clearly outlined which undocumented immigrants were “low priority” for deportation. This “low priority” group includes veterans, crime victims, caregivers, the elderly, the sick, those who would qualify for the DREAM act, and those with proven community ties. While the federal government may de-emphasize deportations as a course of policy, local practice and raw statistics contradict the federal strategy. In the last three years, over 1 million undocumented immigrants have been deported, with over 400,000 deportations this last year alone.

So why is this happening?

The reasons are numerous and, for the most part, conspicuous. For one, the Secure Communities initiative (S-Comm) encourages police to fingerprint all detained undocumented immigrants and share that information with other agencies upon request. There is also a new importance on possessing legally accepted forms of identification. For undocumented immigrants, though, this is tremendously difficult because a) Oregon has made made it nearly impossible for undocumented immigrants to obtain state-issued Driver’s License or ID, and b) most local law enforcement will not accept the Mexican consulate-issued Matricula identification -- significantly, Marion County accepts the Matricula, an example of progressive local police enforcement. 

Beyond the need for acceptable identification and the inability to obtain it, local law enforcement is collaborating with ICE in an entirely insidious way. Certain jails in Oregon, as well as other states, actively invite ICE to set-up a desk in their respective local and country prisons; other times, ICE requests permission to set-up shop at jails, using the prospect of increased funding to entice local law enforcement to permit ICE’s presence. It may not seem like such a sinister arrangement until one considers the following highly probable scenario:

An undocumented immigrant gets pulled over for routine traffic violation. Because he lacks acceptable identification, however, he is detained at a nearby jail. Once in detention, if the immigrant -- who most likely does not know his rights and often is not provided a translator -- discloses in anyway that he was not born in the United States, a vicious deportation cycle has begun. ICE will most likely transfer the undocumented immigrant to a new regional jail each day (a deportation jailing route common to our area is: 1st night in a jail in Bend , 2nd night in Klamath Falls, 3rd night in Portland, and finally 4th night in Tacoma at a privately ran deportation processing center.

The process of transferring undocumented immigrants to multiple jails, before a likely deportation in Tacoma, is the result of a few policies. Most significantly, ICE uses funding and reimbursements to coerce local police to collaborate on immigration. ICE only fully refunds local law enforcement for the cost of holding immigrants if the immigrants remain in the prison system 4 days or more. The collaboration between local law enforcement and ICE expedites deportations, but discourages proactivity and resistance from family members, concerned private citizens, and the faith based community. The whole system is stacked in the favor of speedy detention and removal of immigrants, at the expense of families and communities. Despite the Morton memo    

stressing the need for prosecutorial discretion and consideration of extenuating circumstances on a case by case basis, deportations are often unwarranted, breaking apart families and communities.

The good news is that awareness of the issue is increasing, and the debate is beginning to shift. More and more, people have come to realize that the PoliMigra collaboration, rather than making our communities safer, are in fact hurting public safety, as immigrants are reluctant to trust/talk to local law enforcement officials for fear of immigration problems. At an organizational level, many social justice groups in Oregon and elsewhere meet regularly with local police and jail officials. They compile and present raw data that underlines the importance of kicking ICE out of local and county jails so that undocumented immigrants aren’t deported for minor infractions -- such as having a brake light out or lacking an acceptable form of ID. Some immigration lawyers are also stepping up to the plate, providing Pro bono services for certain deportation cases. The faith based community, too, is centrally involved. Pastors and priests have begun meeting with Police Chiefs and Sheriffs -- many of whom resist or refuse to meet with nonprofits and committees of concerned citizens -- in order to persuade local law enforcement to discontinue its unnecessary role in immigration enforcement.

Immigrant Family Advocacy (IFA), a Bend nonprofit, has been keeping meticulous data about undocumented immigrants detained in Central Oregon and recently released a revealing report with lots of hard data and compelling arguments. I hope to get there permission to publish a copy of that report online. 

"The War on Drugs has failed"

Deciphering the many layers of the 'War on Drugs' is complex, but this Nytimes video does an excellent job. Insatiable US demand for illegal drugs bankrolls violent Mexican drug cartels. Those cartels, or drug-trading organization (DTOs), then use that money to buy US weapons, buy off police and government officials, and support their foot soldiers, informants, and leaders on both sides of the border -- as well as many countries in Latin America and even parts of Africa. At the same time, the US government gives financial aid and legal training to the Mexican military, an institution that has been criticized of Human Rights violations during the War on Drugs. Still more, the US prison system and law enforcement benefit from the arrangement, as strict enforcement of anti-drug laws in the US continues to increase our prison population, drawing ever more money from the taxpayer's tab.  

Now on to the subject of this post, that "The War on Drugs has failed." This quote echoes the findings of the Global Commission on Drug Policy. The panel -- made up of, among others, "former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, the former leaders of Mexico, Colombia and Brazil, and the entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson" -- recently released a report in June 2011. The report contends that current policies, which identify illegal drug use and abuse primarily as a crime issue, are not working. In fact, between the years of 1998 and 2008, during which time the U.S. significantly increased funding for 'The War on Drugs,' estimates of total annual drug consumption rose dramatically.    

These statistics make a strong case for a policy change. Increasingly, a school of thought recommends a new framework for dealing with drug problems, one that views drug use/abuse as a public health issue rather than a criminal one. Such a policy calls for the decriminalization, even legalization, of drugs, in order to shift the focus away from criminal punishment of users. Only then can our country begin to address the issue through a public health lens, using preventative medicine and regulation of drugs to ensure the safety of users and society as a whole. Fiscally, keeping nonviolent drug users of out of jail (the U.S. bureau of prisons 2011 budget is $6.8 billion and nearly 50% of all U.S. incarcerations are drug related) would probably more than fund this type of policy shift. And that doesn't even factor in the money that could be saved by the resultant scaling down of U.S. law enforcement.

Statistics on the 'War on Drugs' in Mexico:  

• 34,612 have died in Mexico since 2007, at least 12,000 were innocent civilians 
• At least 15,000 people were killed in 2010 in Mexico, the bloodiest year to-date and a 60% increase from 2009
• 80 journalists have been killed for publishing narco-related news. Mexico is now widely regarded as the most dangerous country in the world to practice journalism
• As of 2010, Mexican drug cartels are increasingly targeting government officials and civilians
• 14 mayors and 11 journalists were killed in 2010

Statistics on the War on Drugs in the US:

• 90% of all guns seized in Mexico have been linked to American gun shops
• 50% of all criminal offenses are drug-related
• US prison population quadrupled from 1980-2003
• U.S. now has one fourth of global prison population
• US government spent over $15 billion on the War on Drugs in 2010
• 1 American is arrested for violating cannabis laws every 30 seconds

This Esquire article is especially interesting. A former commander in Maryland's DEA, Neill Franklin argues for legalization and regulation of drugs as a way of decreasing drug-related violence and overdoses: "You have to take the money out of it. Many people talk about legalization and decriminalize — it's still illegal, but you're just not sending as many people to jail, especially for the nonviolent offenses. However, the money is still being made in the illegal sales, so you still have the drug wars. It's prohibition that's killing our people. That's why people are dying."

"So," I ask, "you want to legalize everything?"

"Yes. But I like to put it like this: I want regulation of everything. Because right now, I think they're confusing prohibition with regulation. What I'm talking about is applying standards — quality control, just like alcohol. We should have learned our lesson during alcohol prohibitions — we repealed the Eighteenth Amendment and applied standards of sale and manufacture, so it has to be a certain quality and you can't sell it to just anybody, and you still go to jail if you sell it to the wrong people. So, among other things, you'll also reduce overdoses — the majority of the overdoses we have is people who don't know what they're getting or buying because the purity level fluctuates. In addition, people are afraid to get help because they don't want to go jail, so they let their friends die."

The article also argues that, when calculating drug-related homicides and overdoses in the US, as many as 15,000 American deaths per year are drug related. It is clear, then, that drugs are taking lives on both sides of the border. Although Mexican and American government officials deny it: The War on Drugs -- on inanimate objects -- is, without a doubt, failing.

Occupy Togther, video links to some of the issues at hand

After a lengthy absence, Left Coast Prost (LCP) returns today with a post focusing on a few of the many environmental, social, and economic issues at hand -- both domestically and globally. As the Occupy Together movement continues to spread across the country and world, many people still don't quite understand what the issues at hand are. When they ask members of Occupy Together why they are protesting, they inevitably reply: "It's complicated." This is because the Occupy Together model is a peaceful, grassroots movement that cannot be boiled down into one specific issue or demand. The vital issues of our time are nearly as diverse and numerous as people on the planet; as a result, the movement's message can never be summarized into a succinct definition, which frustrates mainstream media and conventional politics. The lack of a clearly defined message, however, may actually be one Occupy Together's greatest strengths. It is exceptionally difficult to oppose something without fully understanding what you are opposing.

Another key tenet of the movement is the idea of Horizontal Leadership and Consensus-based Participatory Democracy. Horizontal leadership operates under the core belief that every single person's opinion and input are equally valid. Everyone has a voice and deserves to be heard, as well as a "piece of the truth," regardless of their views. This style of organization contrasts to the prevailing top-down system of leadership to which we, as a society, are accustomed. It may be far from perfect, but it is definitely a more equitable and inclusive way of organizing and governing a local community than a conventional hierarchy of leadership. One complaint leveled at this kind of participatory direct democracy is: It takes too much time and energy. While it truly requires lots of both, as one women at Occupy Bend put it, "Direct democracy is not fast food, it is hard work." And it is empowering and worth it!

For more information on consensus-based participatory democracy, read this short handbook, packed with information on the process of a general assembly, your rights when dealing with police (who isn't interested in that?), and also the international movement.

Ok, now to return to some of the issues that unite the movement at a national level. They include but are not limited to: Campaign Finance Reform (divorcing special interests and corporate contributions from our government; Banking Sector Reform (which played a central role in sending the global economy into recession by way of countless nefarious lending and investment practices, and also enriched an elite group of bankers at the expense of taxpayers [privatized profits, socialized risk] using government bailout money; and Increased Tax Rates for the richest 1% of Americans (who, on average, pay a much lower tax rate than the middle and upper middle class, as well as control 40% of the national wealth).

Other deep social and environmental issues abound, yet for the sake of time I cannot address them in any sort of depth right now. Nor can I dive into any of the local issues that acutely affect our local community of Bend, Oregon at this time.

In short, yes, the reason for these organic, citizen-led protests is very, very complicated. I hope this post might help answer a question or two for someone out there. Or better yet, encourage someone to start researching the problems themselves. When Congressional Approval Ratings are at an all-time low of 12%, as of September 2011, citizens must take the lead, rather than relying on our elected officials to solve the pressing issues of our times. The top-down structure of our government is failing to address the most important problems our society faces today for 2 reasons: 1) Many members of our government are in fact members of the 1%, or at least directly benefit from enacting policies that solely favor the interests of the elite and the rich; 2) They are Planners, mostly too far removed from the situation to ask the right questions. In glaring contrast, we, as the other 99%, know the realities of systemic inequality and unfairness. We are the Searchers, and we are just now beginning to come together as a community and ask the right questions at a collective level.

Consequently, this movement is organic, local and decentralized, and always-evolving. No one knows in which direction it is headed, only that its emphasis is on peacefulness and causing a global paradigm shift or values.  

Here are some videos and articles that I found particularly informational contemporary:

1) A 10 minute clip of a documentary called Gasland, which investigates the role of 'fracking,' and the carcinogenic chemicals it uses to drill for natural gas and oil. This process contaminates freshwater in the U.S. and abroad, leading to widespread illness of people who drink the contaminated water.

2) An Nytimes article on fracking. Read carefully. The last few paragraphs illuminate the debate. The oil and natural gas lobby argue that, because there is no scientific evidence proving that fracking is the culprit for environmental and freshwater contamination, it is absolved of responsibility. That skirts the real issue: It has been scientifically proven that drilling for gas production, with current high pressure methods and harmful chemicals, is contaminating the environment and water systems. In sum, drilling is absolutely polluting the environment, but there's no science to pin any of the blame on the new, dubious fracking quite yet. It all sorta feels like, I definitely shot the sheriff (you can prove it, and it wasn't in self-defence), but I won't admit to the deputy just yet (even though it looks bad, the onus is on you [the bureaucratic and underfunded EPA] to prove it!)

3) A 90 minute video by Robert Lustig, a doctor of Pediatrics at UCSF School of Medicine. He makes a water-right argument that sucrose and fructose (both sugar, sucrose is cane and beet sugar. Fructose is stuff like high-fructose corn syrup) are known chronic toxins. Over time, the chronic additive of sugar to foods leads to what is called the metabolic syndrome: A conglomerate of conditions that includes cardiovascular disease, hypertension, obesity, diabetes, among others. Sugar, both fructose and sucrose, is added to processed foods because it is so cheap. As the U.S. exports more and more food abroad, other countries that start to adopt our diet of sugar-heavy processed foods -- even those with a traditionally healthy cuisine and national food heritage, like Italy and Japan -- begin to see an endemic of the same metabolic syndrome diseases that plague our country today. Lustig argues that the food industry understands the malicious effect of sugar on health, but there is no real pressure to omit sugar from processed foods because sugar adds additional calories to food on the cheap and: The US only exports 3 things well in this global economy -- 1) Arms, 2) Enertainment, and 3) Food.

4) A Charlie Rose interview with Warren Buffet, one of the richest men in the U.S. and the world. Financially conservative but socially pragmatic, Buffet argues that the rich absolutely need to be taxed at a much higher rate than they are currently. Interestingly, he discloses that out of all the people who work in his office, he is taxed at the lowest rate, only 17% on the total money he earned during the year. The next lowest rate is 33%, the highest 41%. This is because the marginal tax rate of capital gains (the money you have invested in stocks, bonds, and real-estate) is extremely low, and the rich clearly have more invested in capital than the rest. Last, the income tax only applies to the first $100,000 dollars made by an individual, benefitting the highest earners. Anyway, lots tax information and policy ideas can be found in this video.

5) Another Chalie Rose interview, this time with economist and professor Jeffrey Sachs. Also a lot going on in this video, but some of the best points are that the political/economic system is clearly not working the lower and middle classes, as well as the idea that our politicians are inept are producing medium/long-term structural plans to increase our global competitiveness. Instead, they play a polarizing political game and advocate short-term stimulus that may buy us a few fish today but do not teach us how to fish tomorrow.

summer snowballs & serving up justice

For the first time all summer, I don't have to start working at the god-forsaken hour of 6am. Instead, I start around midday and work through close. In celebration of this near-miracle, thought it's about time to give LCP some more love.

The nefarious Murdoch/Newscorp. scandal snowballs on. Recently I've lacked the wherewithal to stay up-to-date on US political or international news, but this media transgression is too ground-breakingly sinister, and involves too many major players, to keep my head in the sand much longer. Here's a quick recap: News of the World, owned by Rupert Murdoch (the insanely wealthy and powerful Australian media tycoon) has been aggressively hacking British phones and voicemails to dredge up even juicier stories. Obviously, this is criminal, a serious breach of privacy and totally unbecoming of a global media brand.

There is more. It has now come to light that the relationship between English police and News International (the parent company) also warrants further investigation, with the admission that "10 other former News International employees work in the media relations office of the Metropolitan police service, out of a total of 45 people who work in the office."


Murdoch's media empire, as well as the man himself, once seemed an impenetrable, ever-expanding force. With this scandal, that too has changed. Murdoch's iron-fisted control of the company is now being questioned by the newspaper's board of directors. Turns out having such a power-hungry, highly politicized, media baron running the show isn't quite in the interests of freedom of press. Or conducive to turning profits for a newspaper whose image is at an all-time low and boasts a well-documented streak of aggressiveness.

Now, the biggest question is how far with the fallout spread. Who knew what, and when? The investigation and future court proceedings will be a textbook exercise in the plausible deniability strategy. Nevertheless, with resignations from English police and News of the World management pouring in, it's only a matter of time before the blowback ensnares more culprits. I can only hope that Britain takes a harder line towards the perpetrators of these type of white collar crimes than the US has in the wake of the housing crisis and Wall Street scandal.

7/11 = Free Slurpie Day

After a 5 week hiatus from blogging, stemming in from one part laziness and another part Arsenal-induced gloom, here we are. It's July, things are starting to pick up: Summer is in full swing in Central, OR and pre-season Euro soccer is gearing up. On the Arsenal side of things, there's not a ton of good news to report. The Cesc and Nasri circle jerk remains in full swing, with lots of speculation that one or both will leave before the transfer window closes in late August. Arsene did, however, finally manage to bring in some new blood by the name of Gervihno. He is supposed to be a raw but talented winger, explosive and powerful, as well as prone to missing some sitters. The Nutter tweeted an interesting statistical comparison between Gerby & Nasri: Gervinho and Nasri: same age, same position. League stats last 2yrs: Gervinho - 28 goals, 14 assists. Nasri - 12 goals, 5 assists.

The Ivorian looks a great addition to the side. Only time will tell. Anyway, with the transfer vultures of European soccer circling around Cesc & Nasri, it's somehow comforting to know that the show and club will always go on. New players will always come in and current players will inevitably move on sometime. What endures is the club and the club's values. My fandom is about supporting the club through its highs and lows, not idolizing individual players. Gracias por todo Cesc. Que sera, sera. Nasri, you're not worth 115,000 pounds a weak of real, normal money, let alone 185k/week of dirty oil dollars. 

Alright, I'm off.   

I like my Beats Fast, my Bass Down Low: Sasquatch '11 in review

Sasquatch 2011, the Northwest's mighty indie/electronic music festival, went off with a bang this last weekend in the Gorge. This year was a landmark tenth year for the festival, as well as the first year Squatch hosted 4 days of music. Your blogger was in attendance along with a riot of old homies, new allies, the Nutter & Cito, and some 30-50k awesome, glowing party people.

After checking around the interweb a bit, it seems there's neither an official estimate nor general consensus as to how many people actually attended. A lot of message boards are throwing around the 30-50k figure, claiming that the new banana shack significantly increased concert capacity, and that the hill was slammed with people much earlier than usual (which could have to do with the strength of the early day lineups). By far the most popular piece of speculation was what percentage of Sasquatchers were Canadians. The most conservative estimate I heard was 50%, the highest 70%. We'll never know, but to be sure, Canadians hit that festival in mind-blowing numbers -- and it makes sense when you factor in the exorbitant prices our northern neighbors pay to get loose on the juice (alc). So to all the Canadians I met: Win the Cup! and catch you at Shambalalalala-da-dah-dee-dah?

Before LCP gets to the actual music stuff, a few more quick thoughts on Sasquaa' logistics. Bathroom maintenance really elevated their game this year, LCP salutes you. Security at entrance also stepped up in a lame way, getting excessively vigilant with patdowns and bag checks. From what I saw of the pit security, they did a job well done. Last, I like the idea of the 4 day fest in theory, but the Friday lineup left a LOT to be desired: Death From Above hadn't played a show together in 5 years (and it showed); Foo Fighters lacked a lot of oomph (as LCP's newest music correspondent out of Eugene put it, "the new music they played is screamo style. They never would have become famous playing that..."); and Sasquatch cut some serious corners on Friday night's dance tent lineup by scheduling DJ Anali a 3.5 hour set (the longest of the festival).

Alright, now onto the main attraction, the sweet, sweet music.

Friday: Only saw Death From Above, The Foo Fighters, and DJ Anali. Of those, I would check out another DJ Anali show sometime. The super fast Bollywood beats were bizarre but delightfully tribal.

Saturday: The Ecology camp had a few false starts this day when attempting to leave camp. So we didn't get to check out Wolf Parade or Pink Martini as hoped. And though I missed Seattle Rock Orchestra due to the insanely early timeslot, I've got every intention of checking them out soon -- maybe even in their Seattle stomping grounds, if I'm lucky.

The rest of Saturday turned out ballerific, however: Matt & Kim put on what I thought was one of the best shows of the festival. They brought so much energy to the side stage and oozed confidence all set long. Plus, their penchant for covering catchy songs, like Biz Markie's Just a Friend, is pretty intoxicating. Finally, it was only fitting that they got to throw down Daylight as the sun was setting.

Glitch Mob followed in the Banana Shack (dance tent). It's hard to find the words for their set. Mind-blowing is a cop out, but it'll have to do. Videos give a more accurate representation of their unique electronic glitch hop style. This Seven Nation Army remix vid is stellar quality.

Next up, Sleigh Bells in the dance tent. The NYtimes has a chill little video about the band's meteoric rise to success in such a short time. Their set was short & heavy-hitting, a wicked combo of electronic and metal influences, with a sexy female leading voice.

Then Bassnectar dominated the late-night slot on the sidestage. His heavy dub-step wasn't really done proper justice by the Bigfoot stage's problematic PA system. I've been lucky enough to see Nectar 3x now, and this was by far the quietest show of his I've heard. Nevertheless, the dude unleashes face-melting dubstep everytime, all the time, no exceptions. Beats Fast, Bass Down Low!

Sunday, fun day:

Cold War Kids on the main stage started my day. I hadn't listened to much of their music, so I was stoked when they put on a dazzling performance. I guess that's what makes 'em rock-stars in the first place.

Flogging Molly on the main stage afterwards was good, not great, in my opinion. For me, it was worth checking out as a throwback to freshmen year of college though.

Gold Panda came next in the dance tent. Even though I wasn't a huge fan, the dance tent pulsed crowd energy in abundance. So it was a good time.

Post-GP, Flying Lotus threw down in the banana shack. I could immediately tell that Fly-lo was a G, tipped off by big aviators and a huge, unmistakably confident smirk. While it's hard to put your finger on what it is about his music, the effect is clear: Instant party. I only caught about half of this set because it overlapped with what would turn out to be one of the shows of the festival (at least for me)....

Yeasayer on the side stage! I had been highly anticipating this show, especially because I missed the Wilammette Valley music festival in early May, where Yeasayer headlined one night at U of O campus.  Seeing them at the Gorge made up for that, and then some. Aside from the band's natural genius, a couple things about this show converged to make it, by far, my favorite of Sasquatch '11: A) The band messed around with the beats per minute, slowing the music down slightly and giving it an almost dub step-esque feel at times. B) The crowd was crazy engaged, belting out the lyrics of those catchy choruses (my favorite shower karaoke). And above all, C) It was a dance party, and I had an awesome dance partner that night -- truly, all things are better with dance partners, eh. Turns out there aren't too many good videos of Yeasayer from Sqautch, so this one will have to do -- in fairness, personally shooting a video would have taken away from the brilliance of the moment for me, so I get it.

After Yeasayer, Modest Mouse had a lot to live up to on the side stage, where they delivered a tour de force performance. To make things better, right before the show started, my epic dance partner/friend finagled us (along with 4-5 people standing near us) a way into the pit by befriending the yellow shirted chiller John, and then answering his trivia correctly. Back to the music, MM effortlessly transitioned between classics like Dramamine and Ocean Breathes Salty & their new stuff, which I didn't really know but massively enjoyed. Here's a short clip of World at Large.

Finally, Ratatat rounded out the night. Your blogger had been waiting literally for years to see Ratatat, so this show meant a lot to me. In fact, Ratatat dominated my playlists for the last 4 years, when I was in college and used the music as a performance enhancer for studying and writing. The show was super fresh, the sound clean and crisp. All in all, the perfect finish to the night's music.

Monday:

The LCP crew got into the venue during the Guided by Voices crew (who know they were still playing music?) and set up shop on the hill.

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis lit up the side stage next. The Seattle-centric, irish influenced duo really stoked the crowd's energy, delivering a great set.

Rodrigo y Gabriela (Roger and Gabi, ha), a pair of classically trained Mexican guitarists with a metal style, were pencilled into the next time slot on the main stage. As if their music weren't epic enough, during their set it started to rain and lightning struck in the distance a few times.

RyG were followed by a spot-on set from The Decembrists. At this point, your blogger was struggling to cope with the rain element (turns out baby alpaca is very far from a suitable rain shell) and a bit less focused on the music.

Finally, we copped a view of Skrillex (to quote a Sasquatch youtube video) "not only kill[ing]" but also "chang[ing] lives for the greater good of humanity" in the dance tent. :)

LCP dropped the ball after that, heading back to camp instead of seeing Major Lazer and Wilco (dammit!). Can't win 'em all, I suppose. Shows for another day. Till next time.....