From Saturday to Saturday
I'm pretty slack when it comes to contributing to this blog. But the last week has been a bit more wild than usual. It's now Sunday and I figured it was about time to write down some of this insanity. It all started last Saturday. Eight days ago...
I was in Amsterdam trying to find some places to hang some posters and drum up hype for the upcoming Mr. Lif show at the Melkweg when I got a call from my boss.
“Smutticus, we got a customer about to go nuclear in Connecticut. No one from the USA can go so we need to know if you can make it. Can you make it?”
“Sure bossman. But I gotta be back in Amsterdam for Saturday night because I'm not missing the Lif show for anything.”
"No problem. Just calm the customer down for this week and fly out on Friday morning. We have a replacement for you that will arrive Thursday night. You can meet with him Thursday night and do the handoff."
I flew out Tuesday morning from Amsterdam to Newark, New Jersey. From there I was supposed to connect to Hartford, Connecticut. Then rent a car and drive for an hour to the customer. But they wouldn't let me board the plane in Newark. Turns out when KLM had printed my Northwest boarding pass in Amsterdam they had left out a vital number that I needed to board. She claimed I needed a paper ticket and I didn't have it, I always do e-tickets. So I missed my flight and was forced to rebook on the next one. This would not normally merit mention in this story. But we'll call it foreshadowing for now.
When I finally arrived in unnamed tiny Connecticut nowhere I was jetlagged, tired, hungry and generally travel fatigued. But I couldn't go to sleep just yet, must adjust. So I met my colleague and his girlfriend at the hotel bar and we started drinking. One World Series game and lots of alcohol later we were properly toasted and my jet lag was cured. Slept like a baby. The week continued as such; working, drinking, working, drinking. Typical onsite. Apologies to everyone in New York I didn't get to visit on this trip. It was hard being so close to so many cool friends and not get to see them.
When Friday came I was glad to be leaving this blue state redneck armpit New England nowhere. My flight back with Northwest/KLM was uneventful. I arrived in Amsterdam around 5:00am Saturday morning and got home around 7:00am because the trains were all messed up. I went right to bed. Woke up around 3:00pm and leisurely checked the news...
What's this? Some dude made a website where you can print out Northwest boarding passes and get past security. Now some congressman is calling for him to be arrested. Same old anti-terrorist bullshit. The emperor doesn't like it when you point out he's naked. And Bush doesn't like looking stupid. Especially if it involves the truth. But hold up. Who's this dude? Chris Soghoian? Holy shit it's Chris! I check his blog and his last post is saying the FBI is at his door and he needs to go talk. That was 5 hours ago and no further posts. They've got him. The feds just arrested a buddy of mine for some bullshit. I just flew Northwest this morning and on the flight over I had problems with my boarding pass. The coincidence is unreal. I pause to contemplate...
But can't waste too much time. It's late and I gotta get to Amsterdam for the Lif show. There's stickers to hand out and posters to hang. I arrive at the Melkweg an hour before the show starts to try and hang posters and work the incoming crowds. But the Melkweg security won't let me hang posters inside or leave stickers at the door. So I camp out across the street around the corner and approach people who I think might be headed to the show. Accosting them with free stickers and posters I meet lots of cool people. Most of them stoned but happy to be getting free shit. There are lots of people walking down the street but it's amazing how I can tell who's headed for the show. Hint: Look for hoodies, piercings and joints in hand. I only approached two people who didn't know what I was talking about. And they still appreciated free stickers. Everyone likes free shit.
Once I ran out of posters I made my way inside to work the crowd a bit more with stickers. Get a beer, light a cigarette and wait for the action to start. The opening act was some Dutch act rapping about how parents just don't understand. But Will Smith and Jazzy Jeff were not present and these guys were giving me a headache. The lead guy was wearing a shirt that said “I am hip-hop" and a Yankees hat. Had this guy even been to New York. And what's wrong with your DJ. He looks like Michael J. Fox he's fidgeting so much behind the wheels.
When Lif came on people went nuts and Lif really worked the crowd. I've seen a lot of hip-hop shows and this was the real deal. Lif and Keith Metro used a mixture of stage theatre and rhymes to bring a message of peace and social activism in focus. Death to apathy. I hadn't felt so energized since I saw KRS-One ten years ago. It was a really good show. Which is really refreshing if you're used to going to hip-hop shows that always start way late and include MCs getting on stage and repeating "What, what, nigga, nigga, bitch, bitch" for an hour than calling it a night. Note to rappers that come to Amsterdam. It's great that you smoke weed. Really. I'm proud of you. But being so high on stage that your show suffers makes you look like a dumbass. It's nothing new and it deludes your fan base.
I took lots of pictures and even scored some video. It was fun walking through the crowd and handing out stickers. As I ran low on stickers I became more and more prejudiced. Cute girls and people who looked like they were having a good time were more likely to get stickers from me. I gave one to an older looking guy standing at the bar who was drinking coke for the whole show. He looked so out of place but he was bobbing his head up and down and smiling. I also walked up to a few people who were desperately trying to look tough and cool hanging to the side. If you walk up to these people and push a free sticker in their face it always catches them off guard. Then when you walk away they resume looking tough and dangerous. Hilarious! There's no need for a kid from Richmond, VA to be scared of anyone in Amsterdam. But I understand people gotta keep up their gangsta image or whatever ;)
At the end of the show I found Keith Metro at the bar and chatted him up for a bit. Then I went to the stage and bought an album from Lif. I gave him a fifty and when he started to give me change I told him to keep it because I had downloaded all of his albums. He laughed and said thanks. I identified myself as being from the Definitive Jux street team(Defcon) and he thanked me for the support. Then after that I sat up onstage with him and had my picture taken. I'm amazed at how accessible and friendly both Keith and Lif were. Not all celebrities take the time to actually hang with their fanbase after a show and mingle. I would go to his show even if he left immediately afterwords to find some hot groupie action. I might not respect him as much but I love the music so I'd still go to the show. It shows a level of professionalism and personal contact that's missing in our entertainment world these days. It makes our celebrities and entertainers more human. It's refreshing.
I got back to Utrecht around 1:00am and met up with some friends at a Halloween party at a club I party at too much. It was nice to wind down after a crazy week and just chill with kids. But I just wasn't feeling it for some reason. It couldn't match the insanity of the past events. And as amazing as the Lif show was I couldn't get Chris out of my mind. Was my friend in jail? What's going to happen to him? So I hit on a couple of girls with boyfriends then I went home. Passed out and slept for a very long time.
Epilogue:
Chris's house was raided by the FBI yesterday. He was served with the search warrant at 2:00am but wasn't home. So the feds broke in by breaking a window. They took all his computers and trashed his place. Standard intimidation modus-operandi. He's just started a legal defense fund and you can contact him or contribute. Check his blog in the links section below.
What Chris did is not something particularly revolutionary or in any way difficult. It's not even a new idea. Bruce Schneier, a well respected government security consultant, wrote about it in 2003. And Senator Schumer talked about this in 2005. Chris's crime was to be critical of a broken system at a time when criticism is viewed as treason. But if we actually want to be safe when we fly we need people testing and breaking our broken security measures. It's the only way we can remain safe. Because if Chris can write a simple script to print a fake boarding pass then we need to assume that al-qaeda or whomever else can as well.
Links:
Pictures from the Mr. Lif show(it was dark alright)
Video from the Mr. Lif show(you might want to download before playing)
The initial story on Chris Soghoian and his troubles with the FBI
Bruce Schneier talking about printing boarding passes in 2003
Senator Schumer from New York explains how to forge a boarding pass in 2005
Chris's blog
Chris and I at his place in Leuven, Belgium in obviously more relaxed times
I was in Amsterdam trying to find some places to hang some posters and drum up hype for the upcoming Mr. Lif show at the Melkweg when I got a call from my boss.
“Smutticus, we got a customer about to go nuclear in Connecticut. No one from the USA can go so we need to know if you can make it. Can you make it?”
“Sure bossman. But I gotta be back in Amsterdam for Saturday night because I'm not missing the Lif show for anything.”
"No problem. Just calm the customer down for this week and fly out on Friday morning. We have a replacement for you that will arrive Thursday night. You can meet with him Thursday night and do the handoff."
I flew out Tuesday morning from Amsterdam to Newark, New Jersey. From there I was supposed to connect to Hartford, Connecticut. Then rent a car and drive for an hour to the customer. But they wouldn't let me board the plane in Newark. Turns out when KLM had printed my Northwest boarding pass in Amsterdam they had left out a vital number that I needed to board. She claimed I needed a paper ticket and I didn't have it, I always do e-tickets. So I missed my flight and was forced to rebook on the next one. This would not normally merit mention in this story. But we'll call it foreshadowing for now.
When I finally arrived in unnamed tiny Connecticut nowhere I was jetlagged, tired, hungry and generally travel fatigued. But I couldn't go to sleep just yet, must adjust. So I met my colleague and his girlfriend at the hotel bar and we started drinking. One World Series game and lots of alcohol later we were properly toasted and my jet lag was cured. Slept like a baby. The week continued as such; working, drinking, working, drinking. Typical onsite. Apologies to everyone in New York I didn't get to visit on this trip. It was hard being so close to so many cool friends and not get to see them.
When Friday came I was glad to be leaving this blue state redneck armpit New England nowhere. My flight back with Northwest/KLM was uneventful. I arrived in Amsterdam around 5:00am Saturday morning and got home around 7:00am because the trains were all messed up. I went right to bed. Woke up around 3:00pm and leisurely checked the news...
What's this? Some dude made a website where you can print out Northwest boarding passes and get past security. Now some congressman is calling for him to be arrested. Same old anti-terrorist bullshit. The emperor doesn't like it when you point out he's naked. And Bush doesn't like looking stupid. Especially if it involves the truth. But hold up. Who's this dude? Chris Soghoian? Holy shit it's Chris! I check his blog and his last post is saying the FBI is at his door and he needs to go talk. That was 5 hours ago and no further posts. They've got him. The feds just arrested a buddy of mine for some bullshit. I just flew Northwest this morning and on the flight over I had problems with my boarding pass. The coincidence is unreal. I pause to contemplate...
But can't waste too much time. It's late and I gotta get to Amsterdam for the Lif show. There's stickers to hand out and posters to hang. I arrive at the Melkweg an hour before the show starts to try and hang posters and work the incoming crowds. But the Melkweg security won't let me hang posters inside or leave stickers at the door. So I camp out across the street around the corner and approach people who I think might be headed to the show. Accosting them with free stickers and posters I meet lots of cool people. Most of them stoned but happy to be getting free shit. There are lots of people walking down the street but it's amazing how I can tell who's headed for the show. Hint: Look for hoodies, piercings and joints in hand. I only approached two people who didn't know what I was talking about. And they still appreciated free stickers. Everyone likes free shit.
Once I ran out of posters I made my way inside to work the crowd a bit more with stickers. Get a beer, light a cigarette and wait for the action to start. The opening act was some Dutch act rapping about how parents just don't understand. But Will Smith and Jazzy Jeff were not present and these guys were giving me a headache. The lead guy was wearing a shirt that said “I am hip-hop" and a Yankees hat. Had this guy even been to New York. And what's wrong with your DJ. He looks like Michael J. Fox he's fidgeting so much behind the wheels.
When Lif came on people went nuts and Lif really worked the crowd. I've seen a lot of hip-hop shows and this was the real deal. Lif and Keith Metro used a mixture of stage theatre and rhymes to bring a message of peace and social activism in focus. Death to apathy. I hadn't felt so energized since I saw KRS-One ten years ago. It was a really good show. Which is really refreshing if you're used to going to hip-hop shows that always start way late and include MCs getting on stage and repeating "What, what, nigga, nigga, bitch, bitch" for an hour than calling it a night. Note to rappers that come to Amsterdam. It's great that you smoke weed. Really. I'm proud of you. But being so high on stage that your show suffers makes you look like a dumbass. It's nothing new and it deludes your fan base.
I took lots of pictures and even scored some video. It was fun walking through the crowd and handing out stickers. As I ran low on stickers I became more and more prejudiced. Cute girls and people who looked like they were having a good time were more likely to get stickers from me. I gave one to an older looking guy standing at the bar who was drinking coke for the whole show. He looked so out of place but he was bobbing his head up and down and smiling. I also walked up to a few people who were desperately trying to look tough and cool hanging to the side. If you walk up to these people and push a free sticker in their face it always catches them off guard. Then when you walk away they resume looking tough and dangerous. Hilarious! There's no need for a kid from Richmond, VA to be scared of anyone in Amsterdam. But I understand people gotta keep up their gangsta image or whatever ;)
At the end of the show I found Keith Metro at the bar and chatted him up for a bit. Then I went to the stage and bought an album from Lif. I gave him a fifty and when he started to give me change I told him to keep it because I had downloaded all of his albums. He laughed and said thanks. I identified myself as being from the Definitive Jux street team(Defcon) and he thanked me for the support. Then after that I sat up onstage with him and had my picture taken. I'm amazed at how accessible and friendly both Keith and Lif were. Not all celebrities take the time to actually hang with their fanbase after a show and mingle. I would go to his show even if he left immediately afterwords to find some hot groupie action. I might not respect him as much but I love the music so I'd still go to the show. It shows a level of professionalism and personal contact that's missing in our entertainment world these days. It makes our celebrities and entertainers more human. It's refreshing.
I got back to Utrecht around 1:00am and met up with some friends at a Halloween party at a club I party at too much. It was nice to wind down after a crazy week and just chill with kids. But I just wasn't feeling it for some reason. It couldn't match the insanity of the past events. And as amazing as the Lif show was I couldn't get Chris out of my mind. Was my friend in jail? What's going to happen to him? So I hit on a couple of girls with boyfriends then I went home. Passed out and slept for a very long time.
Epilogue:
Chris's house was raided by the FBI yesterday. He was served with the search warrant at 2:00am but wasn't home. So the feds broke in by breaking a window. They took all his computers and trashed his place. Standard intimidation modus-operandi. He's just started a legal defense fund and you can contact him or contribute. Check his blog in the links section below.
What Chris did is not something particularly revolutionary or in any way difficult. It's not even a new idea. Bruce Schneier, a well respected government security consultant, wrote about it in 2003. And Senator Schumer talked about this in 2005. Chris's crime was to be critical of a broken system at a time when criticism is viewed as treason. But if we actually want to be safe when we fly we need people testing and breaking our broken security measures. It's the only way we can remain safe. Because if Chris can write a simple script to print a fake boarding pass then we need to assume that al-qaeda or whomever else can as well.
Links:
Pictures from the Mr. Lif show(it was dark alright)
Video from the Mr. Lif show(you might want to download before playing)
The initial story on Chris Soghoian and his troubles with the FBI
Bruce Schneier talking about printing boarding passes in 2003
Senator Schumer from New York explains how to forge a boarding pass in 2005
Chris's blog
Chris and I at his place in Leuven, Belgium in obviously more relaxed times