....LMB: "My Summer Vacation"....

May 27, 2003

Some of you may have asked yourselves at some point, “I wonder what Jake does for a living that gives him the time to read so much, and write so frequently, and look so sexy.” The time has come to answer these questions.

Until fairly recently, I was the political advisor for Rage Against the Machine (no, really *). Their singer left back in 2000, but I continued working with the remaining fellows on political issues until they formed their new band, Audioslave. After that, I was sort of in flux, being more of a Political Consultant for Rock Bands, mainly for a few things for Rage’s guitarist, and oddball metal band System of a Down. Then the guitarist of Rage/Audioslave and the singer for System of a Down decided we should all collaborate and form a political organization that would make use of their media access and rock star fortunes, and my knowledge and my ability to stare at a computer screen for 45 hours a day without going blind.

So my job has now shifted from Political Consultant to Director of a Non-Profit Organization (well, technically of two non-profit organizations) called Axis of Justice which the three of us run (well, they supply ideas, fame and money, I do the rest). Which is a lot like my old job, except I also have to deal with paperwork and fundraising. AOJ is basically anything that we three want it to be to achieve our political goals. I’m a quasi-anarchist encouraging people to think and act and remake the world, Tom Morello’s an IWW-style socialist encouraging people to unionize and kick their bosses’ asses, and Serj is some kind of cross between a Buddhist and Bob Marley encouraging people to unite in peace and harmony. What’s the result? I find out day by day.

Yes, my job kicks much ass. I often say that I’m the luckiest non-rich man in America. The job combines my love of music and obsession with politics. I don’t have to commute anywhere. My work has meaning and helps people, unlike so many other jobs I’ve had. It occasionally has fringe benefits like free tickets to concerts and such. And now I get the bonus of a free cross-country trip.

Unless tragedy strikes (which I honestly can’t rule out these days), I will be traveling with the revived Lollapalooza tour this summer, to run an Axis of Justice tent dedicated to activism. Yes, your geeky, angry, overworked narrator will be traveling the U.S. of A. with millionaire rock stars in effort to incite concert-goers to overthrow the government and such. We’re working with a lot of excellent groups: Food Not Bombs, Anti-Racist Action, Independent Media Centers, RAINN, a bunch of local independent political bookstores, a bunch of local peace groups, and more. It’s a good feeling to find people who are doing good work to try to make their communities a better place and then to say “hey, what can I do to help you out?”

So if you go to the Lollapalooza tour this year (which, given the line-up, I really can’t recommend), find the tent and come say hello. Look for the guy with the bright red hair (I’m thinking of dying my hair Ronald McDonald red for the tour, to make myself more easily identifiable to the hundreds of strangers I’ll be working with). Failing that, ask for “Jake.” Or “Captain Smirky.”

Also, feel free to recommend local activist groups in or near any of the stops on the tour.

Since I will be physically on the go for weeks and weeks, my radio show will be on hiatus from early July through late August. In addition, this website will probably be quite different during that period as well. Since I won’t have the time to be reading and poring over the day’s news, yet will be experiencing the fairly unusual adventure of touring with rock bands and meeting activists across the country, this site will temporarily be Jake’s Rock’n Tour & Politics Diary or something. It’s bound to be interesting, but in a very different way than the usual site.

So there you have it, a slice of Jake’s weirdo life. You can’t have it, it’s all mine.

* Actually, one factual error in that linked article. I was a Communications student, not a Sociology student.

It's an irritating story, really. The editor of the OC Weekly called me up to try to get RATM's endorsement for an event they were doing. I figured he was calling in that capacity, that we were conversing as two people working together to try to get an innocent kid out of jail, not as a reporter and an interviewee. Apparently I was wrong. I didn't find out till months later, and I was pretty pissed off. That, ladies and gentlemen, is why you always let reporters know that you're speaking to them "off the record," even when (or maybe especially when) you think that should be obvious to them.

Anyhow, the error came when he asked, "what are you studying, sociology?" and I said "yeah," cuz I didn't think it mattered and it was easier than having to explain what the field of "communications" was for the thousandth time. So let's just say that I have an honorary degree in sociology from Shoddy Journalism University.