Happy Summer! here's a threefer!

Howdy, friend!

Have you been having too much fun this summer to sit in front of a computer and post to your blog? ME TOO! But you know, even the laziest, haziest, dog-dayin'-est summer lovers among us do occasionally need to turn our attention back to our responsibilities. To that end, here is a brief recap of the summer so far on the soapbox derby.

June 11 - Skate and Create!

Dean Bieber and Zev Klymochko from Calgary Area Skateboard Enthusiasts (CASE) came by to talk about one of my favourite pastimes - skateboarding - and the day we dedicate to celebrating it every year - go skateboarding day. GSD happens every summer solstice, and it's a great excuse (if you need one) to spend a whole day on a skateboard. Here's a little video of the fuzz-heavy goings-on in our fair city this GSD:



Dean is the dude talking to the unreasonable cop at the end of the video. He also runs a skateboard company called Visionary.

Anyway, here ar the tunes that you heard on June 11:
sorcerer's stone of the magi - acid mothers temple and the melting paraiso ufo*
lift my burdens - naomi shelton & the gospel queens*
turn me around - mavis staples (coming to folks fest!)
abc's - ziggy marley*
boom draw - julian marley*
evil burma dub - dubblestandart*
brookarest - nickodemus feat. costel & robert of taraf de haidouks*
balcasio - balkan beat box
it's all just a meter of where you draw the line - carolyn mark (coming to folk fest) & geoff berner
cracks in walls - forest tate fraser*
psychotic girl - the black keys
rock for light - bad brains
american nomad - sheglank'd shoulders
skater dater - u.s. bombs
find enjoyment - ray barbee
last call - blktop project
little chin - tommy guerrero
i play my kazoo - grand analog*
big blunt break - greyboy
more dance music - kid koala (coming to folk fest!)
companion de route - hermas zopoula*
contagion - a trois dans la w.c.
super animal brothers III - ear pwr*

There was a crazy skateboard contest that went on in San Francisco at the end of May - here's the sweet&lowdown.



For those of you who have never stepped on a skateboard, I can't impress upon you how impressive this shit is.

June 25 - All o' That Jazz...

This week's show featured a couple of set pieces that Philip Barker produced to get people stoked on the Calgary Jazz Festival. I hope they did the trick!

mose allison feature - philip barker / mose allison
king of the dogs - iggy pop*
goin' down slow - tom waits
james cotton feature - philip barker / james cotton
sail away - sonny terry & brownie mcghee
texas eagle - steve earle & the del mccoury band*
sala mosala - staff benda bilili*
koroko - oumo samgare*
reggae summertime - aggrolites*
nuff fire - abstract rude*
inner eye - nobody feat. abstract rude
wake up and smell the millenium - nobody
no idea how - bike for three
music as torture feature - joe burima and guests (full documentary available here)

July 9 - A Sound(Bike) Experiment.

This week I had the pleasure of hosting a couple of women who are involved in the Ride ON! summer series happening all this month in our fair city, and brought to us by the good people at M:ST. Keltie Duncan works for M:ST, and she came in to tell us about all of the cool stuff that's happening as part of this Ride ON! thing - the whole series focuses on bikes as works of and vehicles for art. I also met Jessica Thompson, artist-in-residence at the TRUCK Gallery and one of the artists with an installation in Ride ON! In her soundbike project, she built this awesome bike-mounted machine that emits laughter, increasingly uproariously as you go faster and faster on the bike. You can take it for a spin if you want, by borrowing it from the awesome fun-loving bikesheviks at the good life bike shop.

Jessica is hosting a workshop at the good life on July 30th, at which you can build your own "bike-rophone" - a bike-mounted PA system of sorts that allows you to make hella mad noise and raise a ruckus. The plan is to build a bunch of these things then take them to the streets the following evening on the July Critical Mass. I'm going for defs - maybe I'll see you there!

let your yeah be yeah(!) - buckwheat zydeco*
basin street blues - kid koala (did i mention he's coming to folk fest? woot.)
take a break - woodchoppers association (them too! folk fest is going to be fun!)
coming again - godfrey matthews*
fire go come - corey harris (folk fest...)
rebel music (3:00 road block) - spearhead (yup, folk fest) & stephen marley
bon voyage - serengeti & polyphonic*
ghost ride the buffalo - ear pwr*
2 sips & magic - nickodemus feat. the new york gypsy allstars*
raining revolution - arrested development (how many folks can fit in one festival?)
i could be dangerous - reverie sound revue*
i feel fine - the delta 72
hard to be human - the mekons (yup!)
some loud thunder clap your hands say boom - the got to get got*
knock knock - woodpigeon (mark says they're anti-folk, but lo, they are coming to folk fest, and even playing the hippiedippie love-in called South Country Fair next weekend!)
pony's o.g. - akron/family (folk fest!)
return of the freak - ocote soul sounds & adrian quesada*

Okay, that's it for me. I'm headed down to the above mentioned hippiefest in fort mccleod this coming weekend - i'll talk to y'all just prior to folk fest!

PEACE - and ride on!
g

Playing for Change

Hello Peeps,

Super stoked to be part of the Thursday morning crew and I'm happy that things came full circle (I originally did a jazz program before this show 3 years ago).

As my first post I'm going to share a website:

http://www.playingforchange.com/episodes/2/Stand_by_Me

The website is about uniting the world through music. This specific link is to the song "Stand by Me". It is created from clips of people all over the world singing the popular song. It is very beautiful and worth a watch.

In order to get to know one another a little better, I would like to share with you the instrument that I have an obsession with:



This is a vibraphone and you will probably be hearing lots of it.

Happy happy, joy joy,

Ola

YO! (la)

Hi everyone;

This is just a quick note to let y'all know that the new derby co-pilot and all around AWESOME lady, Ola K, has joined the blog. Welcome, Ola!

Look for future posts and the raddest of radio from Ola in days/weeks/months to come. Ola is calling her weeks on the show "Cold Smoke Derby" - in homage to her previous CJSW shows, and to the best kind of blower pow one can find!


Thanks for sharing the derby with me Ola! and thanks too to Bryson, who has gathered his belongings and moved to Monday mornings.

Keep it locked, and have yourselves a terrific weekend.
later,
g

May 28, 2009 set list - Building Hope!

A Ssubi construction crew in Kampala - Philip is the dude in the back with the red nyc t-shirt. Photo from Ssubi website.

Howdy!

This week I had the pleasure of chatting with my friend Philip Ndugga, about the local organization that he has helped to create, called Ssubi - Ssubi exists to create educational opportunities for underpriveleged kids in Philip's native Uganda.

Philip told us about how Ssubi came into existence, the kinds of things they do, and some of the things that you can do to help them with their work, including a fundraising event they have coming up on Sunday June 7th. You can also get with Ssubi on facebook, though I am not a facebookian so I can't tell you how.

Here are the tunes we heard:
amish pintxos - medeski martin & wood (coming to Jazz fest!)*
you been talkin' bout me baby - ramsey lewis trio
luna y sol - federico aubele*
rastaman chant - bob marley & the wailers
beware - mutabaruka (coming to Folkfest!)
soldier - dj vadim feat. big red & 5nizza*
come and get it - westbound train*
cheap wine river - experimental dental school*
soul do samba - marcio local*
guerreiro - curumin
metamorfosis - cafe tacuba
lift up - spear of the nation*
do you know karate? - jenny omnichord
nakato leka - bitone project
jesus is the only answer - bela fleck and ateso jazz band*
(phil brought some music, that i forgot to write down!)
loma da nigbehin - monomono tire*
where'd you get those pants? - fishbone
boogie boots - idris mohammad

Well, that's it for me. Hopefully Ola will join the blog, and post her setlist for next week's show here.

Put on your boogie boots, get back to your party roots, and mosey on down to big rock next sunday to try on some jeans and support Ssubi.

Talk to y'all in a couple weeks,
greg

spring - time to revive the blog!

Oh dear. It has been more than three months since I have tossed anything the way of the blog. That's shameful. Spring has sprung, we're almost (finally) into summer, and over all that time, not one single post.
In my defence (sorta - I'm not one for excuses!), over that time I have been back home to NB for some maple sugarin', across SK to the family farm, work has been nuts, there's been hockey on TV every effin' night, I've been riding my bike, putting in the garden, enjoying longer days, and not generally feeling like sitting down at my shitty old laptop and bloggin' to y'all. Sorry. Spring breathes new life into all kinds of things - and this sucka is in serious need of resuscitation! Like paddles-in-the-ER style.
Besides, y'know how sometimes you get so behind with something, your delinquence kinda generates its own momentum and you need some serious escape velocity to pull out of your sloth-funk orbit? Well, that's where this thing has been for at least a month. This post is all about clearing the slate and starting anew. It's a new season, I'm sharing the show with a new friend (more on that later), and I really feel like if I can just get back on top oof this thing, I can get back in the habit of regular posts.
Here comes a setlist-a-lanche - in case any of you care anymore, here are all the songs I've played since mid-february:
March 5th - navigable waters and international women's day.
This guy Tony came in and told us about proposed changes to the Navigable Waters Protection Act that the Harper government buried in Bill C10. The Bill passed but there's still a chance that the right to floatin' boats on Canadian water can be protected - check out I Speak for Canadian Rivers. Tunes:
kanyonza - bitone*
break it down - sharokh sound of k featuring jamie lloyd*
third eye vision - mishka*
vision - mo'kalamity & the wizards*
sound system - michael franti & spearhead
magnificient seven - the clash
our story - no luck club
nothingness - georgia ann muldrow
take a minute - k'naan*
donkey ride - mr scruff vs. quantic*
mcqueston river stick gambling song - jerry alfred & medicine beat
say valley maker - smog
burn on - randy newman
the life of dreams - julie doiron*
people got a lotta nerve - neko case*
distraction - hank*
This show concluded with a piece my friend Jane McCullogh did on the Women's Resource Centre at the University of Calgary, in commemoration of International Women's Day on March 8th.

March 19th - we like bikes!
My friend Kelsey came in from the Bike Root on this show, to tell us about their grand opening party. I missed the party, but I heard it was a great time, and some awesome local bands threw down for the occasion. Check out the bike root and some other cool local pedal-powered initiatives like goodlife and veloplzen. Tunes:
tappin' that thing - john sebastian & david grisman*
there's a man goin' round taking names - bourne, schuld, & stamer
jesus on the mainline - hans thessink & blue groove
blue monk - rebirth brass band
i ain't got none - coolbone
brothers on the slide - dynamics
fire coal version - sound dimension
big long gun - culver city dub collective
the sidewalk song - bran flakes*
tune down - chris joss*
what's in the middle? - the bird & the bee*
fila brazilia (disco frisco mix) - clinton
zone coaster - odd nosdam*
eneff - moka only feat. ishkan*
that knack - dj ko feat. wordsworth*
icycles/bicycles - belle orchestre*
(original sample) - project bicycle
side car bicycle - jh8 mica ochel
your style bike - disposable cars
things i like to do - ben kweller*
wise old man - colonial quarrels*
tiny ghosts - nick worby & milkwood sparrows*

April 2nd - Bill 19 - change that works for albertans (?)
Joe Anglin is the new leader of the Alberta Green Party, and he came on the show via telephone to tell us about proposed AB Bill 19, why we should care about the amount of power it bestows on members of honest ed's caucus, and what the greens are doing to generate some discussion. He is on a massive province-wide road trip trying to spark some debate. He promised to email me the details so I could post them here, and he never did. Tunes:
unknown - millimetrik vs. the banjo consortium*
more & more of your amor - nat king cole vs. the bird & the bee*
let me show ya - jazzanova feat. paul randolph*
jumping jack - jackie mittoo
universal - noiseshaper*
saranghi breaks - kaya project*
kinetsa - bela fleck & d'gary*
get behind the mule - booker t jones*
big black mariah - tom waits
spacious thoughts - nasa feat. kool keith & tom waits*
union canal - horde of two*
spider - swan lake*
diamond dogs - david bowie
moonage daydream - danny michel
sunnyside boys - kara keith*
rave on - m. ward*
blue mountains - jenn grant*
new scotland blues - joel plaskett*
mayflower - bob snider
the cabin - hot toddy
shake your kitchen down - the kitchen shakers*

The day after this show I headed out to NB (with a stop in the big smoke to see some family), to help ma & pa with the annual maple sugar season. It was a pretty good run and great to see my folks and some other friends and rellies.

While I was away, our old buddy Robin (from the airport bison days!) kept the soapbox warm with some great tunes, and no doubt a little bit of silliness. Thanks Robin!

Also sometime during March, Bryson hosted his last derby, packed up his shit, and moved down the road to Monday mornings 9-11am - he and Yvonne are throwing down evey week over there now. Thanks for the good times (not long times), Bryson!

New to the derby but a wiley veteran of CJSW, Ola K has joined the ranks of soap box afficianados, and is bringing the "cold smoke derby" to y'all every other Thursday morning. I'm super-stoked that she's sharing this time slot with me now, and hope you dog her positive, soulful, mellow morning vibes. I have invited her to post here if she likes, but I think she might have her own blog elsewhere - either way I'll keep you posted.

Ola went away to the left coast, then I went away to SK, so we did the ol' swapperoo - I did 2 in a row, then she did.

April 30th - feelin' like summer!
It was a nice week as I recall - and I was a little frazzled from work, so not much soapboxing and lots of good tunes (all from the CJSW playlist)!
soul beat - myka9*
high fives - desmond & the tutus* (for the best high fivers I know - J&K Burima!)
suparide - moodini*
good morning, good morning - easy star allstars feat. steel pulse*
optimistic soul - buju banton*
never gonna touch the ground - still flyin'*
dondung goan gay - meas samoun*
dancing time - the funkees*
zawose - bela fleck feat. chibite*
people's promised part - people's poets*
man'o'war - casiotone for the painfully alone*
nice to come home - julie doiron*
peace of mind - cam penner*
fish on land - lhasa*
i loved you but you didn't love me - rodney guitarsplat brent*
are the good times really over for good? - john doe & the sadies*
hillbilly highway - the weight*
reptile style - reigning sound*
land of the freak - king khan & the shrines*
cold hard ground - cripple creek fairies*
ripple - jane's addiction*
noam disco - ultimate power duo*

May 7th - Dance Party!
Well, I learned one thing on this show - if you promise a James Brown dance party and you say it's gonna start at 9:30, well you better make sure you start it at 9:30 'cos come 9:31, folks start getting a little antsy. I had one fella call up and tell me to drop it into gear, and I later heard from some young mother friends of mine who were rollin' around, gettin' down with the young'uns (one as far away as Lethbridge!). It does my heart good to know that the next generation will keep the funk alive...
Tunes:
creatures - akron/family*
stay up late - talking heads
run - shout out out out out*
babylon bridge - horace andy vs. mad professor
my jamaican weed - andru branch*
yuppy conqueror - futurepigeon
(my 1st) big break - cut chemist
make it funky - james f#@king brown!
better half - maceo & all the king's men
chillin' with fred - jb horns
the dap dip - sharon jones & the dap kings
watch your mouth - hoots & hellmouth*
victoria day (may flowers) - melissa mcclelland*
treehouse enthusiasts - maybe smith*
pay the rent - the rocky fortune
rococo zephyr - bill callahan*
large red man - lucid 44
holiday - pink mountaintops*
old world - the burning hell*
belly button window - jimi hendrix

Then in mid may, I took a little trip out to the Chernoff farm in SK, to visit the aunties, help out a little, and celebrate my pa's 70th birthday.
Yep. Cheers, Dad - many happy returns.
Whew.

Well, that does it. I'm caught up, ready to turn a new leaf, and keep things rollin' on the ol' blog. If you read this, fire me a comment sometime, so i know it's worth the effort - that might motivate me to be a little more diligent in the future.

This Thursday my friend Philip is coming on the derby to tell us all about a charity he has co-founded called Ssubi, and a fund-raiser they have coming up in June. Tune in for some good times, good tunes, edification, soapboxamologizing, and random craziness.

Thanks for your patience - enjoy spring!
greg

Thursday, March 26th Show Playlist and Random Rants

Hey everyone,

I must admit, I've been a little slack with the blog. It's about time I got on top of it. =) So here goes.

Last week's show was a blast. I did an interview with Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman, author and workshop artist for Highway 63: The Fort Mac Show, playing in Motel. It was an interesting discussion and it brought to light many of the social and environmental problems that Fort Mac is facing.

This particular show we were missing Yvonne, who happened to be soaking up the sun in Hawaii! Lucky! It was tough doing the show without my alter-ego to bounce my lofty ideas off of. Yvonne is so good at keeping me on track... However, this was counter-balanced by the fact that I received an obscene amount of phone calls. I want to thank everyone who phoned in. Believe it or not, it's really great to hear from all the listeners out there. Sometimes when you are in the booth alone like that, it can feel a bit like you are broadcasting in a vacuum. Like the outside world has undergone some drastic nuclear catastrophe and you are locked alone in a vault broadcasting endlessly to a world wrought with deadly zombies, mutated humans, and anarchical gangs that loot and kill everyone they find. And here you sit, broadcasting radio messages out into the vast nuclear landscape, hoping at least one person is out there. Someone normal, like you, who will hear your distress call and answer you back so that you feel, if only for a fleeting moment, that you are not alone...

Well, maybe it's not that bad. But you get the point. You never really know if anyone is listening.

Here's the playlist from last week:

Artist - Song
Chet Baker - Look for the Silver Lining
Young-Holt Unlimited - Wack Wack
Vaniel Biblio - Trew Lub
Mr Scruff - Hairy Bumper Cress
Infected Mushroom - Muse Breaks RMX
Circle Square - Timely
Late of the Pier - Space and the Woods
Ruby Jean and the Thoughtful Bees - The Best of All
Von Sudenfed - The Rhinohead
Grey Screen - Small Gate, Narrow Road
Chairlift - Bruises
Crooked Fingers - New Drink for the Old Man
Constantines - Soon Enough
The Provincial Archive - While I am Writing Letters
Shout Out Out Out Out - Run
The Whip - Divebomb
Doughboys - Shine
Mink - Talk to Me (Spankrock DJs remix)
The Gay - Lonely
Frank Zappa - Joe's Garage
Tokyo Police Club - Cheer it On
Standby for the Bomb - Outer Space

february 12 &19 set lists - radio for tough times in a boom town

Hi everyone;

Here I am again, back to my old delinquent-posting ways. Blah blah excuses blah, blah deblah blah better next time blah.

February 12 2009 - Calgary Dollars!

Kirti Bhadresa from Calgary Dollars was kind enough to come down for the second half of this show, and tell us all about the benefits of building and participating in a local economy. Everything you've ever wanted to know about Calgary $, as well as a tonne of resources on local economies and currency systems, can be found at their website - also look for their monthly newsletter that comes out with fast forward, Calgary's awesomest free weekly paper. If you don't live in Calgary and would like to learn more, look for a local currency project in your area, or build one yourself!

Tunes!...

who's making love? - lou donaldson
moog marmalade (live) - galactic
mother - burning spear
rebel music - charlie hunter quartet
door peep - sinead o'connor
ballots not bullets - 24/7 spyz
blowing down - digable planets
keep the funk alive - dragon fli empire*
there's a party - nasa feat. george clinton & chali2na*
10 miles to go down a 9 mile road - jim white vs. morcheeba
everything that happens - david byrne & brian eno*
the options - jim bryson
aimer - rokia traore*
christ for president - billy bragg & wilco
we're all in this thing together - old crow medicine show
don't be afraid, you're already dead - akron/family
oberkampf - woodpigeon*
doin' my time - johnny cash vs. the heavy*

February 19 2009 - garden-variety ranting

I guess I just played some tunes and chatted with y'all on this show. It was a tribute of sorts to Black History Month, and also a little birthday dedication to my brother Eric.

platters that mattered:

go slow - fela anikulapo kuti
work & no pay - the heptones
jah jah move - brigadier jerry
get up stand up (live) - peter tosh
inspiration information - sharon jones & the dap kings*
home again - menahan street band*
hard times - kurtis blow
prophets of rage - public enemy
the people tree - nasa feat. david byrne, chali2na, gift o'gab, & z-trip*
battered earth - sweet honey in the rock
the bourgeois blues - huddy "leadbelly" ledbetter
john henry - guitar welch, hogman maxey, & robert pete williams
hard times - william elliot whitmore*
migrant workers - one hundred dollars*
the consumer - the spam avenger
college town boy - dent may & his magnificient ukelele*
nomenclature - andrew bird*
josef of nazareth's blues - titus andronicus*
sugarbush - wow & flutter*

Thanks for tuning in - til next time,
greg