
In this brilliant 45 minute piece of live theatre powered by bicycle power, English comedian and political satirist Rober Newman explains the 100 year history of oil at the Hoxton Hall Theatre, London. A fascinating and entertaining primer for the politics behind the current conflicts in the Middle East, oil power and activism.

"Since the early 1990s Psychedelic Electronic Dance Music Culture (PEDMC) gatherings – centered on the psychedelic trance music genre and its accompanying drug-fueled carnivalesque revelry – have significantly impacted upon Israeli culture in general and on its young generations in particular. In fact, Israel is arguably the only country in the world where psytrance is a prevalent form of popular music and one so widely exported that the global trance community recognizes Israel as a 'trance power'. Occurring on a regular basis, local PEDMC events are an increasingly common form of recreation among diverse segments of Israeli youth. Known as 'parties' or mesibot, Israeli PEDMC gatherings have a reputation of being "full-on" in their approach to music production and performance as well as to participants' open and often brazen use of illegal drugs. Yet, despite – or perhaps because of their popularity – estimates claim that these gatherings attract between fifty to one hundred thousand monthly participants – mesibot continue to be viewed negatively by the Israeli mainstream establishment (e.g. educators, media and law enforcement) who feel challenged by local PEDMC affiliates' seemingly countercultural stance.

Empty Show 2002 
