Hello from the Soapbox,

Here's this week's playlist:

1. The Vagabond - Air (10,000hz Legend)
2. Aurora - Kyrie Kristmanson (The Kyrie K Groove)*
3. Early 70's Gymnastics - Black Moth Super Rainbow (Start A People)
4. I Am That I Am - Peter Tosh (Equal Rights)
5. Oh Mr. DC - Sugar Minott
6. Circus - C-Mon and Kypski (Where The Wild Things Are)
7. Never Born At All - Adam Mowery (Saint John 3: BBQ Records Compilation)*
8. Captan - Scary Mansion (Every Joke is Half The Truth)*
9. Introducing Angels - Destroyer (Trouble In Dreams)*
10. (I'll Be Your) Ashtray - Ladyhawk (Shots)*
11. Perspective - Clock Hands Strangle (Redshift/Blueshift)*
12. Starman - David Bowie (Ziggy Stardust)
13. Hangin' Round (Acoustic) - Lou Reed (Transformer)
14. Too Long 'Till Morning - Mannequin Depressives (Girls Are Evil)
15. Listening Wind - Talking Heads (Remain In Light)
16. Caffeine and Sugar - Braden Funchner (Duthie Birthday Demo 2008)*
17. Lenine Rock - Sinequanon (Lenine Rock)
18. Teenage Wildlife - San Serac (Professional)
19. Pristine White - Lowfish (Burn The Lights Out)*
20. Send Me Shivers - Mouse On Mars (Radical Connector)
21. Dame de Lotus - Emilie Simon (The Flower Book)
22. Death Smells - Team Robespierre (Everything's Perfect)*
23. Theatre of Disco - Larry (Theatre of Disco)
24. Rocket In The Pocket - Console (Rocket In The Pocket)
25. Someone Great - LCD Soundsystem (Sound of Silver)

Not feeling particularly soapboxish today, but I would like to mention once again that the Mannequin Depressives will be holding a CD release party tonight at the Warehouse to support their new full length 'Girls Are Evil'. Be sure to check it out.

Tune in Next week for greg's show.

Mark

fighting democrapathy - sbd for march 13th

whoa - stelmach rookie card? That's super rare. I'll play ya nearest-the-wall against my grant devine jailbreak special edition... (courtesy of vue weekly out of edmonton)

Good Mornin' to y'all.

Here's what went down on the March 13th edition of the soapbox derby:

1. now - nomeansno

2. out of time - jason collett*

3. vince goes home - the neighbourhood council*

4. what is it? - the consummates

5. healing of the nations - roots tonic meets bill laswell

6. 7 nation army - the dynamics*

7. theme olympique/absolument - spreepark*

8. from the cell doot to the gallows - william elliot whitmore

9. no disappointment in heaven - dock boggs

10. georgie buck - dink roberts

11. not high - greg brown

12. crash into the sun - jim white*

13. mia - 40 thieves*

14. evil ways - black mountain*

15. 7/4 (shoreline) - broken social scene (for melanie and bruce the puppy)

16. brown dirt - jj cale (for some dude that didn't give his name)

17. dounia - toumast/ishumar*

18. electric boogie remix - ursula 1000 vs. fort know five*

19. do this my way - blackalicious

20. microphenia - divine styler

21. countdown - dj vadim feat. rashan ahmad*

22. ethical considerations - soviet sound factory*

23. carimbaeo - nacao zumbi*

24. information contraband - money mark

As I said in my last post, and Mark said in his, the recent provincial election left me feeling shocked and, to say the least, somewhat out-of-sorts. But i figure you can only dwell on how much something sucks for so long before you have to find some more productive way to express your frustration (which, by the way, is one of the main reasons i do radio). I've decided the best response in this case is to do whatever i can to foster a democratic environment in what appears otherwise to be a democratic vacuum.

Here is the open letter to my new MLA that I read at the beginning of the show, and that I am mailing today. I urge you do do something similar, if you are so inclined...

Honourable Lindsey Blackett,

Conservative MLA, Calgary - North West

Dear Mr Blackett;

My name is Greg Chernoff. I live in Ranchlands, and I'm writing you in your new capacity as my elected representative in Edmonton. I didn't vote for you, but you represent my riding in the legislature anyway, and I want you to know that I intend to hold you accountable to myself, and to the thousands of other constituents that either voted for someone else, or didn't vote at all.

In fact, province-wide, the vast majority of votes were disappointingly not cast for anyone. The democratic deficit carried the day, and the only real winner in the election was apathy. Your party got over 50% of votes cast, but only 20% of all possible votes. Why do you think so many voters "elected" not to bother? And what does the low turnout say about your party's mandate to govern?

I voted. I believe that voting is the bare minimum contribution one should make to the democratic process. Those that don't care much about politics should at least vote, and consider it an "easy way out" of a bigger responsibility. But personally, I exercise my democratic rights every day. I vote by riding my bicycle or skateboard, or by taking public transit to work, by keeping a pesticide-free lawn and garden, by recycling despite our city's best efforts to discourage me, by making consumer choices that reflect my values, by working in my professional and volunteer life towards the type of change and the type of community that I feel would make the world a better place. I also vote by freely expressing my opinions whenever I get a chance.

Democracy doesn't stop at the ballot box. Albertans could have taken the "easy way out" by voting on March 3rd, but they didn't. Now I'm promising to do all I can to make sure Albertans take part in the democratic process. Too bad for them, now it'll have to be the hard way.

Your party ran on the slogan "change that works for Albertans". Personally, I'm not convinced that a regime that has been in power for almost four decades can be the party of revolution, but I feel pretty strongly that we need one in this province. If you are going to create change that works for me, you'd better start working for change. Right Now.

I'll be watching....

Sincerely,

Greg Chernoff

Setlist for March 6th. 2008

I didn't mention the titles of the last two tracks I played, I got a little mixed up. So here is the complete setlist

Track - Artist (Album) *On CJSW's Playlist

1. Passages Part One - Humanoid (Remembering Universe)*
2. The Boilerman - The Urbane Decay (53 Mondays)*
3. Future Ghost - Hinterland (Pan Pan Medico)*
4. Baby Why? - Cables (9:20 is the new 4:20)
5. In The Craters On The Moon - The Mountain Goats (Heretic Pride)*
6. The Dragons Claw: Chpt 1 - Justice of the Unicorns (Angels With Uzis)*
7. Lucky Lucky Luck - Evangelista (Hello, Voyager)*
8. Evil Ways - Black Mountain (In The Future)*
9. Vince Goes Home - Neighbourhood Council (Live At CJSW)*
10. Kali Yuga - Experimental Aircraft (Third Transmission)*
11. The Gum Saloon - Beat Circus (Dreamland)*
12. Beginning To See The Light - Scenics (How Does It Feel To Be Loved)*
13. Lady Madonna - The Better Beatles (Mercy Beat)*
14. Je T'ecris D'un Pays - Les Visiteurs Du Soir (BIPPP: French Synth Wave 1979-85)*
15. What Use? - Tuxedomoon (Half Mute / Scream With A View)
16. Lies - Mannequin Depressives (Girls Are Evil)*
17. Wanderlust (Ratatat Remix) - Bjork
18. Where You Gonna Run To? - Solid Gold*
19. Mnemonic - Robots In Disguise (Disguises)
20. Heaven (Pink Skull Remix) - Health
21. Lost In The K-Hole - Chemical Brothers (Dig Your Own Hole)
22. Bubble Life - Squarepusher (Hello Everything)
23. Widow (Eats Tapes Megamix) - Lucky Dragons
24. Price Gun Baby - Captain Comatose (Going Out)
25. Remote Control - Solvent (Apples and Synthesizers)
26. Terroriste - Vox Dei (BIPPP: French Synth Wave 1979-85)*

And I think It's time I got up and joined Greg on the soapbox regarding this week's election results. What I was most surprised about was that the heavily critical media coverage of the PC campaign was so disconnected from the ultimate voting results. Why? Was the media just wrong? That's too simplistic since their campaign judgements were subjective. Do Albertans simply ignore the media wholesale? That's hard to believe. Or do Albertans not feel a need to fall in line with media reactions? That might not be such a bad thing, unless it leaves them in a state of ignorance.

But what was perhaps most disappointing was the way that as the results were coming in the media were completely changing their tune, suggesting Stelmach ran a comprehensive and complete campaign, 'which shored up his support across the province'. Saying Taft who the day before had been praised was a failure. The morning after, newspapers that had previously called the stelmach campaign a disaster were calling him an 'Ed the Emperor'.

It is scary to think that, although there are certainly some problems with gerrymandered ridings and poll station debacles, an essentially fair election with an uncensored media turned out an almost hegemonic voting result. Mussolini and Franco and Stalin would have sure been pleased to have a public so supportive of authoritarianism.

Mark

28 february set list - and talkin' climate change blues

Well, good evenin'

This just in - Conservatives defeated in Alberta Election!

Know who the real winner - the new Premiere of Alberta - is? Apathy. Mr. and Ms. "I'm too lazy and complacent to get off my ass, take 15 minutes out of my day, and exercise a right I have automatically, but many have fought and died for" won the election in a landslide. Can you believe that shit? 950,000 people voted, out of 2.3 million. That to me is absolutely f#&king shameful. It's infinitely more depressing to me that we could have made some real change happen in this province, at a time when I think we really need it, than it is that the tories are going to run the show (and run it with even more swagger and impunity than they had last term) for another 4 long, likely painful years.

I'm not giving up on democracy (or change) though - I plan to get a little more creative in the ways I participate. Because you know, democracy doesnt begin and end with an X on a ballot. It's what we do in between elections that now has become our only source of redemption. First thing I'm gonna do is write my new MLA a letter, and let him know that, even though I (along with about 40% of the people who voted in my riding) didn't vote for him, he is now my elected representative, and that sumbitch better effin' represent! I don't wanna give away too many surprises - I'll read the letter to y'all on march 13.

Last week's show was all about climate change and what we can do to engage ourselves in constructive discussion about it. Here are the tunes that framed it all in (below are a tonne of resources):

1. i know why the caged bird sings - buckshot lefonque feat. maya angelou
2. kindred - akrobatik feat. chuck d (!) & brenna gethers*
3. take it all in & check it all out - bill withers
4. the wiff - daddy rings*
5. garvey meade - ring craft posse
6. people can be so stupid - andru branch*
7. talkin' world war iii blues - bob dylan
8. cabidela - mombojo*
9. el microfono - mexican institute of sound*
10. tibiri tabara - cafe tacuba
11. je ne t'aime plus - manu chao
12. horses - cqmd
13. le chauffeur - urbs
14. a l'oree des bois - plants & animals*
15. we must destroy - jane vain & the dark matter*
16. stingray blues - the grass*
17. how electricity really works - mike ladd*
18. heatwave - buck 65*

So, this dude Mishka Lysack came in and told us about some really cool things that are happening to try and get people to give a shit about something, anything - but specifically in this case, climate change - here's some of the suggestions he had for tapping in:

Mishka was talking about a teach-in that happened on campus back a little while ago. The idea is to get normal people with varying degrees of scientific understanding of the issue to talk about climate change and how it effects them. It comes from an initiative called focus the nation that is growing and holding teach-ins all across the world. The group was started by this dude, who wrote a book about it.

Another grassroots group working to raise awareness and engage debate related to climate change is called step it up - they've started a new chapter in Calgary, and one of the main cogs in the global wheel is a dude named Bill McKibben.

One other group to check out for the more sciencey side of things - the intergovernmental panel on climate change.

Here are some books that Mishka recommends if you want to inform yourself:

Flannery, T. (2005). The weather makers: How we are changing the climate and what it means for life on earth. Toronto: HarperCollins Publishers.

Goodstein, E. (2007). Fighting for love in the century of extinction: How passion and politics can stop global warming. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont Press.

Kolbert, E. (2006). Field notes from a catastrophe. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.

McKibben, B. (2006). The end of nature. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks.

McKibben, B. (2007). Deep economy: The wealth of communities and the durable future. New York: Times Books, Henry Holt and Company.

Monbiot, G. (2006). Heat: How to stop the planet from burning. Toronto: Doubleday Canada.

Woodbridge, R. (2005). The next world war: Tribes, cities, nations, and ecological decline. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

And here's one I would add - about the kind of paradigm shift we need to start acting on these issues - it's called dancing at the dead sea, by Alanna Mitchell.

This totally aggro dude called up right after Mishka and I got off the air, demanding to know when we were going to host a "real scientist", and wondering why media is so biased towards those who believe that climate change is actually an issue. He recommended that we all look into a fella called Dr Tim Ball - here's an interview with him, and he's also speaking at the university soon (although I couldn't find anything on the website about it...) - who is dying to tell us all why we're not actually changing the climate.

Anyway, I guess me and Mishka were naively assuming that we've all moved beyond the "is climate change even an issue?" debate, and on to the "what are we gonna do about it?" quagmire - I wonder if my caller wasn't partly expressing his frustration and hostility about the world moving on and leaving him behind. In any case, as I said last week, regardless of whether climate change is (in your opinion) a symptom of the stupid things we're doing to this planet or not, the FACT remains that we humans do some really incredibly phenominally dumb things to this planet, mostly stemming from the misapprehension that we're never going to run out of anything.

So, the tories won the election. So, there are people in this town (that listen to CJSW) that still don't think there's a problem with how we're treating the planet. So, almost no one gave a shit enough to go vote this monday. Does all this mean that democracy and hope for humanity are dead? I'd say it's up to you, and I can only speak for myself, but I'm not ready to give up. If anything, the last week's experiences have strengthened my resolve to hop up on the highest perch and let you all know why you must, at least, give a shit about something.

I'll let you stand on my box if I can stand on yours (I think Bob Dylan said that...)

A la prochaine,
greg