Wax & Gold Archie & Berko

Berko discovers causal connections between the recent leak of top-secret Pentagon documents, the prosecution of Donald Trump, the Iran-Saudi peace deal, the global banking crisis, Emmanuel Macron and Xi Jinping’s budding bromance, China’s "Joint Sword" military exercises around Taiwan, and the 2021 assassination of the Haitian President.
Berko and Archie also check out the scene on the street outside Manhattan Criminal Court during Trump’s April 4th arraignment, meeting a Haitian Trump supporter who gives an insight into what it's all about.
Archie [at 1:30:00] takes a break from nerding out about obscure music from the 70s to celebrate his favorite album of 2022, Flaming Swords by avant-pop visionaries Fievel Is Glauque, and to examine the ascendant musical career of Fievel maestro Zach Phillips.
Recorded throughout April 2023.
Download/stream Fievel Is Glauque's Flaming Swords:
https://laloi.bandcamp.com/album/flaming-swords
https://open.spotify.com/album/2lbjS63tQsEA9z8QA7wp3A?si=Li4BmVw-Sruo55gvhOsrsQ
Interviews with Zach Philips referenced in the episode:
http://post-trash.com/news/2022/4/27/fievel-is-glauque-feature-interview
https://aquariumdrunkard.com/2022/06/10/zach-phillips-the-aquarium-drunkard-interview/
https://www.the2010s.net/fievel-is-glauque
Further Reading on Berko's section:
https://jacobin.com/2021/07/haiti-assassination-president-moise-petrocaribe
 
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/10/21/who-is-haitis-sanctioned-gang-leader-jimmy-barbecue-cherizier
 
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2023/04/09/from-discord-to-4chan-the-improbable-journey-of-a-us-defence-leak/
 
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/iran-azerbaijan-war-are-calling-why
 
https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/iran-azerbaijan-war-coming-brink-are
 
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/8/analysis-will-azerbaijan-iran-tensions-lead-to-war
 
https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2016/01/13/drops-in-the-ocean-frances-marine-territories
 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/haiti-moise-coronavirus-barbecue/2020/08/14/2554fce4-cf4d-11ea-8c55-61e7fa5e82ab_story.html
 
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/20/us/politics/trump-organization-oman-deal.html
 
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Oil-Prices-Crash-As-Covid-Does-What-Biden-Couldnt.amp.html

In Berko and Archie’s long-awaited return, Berko brings us up to date on the State of the World, examining the implications of the recent Iran-Saudi peace deal and demystifying the burgeoning global banking crisis.
Archie (starting at 1:53:27) explores the musical career of the legendary Sylvia Robinson, from her early work as half of the incendiary rock ’n soul duo Mickey and Sylvia, to her 70s stint as the premier auteur of risqué R’n’B, to her groundbreaking achievements as founder and artistic director of Sugar Hill Records, which earned her the title “The Mother of Hip-Hop."
Recorded throughout March 2023.
Listen to Sylvia:
Pillow Talk (1973): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP4jvbhnFsI
Sweet Stuff (1975): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Gjua7ggQmg
Sylvia (1976): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJxuhoEXGSg
Lay It On Me (1977): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJ2L6PFnUbg
Pillow Talk: The Sensuous Sounds Of Sylvia (Compilation, 1996): https://open.spotify.com/album/6mpnbSuIX7ghO1pypJJqnn?si=bWHvm_VoS6SPJMNt0iFbaA


 
Full text of leaked DARPA grant proposal, Project DEFUSE: Defusing the Threat of Bat-borne Coronaviruses: 
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21066966-defuse-proposal
 
Read Sharon Lerner and Maia Hibbett's article on the leaked proposal in The Intercept:
https://theintercept.com/2021/09/23/coronavirus-research-grant-darpa/
 
*The titular Shady is a cat. This episode was primarily recorded in the hibernaculum (a place in which a creature seeks refuge) that Shady shares with her feline companion Mike. An additional recording session took place in the hibernaculum of two other beautiful cats named Ben and Scott.

Berko connects the global riots and protests of 2019 with the September 2019 drone attack that took out 5% of the world’s oil production in Saudi Arabia; the Wuhan Military Games of October 2019; and the genesis of the COVID-19 pandemic—and goes deep into the involvement of recently deceased Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Archie discusses Sly & The Family Stone’s 1971 psychedelic funk masterpiece There’s A Riot Goin’ On (starting at 1:41:13).
Stream There’s A Riot Goin’ On on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/0ihYToxMgYcuHuxOKjGQKO?si=cQBJL8nnTG2oHv18Jv2qoQ&dl_branch=1
Other songs featured: Sly & The Family Stone - Various tracks from Greatest Hits (1970) and Fresh (1973); Method Man & Redman - “Where We At (Skit)”; DMX - “Ruff Ryders’ Anthem”; David Bowie - “Cat People (Putting Out Fire)”; The Doors - “Riders On the Storm”; D’Angelo - “1000 Deaths”; Prince - “The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker”
Read Josh Rogin’s Washington Post article about Congress’s investigation of the Wuhan Military Games: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/06/23/congress-wuhan-military-games-2019-covid/
Read Diane Francis’s article in Financial Post about Canadian soldiers returning from the Wuhan Military Games: https://financialpost.com/diane-francis/diane-francis-canadian-forces-have-right-to-know-if-they-got-covid-at-the-2019-military-world-games-in-wuhan
Donald Rumsfeld interview excerpted from The Known Unknown (2013) by Errol Morris
Excerpt of Dennis Hopper’s Rumsfeld-inspired performance in George A. Romero’s Land Of The Dead (2005)

Berko takes a close look at the journalists and government officials who are pushing the COVID-19 lab-leak theory and comes to some startling conclusions as to why. Archie discusses Brazilian singer/songwriter Lô Borges's 1979 album A Via-Láctea and recounts a life-changing moment on a Brazilian beach.
Stream A Via-Láctea on Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/album/77l2jnLwCyD9yvAiDCWadA?si=AUSXO9nrRauVNp01s7ypJQ&dl_branch=1
Read Katherine Eban's Vanity Fair article about the lab-leak theory: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/06/the-lab-leak-theory-inside-the-fight-to-uncover-covid-19s-origins 
Wave sound effects obtained from www.zapsplat.com

Archie discusses Richard Pinhas's futuristic progressive electronic masterpiece Iceland (1979), and Berko lays out his theory of Cold Chain transmission of COVID-19, finding compelling evidence that specific actors may have intentionally controlled the spread of the pandemic for their own nefarious purposes.
Iceland is available on vinyl from Superior Viaduct Records: https://www.superiorviaduct.com/products/richard-pinhas-iceland-2xlp
See https://richardpinhas.bandcamp.com/ for more brilliant music by Richard Pinhas.