Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS   xi
INTRODUCTION   1
Art and Politics after September 11   2
Early Years   15

1. CENTRAL AMERICA   25
El Salvador, 1988: Absolute Diabolical Terror   25
Sooner or Later   38
Nicaragua 1990: Power Outage   40
Creative Politics   54

2. THE BALKANS   69
The Balkans 2000: Tour Journal   69
Program Notes for Yugoslavia Suite   101

3. QUEERS   105
Desert Boy on a Stick   105
All the Rage, Spiral, and PantyChrist   115
Why I work with Drag Queens   130

4. MUSIC AND MACHINES   134
Between Science and Garbage   134
Living Cinema Manifesto   147
Human Bodies, Computer Music   149
Why Computer Music Is So Awful   159

CONCLUSION   163
The Professional Suicide of a Recording Musician   163

NOTES   173
BIOGRAPHY   177
SOURCES   187
CREDITS   190
INDEX   191

Promotional Information

Luminous essays on the nexus of music, politics, and technology

About the Author

Bob Ostertag--composer, performer, historian, instrument builder, journalist, and activist--is a professor of technocultural studies and music at the University of California at Davis and the author of People's Movements, People's Press: The Journalism of Social Justice Movements.

Reviews

"Unique and engaging. Creative Life spins an intriguing narrative, builds a compelling argument about the nature of art and politics, and raises a stimulating set of questions for politically engaged art in an age of digital technologies." Jonathan Scott Lee, author of Jacques Lacan