Hey Everyone. Well, I've been slowly getting this page up to par. Thanks for all the ideas and for the e-mails, we really appreciate the help and input and we're happy you like the improvements. We played the show at Connections. It went off really well, I think it was a great performance. Next stop, a gig in Roanoke Va. then this years Beer Olympics. Albee, who is an original Krays (me and him started the band ) was gonna head down there and play guitar with us, but his wife is pregnant and they are moving to a new place so he can't make it. He will be playing some gigs with us in the future, so he is officially a Kray again, but part time because he's about to be a papa and can't go on tour and be away all the time so he'll play locally with us when he can make it. I think it's great though even if it's only part time. When he does gig with us I'll just be singing, so I get to put the guitar down and just rock out. I'll keep you posted when that happens. He played about 4 full shows with us last year while we were on a small tour with the Threats that was alot of fun. He'll also be working with us on the re-releases of the 1st two L.P.'s. He'll be supplying some guitar tracks on some re-done versions. Some rare songs that he sung will also be added to the records like Sobriety, Tax The Rich, and maybe even some rare demo tracks like Sentenced and Soldier which are all great tracks.


Hey, Fathers day has just past. I wanna give a shout of respect to my Grandfather Jenaro Cruz ( r.i.p.) He raised me. He was my father. He is my hero. He was a timbale player in latin bands going as far back as the 50's. He taught me about rhythm and showed me the joy and excitement of playing in a band. I watched him jam in our basement and at many of his gigs since before I could remember. Because of him, music became a part of me. Playing music always came natural to me because it was always around me since I was a baby. Like most Puerto Ricans way back when, he came to America to find work. Puerto Ricans had to face alot of poverty and racism as they fought to be a respected member of society here. U.S. economic policy in Puerto Rico ( which the Puerto Ricans had and still have no control over ) was strangling the people there. The senate was all about helping big business benefit, through various tax loup holes and such, and totally disregarded any responsibility in helping the Puerto Rican people survive. Anyway, that's just a part of some of the history that I've been learning lately, but it makes me respect my Grandfather even more. As I understand the world he was living in way before me or even my mother was born, I realise the battles he had to fight and all the hard work and sacrafice he put in to help build a stable life for his whole family for generations to come. I didn't know my real dad growing up. I never knew him, I never saw him. My Grandfather was my dad, my teacher. He looked out for me always. Anyway, this is the first fathers day I've had to face without him. I think of him everyday, and I feel him with me ( I know when people lose someone they always say that.) It's true though. Through dreams and memories he still teaches me, still speaks to me. As I try to understand more the person he was, I've realised how important this man was to me, my life and the person I am. It's hard to fully understand those things while they are with you. Maybe you are not suppose to. We are suppose to just live and be happy. Maybe after they are gone are we suppose to understand and feel these things to help that person stay alive inside you. This way they don't fully die as long as they are in your heart. If a person can still make you smile or even laugh, even after they're gone, then they aren't really gone. So fathers day means something different to me now, something more. It's about giving a little nod of respect to the man who's made so many things happen for me. I love you, happy fathers day Jeno!
Johnny Rosado 6/17/2003

Hey this is a quick history lession. Don't wanna know? Then don't read it!! The first indians (or natives) that Christopher Colunbus met were in the carribean called Taino indians. Tainos were living on many of the islands there including Puerto Rico, Haiti/Dominican Republic...
You'd be surprised the actions comitted by Columbus, who has a national hoilday in his honor in the U.S.. Selling off Tainos as slaves to Spain, (hundreds dying on the boats transporting them there) and sanctioning the murder of many more. Have fun. Here is a link to a page with a brief write up on Columbus and his great journey into the carribean.
http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~delacova/taino/taino-conquest.htm


(A Taino tribal Coqui)


 

The World Jones Made (1956) by Philip K. Dick

"To me, the spectacle of demagogues sending millions of people to their deaths, wrecking the world with holy wars and bloodshed, tearing down nations to put over some religious or political 'truth' is -" He shrugged. "Obscene. Filthy - they're the opinions of absolutist individuals forced on whole continents. And it has nothing to do with the sincerity of the leader. Or the followers. The fact that they believe it makes it even more obscene. The fact that they could kill each other and die voluntarily over meaningless verbalisms..."

"We live in a society in which spurious realities are manufactured by the media, by governments, by big corporations. We are bombarded with pseudo-realities manufactured by very sophisticated people using very sophisticated electronic mechanisms. I do not distrust their motives. I distrust their power."

A view of Benjamin Franklin, who famously warned that those who give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither.

I think we live in a strange time. I think we live in a strange country. In my eyes I see alot of blindness. Alot of misleading. Many Artist in the past were often leaders in alot of ways. Raising alarms at the things we collectively as humans are doing wrong and trying to correct the problems they see. Today we are being mislead by these artist, because we trust them. We are being blinded because they are being blinded. Maybe they are being blinded my money. Real art should be about the persuit of money. And where is the media leading us? The TV, the demigod of our age. Our teacher. But are the answers that we are being given true? I doubt. I don't trust. And it seems in this day and age, I am the out of step because I do. Maybe that's why I embraced punk rock. It was a bunch of us shouting against this stagnant world and the guidelines given to us. But where has this beautiful art gone? More geared towards the big business than ever. And aren't we aware, as the TV's blare in front of us, of the technologies being created to herd us in , make us safe and bland and controlled. Where is the awareness, our collective awareness. Do we want to be trapped? They'll know where we are, what we do, what we buy, who we call. It's a future that is already here, despite the warnings from writers like Philip K. Dick to George Orwell who told us "Watch out" over 30 to 50 years ago! What is it you all want out of your music scene now? And beyond that your life, your country? Freedom has slowly drizzled away, are you all prepared for it to evaporate totally? Or are you all happy to just be ignorant and not think seriously about any of it. We have power, if we wanted to use it.  Why am I writing and discussing this stuff. Well, being in a band I take very seriously, ( and I think maybe that's my personal flaw) and lately I was trying to figure out what is is I want out of it. And maybe I want that ultimate prize that an artist seeks, to enlighten somehow, some way. To make a difference in this life, in this space we have mapped out for us and I was wondering if I am. Am I ? Am I even really working towards that goal , or am I just trying to make the band popular? Which ever it is , should I continue on the road I'm set, or alter it.  Make adjustments. Or maybe it's late and I think too much? War has started. Where does that lead us? Where does that lead the world. For any of you wondering, Philip K. Dick is a great writer, a favorite of mine. He had many Sci Fi movies of his books and stories made like Total Recall, Blade Runner and Minority Report. Anyway, he had a grim distrusting view of the future that in alot of ways has been coming true. There's a website with news reports that shows small things around the world that are happening which he worte about as far back as the 1950's. http://www.philipkdick.com/news.htm
Check it out, it's pretty funny, like how Benneton clothing company are using these new tags on all their clothes with tiny transmitters on them so they can know where the clothes are from when they leave the factory to where they are sold and all that . Pretty creepy. the Chip it uses is smaller than a grain of sand. So we wouldn't be able to find it even if we were looking. Powerful technology. How else do you think this technology is being used? By who?
Anyway, take care, good night. I'll put any band updates on the Updates page.
And stay tuned for more nonsense!