I’ve never gotten that into all the spoken/non-music CDs AK Press puts out, but I’m gonna start! This CD features twenty short speeches (most are under ten minutes), given at the, duh, Bay Area Anarchist Book Fair. The CD gets started a little slow, with a fairly pointless, rambling commentary by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, but then things get rolling real fast! The speeches by Christian Parenti (on capitalism) and Craig O’Hara (who talked about his job as a census worker — particularly of interest to me, as a former census employee myself!) were especially great. There are also speeches by Jello Biafra, Barry Pateman, Roxanne Dunbar Oritz, and more! Best of all, these double CD gave me the chance to think through my own beliefs about anarchism and capitalism. Of course, I didn’t agree with everyone — which is great. If you’re planning a long car ride soon, pick this up! I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. And, of course, if this were a cereal, it’d be Cracklin’ Oat Bran. A smart cereal that actually tastes good. Punk!
–maddy (AK Press/Alternative Tent)