Complacent Nation has taken a vacation. New stuff won’t be posted until September. In the meantime find us at Burning Man at the address of 8 o’clock and Amnesia at camp Anima House.

1| Land of the Free.
2| Aesthetic : Ten Visions of Free-form
3| Sedition : Twelve Manifestations of Free-dom
4| Decadence : Five Moments of Free-fall

1 |________________________________

Land of the Free

“To be free” is one of the most exploited ideas of our modern age. From free markets to freedom fries we all stake our individual claim on the meaning of “free”.

Since the massive Critical Mass ride at the spark of the RNC Protests of 2004, the NYPD has been tirelessly fighting for the freedom of SUV’s to own the streets of Manhattan. It’s them versus us, the street radicals, searching simply for the freedom to ride, to breath free, to live a moment of sustainability in a city set against itself.

In the face of police oppression (or is it freedom?) we continue to create moments of street takeover, of leaderless movement, of freeform freefall. In response the police have become desperate, making illegal arrests of anyone they can tackle (including two grandmothers at the last Critical Mass).

When the police arrest illegally, then only the police are truly free.

So now we fight freely and our demands are non-negotiable: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. What that means is up to you, but fight for it everyday.

Below is a listing of twenty-seven ways to live full in the Land of the Free.

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2 |________________________________

Aesthetic : Ten Visions of Free-form.

—

Free : Every Friday at 9pm Experimental Art Night @ GlassHouse

Open music jam: Bring your own instruments or use theirs.
Collaborative painting and beer. Glass House, 38 South 1st
Street, between Kent & Wythe, Williamsburg, Brooklyn

—

Free : Paint Ball By Numbers - Saturday August 13th

Hipsters, anarchists and danger art makers wielding guns of
paint - what could possibly go wrong? Discover the beauty
of art/violence in colorizing a very big wall.
At the Flux Factory - 38-38 43rd St. - Long Island City
Details : http://www.paintballbynumbers.com/proposal/

—

Free : Graffiti Ride - Sunday, August 28th, 2005

Although the crackdown has had effects, New York City
remains a vast and vibrant open canvas for street art and
graff. Coming up as a graff writer on the streets of
California we were in awe of the artists here - of artists
like Zypher, Kaws, Revs and Samo. Some of the old pieces
can still be seen along with breathtaking new work from bold
young artists. The work spans this entire town, so the best
way to see it is on two wheels.

Details:
12:00 PM @ The Wall of Fame
106 St. & Park in the School Yard.
Ends at HOWL!’s Art Around the Park
installation in Tompkins Sq.

—

Free : First Saturday’s at the Brooklyn Museum

200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, New York
Saturday - August 6th - 5pm to 11pm

The Young Dancemakers Company, an ensemble of urban youth
from all five boroughs, performs original choreography with
live percussion accompaniment and audience participation.
Pluse, Brooklyn-based Majestic TwinSound, featuring
identical twins Ras Kehinde and Ras Tayo, spins reggae hits
from rock steady to dance hall.

Details : http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/first-saturdays

—

Free : Movies with a View in Brooklyn Bridge park.

Thursdays at 6pm DJs, movies at dusk, beer in brown bags.
This is much more fun than the HBO sponsored blah blah
movies in Bryant Park.

Schedule and details: http://www.brooklynbridgepark.org/

—

Free : Peripheral City presented by Red Dive.

Performance-based walking tour of lower Manhattan. Chase
Manhattan Plaza at the intersections of Liberty, William,
Pine, and Nassau Streets, Manhattan. Noon, 1p, 2p,
each tour lasts one hour - August 11th and 18th.

—

Free : Sunset over lower Manhattan.

Grab two friends and a bottle of Shiraz to watch the sunset
from the south side of the Manhattan Bridge. As the sun
eases into the red beyond Manhattan’s mountains of concrete
and steel, remember our best moments are often the most
simple.

—

Free : Tuesdays at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Flora, fauna and the most natural hint of true freedom.
1000 Washington Avenue Details : http://www.bbg.org/

—

Free : Howl - August 21st to 28th

The week-long annual HOWL! Festival, produced every August
by the Federation of East Village Artists, celebrates the
neighborhood’s role as the cradle of counterculture. It
brings to the bars, clubs, galleries, parks, streets, and
theaters of the Lower East Side an explosion of dance, film,
food, music, performance, painting, poetry, sculpture, and
theater.

http://www.howlfestival.com/

—

Free : The Staten Island Ferry

Every 30 minutes or so, the Staten Island Ferry offers one
of the best free tours in the city. Watch the light and glass
of lower Manhattan slip away, the rising grace of the Statue
of Liberty and the ghosts of Ellis Island beyond. Remember
when our city was the very symbol of freedom? This ride
might remind you.

3 |________________________________

Sedition : Twelve Manifestations of Free-dom

—

Free : The Reading Room at the New York Public Library.

For a moment, drop your been-there-done-that cynicism and
allow yourself a moment of awe in the midst of our massive
collected knowledge. For a moment be reminded of the
best of humanity.

—

We debated listing the event below. Having been raised
in a deeply protestant family (we are in fact a son of a
preacher), we are dubious about pushing events with strong
religious overtones. But the listing below prevails,
because of the sincerity and beauty in its intention. Plus
it’s at Riverside Church, a marvel that is worth making the
excuse to experience first hand.

Free : Universal Peace Day - Share the Vision of Peace
Commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing

August 5, 2005 at 7:15 p.m. in New York
(August 6, 2005 at 8:15 a.m. in Japan)
At the New York Buddhist Church & The Riverside Church

6:00 p.m. - Music, Art Exhibits, Origami Crane Making
New York Buddhist Church - 105th Street & Riverside Drive
7:15 p.m. - Candle lighting & Gong Ceremony
followed by a Silent Peace Walk to The Riverside Church

8:00 - 10:00 p.m. - Music, Dance, Poetry, Art Exhibit
and an Interfaith Service featuring Pete Seeger and Peter
Yarrow

Details :
http://www.theriversidechurchny.org/universal_peace_day.pdf

—-

Free : Healthy Cooking Demonstration

Come visit this market garden, enjoy a cooking demonstration
and receive a $5 voucher to shop in the market. Talk to
gardeners about how to start a market garden in your community.

Wyckoff Community Farm
5816 Clarendon Road, Brooklyn
http://www.greenthumbnyc.org/

—

Free : Surveillance Camera Outdoor Walking Tours.

They are already watching you, now give them something to
look at. Sundays at 2pm at various locations.
Details : http://www.notbored.org/scowt.html

—

Free : Fahrenheit open mic.

You get five minutes on the microphone to unload your
most unusual short stories, rant, rave, sing us a song,
or make us laugh. No poetry. General antagonism and
rabble-rousing encouraged.

Presented by the Antagonist Movement.
Sundays at 10pm at Black and White
86 East 10th St, between 3rd and 4th Aves 212 253 0246

—

Free : In Our Hearts Infoshop

This infoshop is the result of months of building and work
from tireless young visionaries of free culture. This is
living your belief. Right now they have a big lending
library of good, non-boring radical books, free Internet and
food on Sunday.

They hope to organize soccer games, free food, skillshares,
and art and lots of hanging out at the space in the next few
months. The space is open for anyone interested in using it,
please get in touch, and stop paying.

In Our Hearts Infoshop
131 Grand Street, between Bedford and Berry,
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
3pm till evening - 917 650 5720 - freenyc@gmail.com

—

Free : Bike Repair Workshop for beginners.

Learn to fix your ride every Tuesday @ Time’s Up!
49 E. Houston st and Mott in the basement.

—-

Free : More Gardens Potlucks

Every Tuesday 7pm Potlucks - More Gardens potlucks, meetings
2nd and 4th Tuesdays, 376 E 162nd between Melrose and
Courtland, 2/5 to 149th st, or 4/D to 161/Yankee Stadium
Info: 917.518.9987 http://www.moregardens.org

—-

Free : Welding Workshop & Puppet-Making Extravaganza

Saturday, August 13th, 2005 - 2:00 PM
@ Times Up! 49 E. Houston St.
Come learn to weld! We’ll be making a cool bike trellis for
the backyard and props for the August Critical mass: Aliens
vs. Robots!

—-

Free : Midnight Ridazz

Join this rad late night ride that is totally L.A. style as
we check out Gotham’s most awesome superhero hideouts. Come
dressed as your favorite super-hero (or super-villain) Let
the street battle begin!
Saturday, August 20th, 2005 - 10:00 PM
In the middle of the Brooklyn Bridge. Ride leaves at 10:30.

—

Free : Disappeared in America

Friday, August 5 - 5 PM-11PM
@ The Brecht Forum - 451 West St.
VISIBLE, is a collective of Muslim and other
Artist-Activists, that created the DISAPPEARED IN AMERICA
project. DISAPPEARED is a walk-through installation that
uses film, soundscape, images, installations and lectures
to humanize the faces of post 9/11 “disappeared” Muslims.

Details : http://www.brechtforum.org/

—

Free : One Night in the Tombs

The tombs is New York City’s historic central booking and
holding system under Police Plaza at 100 Centre St..
Organize an independent action: wheat pasting posters,
blocking a recruitment center, riding your bike - earn
yourself an overnight tour of the Tombs. This note isn’t
tongue and cheek, you spent $50,000 on your college
education but can learn more in one night through the Tombs.
It isn’t as frightening as one would imagine and you will
get a hint of the truth of the criminal injustice system and
learn something real about yourself in the process. You are
guaranteed to have a conversation you will remember for the
rest of your life and it’s free(ish).

4 |________________________________

Decadence : Five Moments of Free-fall

—

Free : Soul Summit @ Fort Green Park

Every Sunday from 7pm to 10pm or so.
Dekalb Ave & Cumberland St.
Fort Green - Brooklyn - New York

This is what we live for in this city, a free outdoor park
party with great music (mostly house) people of all colors
and sexual orientations sweating in a mad mass of lust and
liberation. All together now, scream F-R-E-E.

—

Free : Burlesque @ Galapagos
Every Monday 8pm at 70 N 6th St. Williamsburg

—

So we tried to resist listing free events that are
overwhelmingly smothered in corporate sponsorship (i.e.
Summer Stage). But this event brings together two of our
favorite musicians for an event that is sure to be packed to
the tree-tops with ecstatic groovers from beautifully
diverse backgrounds. Mix the exquisite Bhangra following of
DJ Rekha with the British/Sri Lankan cool of M.I.A. and you
get a waiting-to-explode mix of music that moves you.

Free : M.I.A. with Diplo & DJ Rekha
Sunday, August 07, 2005 Beginning at 3:00 PM
Central Park SummerStage
Get there early, it will fill up.

—

Free : The Realest Killaz

Saturday, August 6
Noon - 8PM - 100% FREE
@ The Frying Pan - Pier 63 - New York City
23rd St. at across the West Side Highway

A boat/pier party featuring:
Tonedeff, Pack Fm, Pumpkinhead, Poem One Of The Fx Crew,
Tense, Low-Key, Jason Bk, C-Tag, Foodstampz, Xylene, Amok,
Chrome, Tracatak, Nakedslice, Dj Fame, Lasix, Monro Secor,
Cypha, Psynikill, Dj Nobody, Miss Lp, Ironfist, Destro,
Visuals by Madame Chao
21+ Only Details : http://www.blackkat.org

—

Free : R-E-D-L-I-N-E

Old-School to Nu-Skool Breaks
Saturday - August 20, 2005 - 10pm to 4am
Breaks Room: Fine Cut Bodies, Chill Whitey, Sproutz, Sean
Infinitee, Wavewhore Downtempo Room: Jedi, Raj Marathe,
Digable, DJ Winter, MC Linzee

Every 3rd Saturday @ Scenic
25 Ave B (bet. E. 2nd & E. 3rd St.)
Details : http://www.scenicnyc.com (212) 253-2595

____________________________________

Alive and livid in the Land of the Free.