Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Funding Drive CD

Hey Everyone,

So stoked for tomorrow!! Here are some pics of our funding drive CD.

Whoot whooot!

Ola


Sunday, October 25, 2009

pledge on the derby and you could WIN the raddest ride!

Joseph G - Bike Root Mechanic. A fine dude on a super-fine ride!

Howdy friends;

Yesterday I finished building the soapbox derby radio flyer - quite possibly the coolest bike ever - just in time to put in on the block as the grand prize on the soap/cold box/smoke derby's funding drive extravaganza this coming Thursday.

If you haven't heard, CJSW 90.9fm is in the midst of its annual funding drive. We ask the community to give us some financial support once a year, so's we don't have to ask corporate thunderwhores with nefarious agendas to do it. We are hoping to raise $200 g's over the course of the next week, and as of today (Sunday), we're well on our way with a $66,000 grand total.

There are a million reasons to pledge, but each and every CJSW programmer has also poured some heart and soul into their funding drive shows, and put some extra incentives on the table. So pledge early, pledge often - AWESOME!

The grand prize on the derby this year is a hand-built, hand-painted, unisex, one-size-fits-all, super-sweet cruiser bike. I built this thing from the ground up, from almost entirely recycled and painstakingly reconditioned (by me!) parts, at the Bike Root, One of Calgary's community bike shops, located on the university campus.

The whole thing took me about 35-40 hours to build, plus the cost of parts. Check a few posts back for the first phase of construction; here is the completion of the process:

Last Wednesday I came in for a few hours after work and build up some wheels. They're 26"ers, old-school chrome finish that I had to polish up with steel wool. I also put some fine german-made pedals on!

Then, while answering the phones (403.220.5000 is the funding drive pledge line) during a Friday-Saturday all-nighter, I finished polishing up the drive train - chain, rear gears, and rear derailleur. I went home for a few hours sleep, then back to the Bike Root to lay on the finishing touches and put it all together:

Built up the drive train, and cables and housing for gears and brakes,

then a classic black spring seat and old-school grips to complete the package! Slick!

And in case you were wondering, yes indeed! The argyle fender is still the classiest part of this ride - at least until you hop up on it!

It was a lot of work to build this sucka, I'm not gonna lie - but it truly is a labour of love! I'm super stoked that we've got this awesome incentive for y'all, and that some lucky derby supporter is going to cruise around on the fruits of my hard work, and that as a result we all get wicked, community driven, independent radio for yet another year. Everybody wins!

I almost forgot to mention - the prize includes a one-year membership at the Bike Root, so you can keep your new ride running smoothly!

"But how do I get the bike?", you ask?

Well, it's basically the same deal as last year: Every multiple of $25 pledged to the derby on Thursday gets your name in the hat once (so $25=1 raffle ticket, $50=2 tix, ... $300=12 tix, etc.). Your pledge has to be paid before your name is entered in the draw, and we'll draw for the bike live during the November 12th edition of the soapbox derby. My birthday is on the 13th, and I can think of no better birthday present than to give away an awesome bike! Plus, the 13th is the tentative date for the big move to CJSW's new space!

This approach seems to be the fairest to me - everyone gets a shot at the goods, your odds improve if you throw down more cash, and we eliminate the nastiness that comes with auctioning. I hope you guys can dig that.

Also, there are tonnes of other goodies up for grabs as pledge incentives on the derby. Ola is putting together an awesome mix CD complete with custom artwork! There are some yoga passes, art prints, Ola's home baking, commercial cd's & books, and lots of other stuff. We're even offering to take you out to dinner and a show if the price is right...

I'll try to post a complete list of incentives before the show - but failing that, please tune in Thursday, join us for the FUNding drive edition if the derby, and continue to support radio that really matters.

Thanks!
greg

yarn-bombing and gulu walk - set list oct 15, 2009

Hey!

Have you guys been listening to the Funding Drive? Lots and lots o' folks have been calling 403.220.5000 and pledging their support for free speech, tolerance and diversity, and the awesomest little radio station that could - we're up well over $50K on Sunday afternoon as I write this! More on FD later, including bike pictures!

See that sweater bike up there? It's an example of yarn bombing - graffiti done with knitting and crochet - and last week I had a chance to chat with some folks at the centre of the yarn-bombing movement. Leanne Prain and Mandy Moore wrote a book about yarn bombing, and they called in from Vangroover to tell us about it, about other yarnbombas (like these three), and yarnbombing resources.

Also, some folks came by to tell us about Gulu Walk, an event that happens every October to raise awareness and support for youth displaced by Uganda's civil unrest. Gul Walk was yesterday - I hope there was a terrific turnout, despite the less-than-terrific weather.

Tunes:
roustabout - old man luedecke
tell it to me - old crow medicine show
lowdown stank - breakestra*
lausd - jurassic 5
you already know - us3 feat. brook yung*
break - crown city rockers*
jerusalem - sinead o'connor
sister sinead - kris kristofferson*
somebody's gotta help you - bob brozman*
things 'bout comin' my way - alvin youngblood hart
we shall be free - leadbelly
obviously 5 believers - bob dylan
i see the light - olu dara
maama yatuzaala - bitone project
kamphopo - the very best*
ghosts we're buried on - the dudes*

Alright, that's that - stay tuned for some bike pics and more funding drive info, coming right up!

Support CJSW!

later,
g

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

bike racin', bike buildin', funding drive!


Howdy!

In case you haven't heard yet, it's almost funding drive time - and the soapbox derby is building a bike, that will be won by one lucky pledger during our funding drive show on October 29th. Details on the bike and how you win it will follow, but here are a couple of pics to show you how it has progressed so far:

I'm building this bike at Bike Root - the community bike shop located on UofC campus - from old abandoned bikes and bike parts. Pictured above is the birthplace of all the Bike Root's bikey goodness. Go by, join the Root, and build you own bike!

I started with an empty (almost) unisex frame - I wanted to get a picture at the very beginning, but forgot my camera until I got the bottom bracket and handlebars installed - here's what it looked like then (note the nifty "Nova" decals):
The next step was a custom soapbox derby paint job, courtesy of my pal Matt aka Uncle Lijiah, host of Wednesday late night's Blue Collar Bravado and all-around awesome fella. The highlight of the paint job is shown in the first pic above - flying cjsw logo with lightning bolts!

I spent last Saturday cleaning and breathing new life into old parts, and assembling bits of brakes and drive train - here's what it looks like now:
Looka that paint job - dig the shine on that chrome! My favourite part of the bike so far is definitely the wicked, diamond-detailed rear fender - here's a close-up:

Chrome-a-lishus! Stay tuned to the blog - I hope to have most of the bike built by the end of this weekend, and I'll post pics as the project moves along. Someone is gonna get one sweet ride!

And now, a couple of set lists to keep you in the music loop.

September 17th - talkin' Bow 80 blues.

Bob from Bow Cycle came by to get my mind right in advance of the Bow 80 bike race, and to tell us all about Bike racing and trail advocacy in Alberta. If you want to help build trails or stand up for cyclists' right to recreate, check out the cmba or mmbts. Roll on! Tunes:

slow down - bullfrog
anagrama - os mutantes feat. tom ze*
sounds & pressure - hopeton lewis*
garbage to the showglass - sierra leone's refugee allstars
lift off - twilight circus sound system
boom or bust - mahogany public
rain dance - the very best feat. mia*
sabotage - penelope(s)*
word up - wet cookies*
trance fat - looptroop rockers feat rakaa*
war - dilated peoples
new people - blue scholars*
d-e-f - dragonfli empire
give it to the people - noah23*
mountain man - meisha & the spanks*
pakowki - lazy mk's*
ohio - dojo workhorse*
oh my god (it still means a lot to me) - the wooden sky*
santiago - valleys*
life's like canadian football - cfl sessions*

How did the race go, you ask? Well, not as smoothly as I would have hoped. I called it a day at about halfway around the 80km loop, when I was up on jumpingpound ridge on the brink of a 7km technical descent, there was about 4-5cm's of snow on the ground, it was blizzarding horizontally, I was getting rather chilled, and my bike didn't really work any more on account of being covered in mud and slush. If you don't believe me, check out the post-race analysis here, or here.

I'll take another crack at it next year...

October 1 - Bow Bottoms!

I tried to line up a couple of guests, but nothing really panned out. I did air an interview at the end of the show that Ola did though, with her friend Reuben Bullock. Here are the platters that spun:

bell bottoms remix - jon spencer blues explosion vs. u.n.k.l.e.
bell bottoms - jon spencer blues explosion
tears of love - tommy mccook
sheppard & his flock - up bustle & out feat. andy sheppard
strugglers dub - black seeds*
nahwia's dream - baka beyond*
i'm gonna assemble a city - these united states*
uke puke - black mold*
caracas - georgia anne muldrow*
insight remix - fort knox 5 vs. the nextmen*
deep marsh - 5ivestyle
straw man - lou reed
people - hank pine & lily fawn
rewind - olympic symphonium
aiwa - emmanuel jal & abdel gadir salim
i am sound - secret broadcast*
grownups never lie - wax mannequin*
transmission part 1 - the lower 48*
phillipians 3:20-21 - the mountain goats*
then ola's interview with reuben.

K, I gotta roll out, and get ready for tomorrow's show. It's gonna be a good one, featuring interviews with some yarn bombers, and folks organizing this year's gulu walk.

Be nice, and don't forget to give'er some,

Flashing Hallways from Cody Townsend on Vimeo.


g

Friday, September 11, 2009

end-of-summer blog revival

Whoops, I think I missed again.

Time flies in the summer time, and I've neglected the blog. It's mostly because I sit in front of a computer all day, and besides I've been spending a lot of time out here:


photo comes from here

See, about a year back I somehow convinced myself that it would be a good idea to sign up for the bow 80 nationals endurance mountain bike race - it feels kinda like how Thor Heyerdahl explains the "by degrees" process that leads to you all of a sudden finding yourself out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean amid 100-foot swells on a balsa wood raft - it has gone from a funny idea to a frightening reality in a pretty short span o' time. Anyway, I've been trying to prepare myself by riding my bike whenever I can. I guess when you get right down to it, plenty worse fates could befall a fella.

Anyway, I'm going to rattle through all the shows I've hosted since my last megapost, in hopes that some of the info is still relevant and that some of you still care. Ther most recent two are easy, as it was pretty much just me and music (no guests, but a little bit of ranting).

september 3rd - byrne-o-rama!

This show featured a focus on David Byrne and his Luaka Bop record label. Why? I dunno, just because I guess.

nice 'n' greasy - lou donaldson
xiang pi xiao (rubber ducky song) - zhima jie
correction train - carey johnson
westbay - ring craft posse
basho & the tiger - burning babylon
mini mountain queen - bran flakes
hold it down - greyboy
mea culpa - david byrne & brian eno (from the ground-breaking my life in the bush of ghosts lp)
(nothing but) flowers - talking heads
hein - tom ze
salale - vum vum
aguas de marco - cibo matto
podo me chamar - eddie
au banquet des chasseurs - java
10 miles to go down a 9 mile road - jim white vs. morcheeba
cache cache - zap mama
people power in the disco hour - clinton
the great intoxication - david byrne
life is long - david byrne & brian eno
one big cake - jenny*
they were kings - heavy trash
don't go anywhere - snailhouse*
porcupine quills - the skeletones four*
wildfires - ohbijou*
tegucigalpa - fruit bats*
how allen saved the radio station - the bownesians*


august 20 - just a show...

trout fishing in australia - apricot rail*
imidiwan afrik tem dam - tinariwen*
drum & bass line (live) - aswad
fruitful days - big mountain
funky kingston - toots & the maytals
study war - moby*
they so cute - the spam avenger
tashweesh - kronos quartet feat. ramallah underground*
daktari walk - the daktaris
auditorium - mos def feat. the ruler*
mercy - plague language*
the revolt of the cockroach people - ocote soul sounds & adrian quesada*
back in the seventies - datarock*
against the seventies - mike watt
bridges - utah phillips & ani difranco
farmer - bill frisell*
the longest day - megafaun*
hockey teeth - bahamas*
youth's magic horn - porter block*
weave myself a dress - bruce peninsula*
hot dang darlin' - the haggard beat*
cut across shorty - eddie cochrane
the whole damn thing - those darlins*
pas sans saveur - les breastfeeders

august 6 - calgary dollars and world vinyl day!

On this show, Kirti and Lisa from Calgary Dollars came by to tell us about the awesomeness of local currency, and about the august theme for their monthly potluck and market - vinyl! We learned a little about world vinyl day, and about the events they had planned for the potluck on the 12th, including art from records, a record swap, and other cool stuff. Thanks to Kirti and Lisa for coming by and telling us about it. Here are the tunes you heard:

saryglaryar maidens - huun huur tu & carmen rizzo*
designer skyline - owl city*
sound almighty - sould defenders
take it slow (places & spaces) - grand analog*
killa soundboy - fort knox five vs. sub swara*
the balance - sub swara
good beats / boogie - dudley perkins*
ba ba ba boom - money mark
moon sequence - the herbalizer*
como el viento - depedro*
hobo girl - fruit bats*
when the wheels don't move - son volt*
let's go ridin' in the car - pete seeger & sesame street
career opportunities - the clash
rick danko died - jack pine*
big brother - stevie wonder
the horizon is a beltway - the low anthem*
yr/blessed yr/version - lucid 44*
geography - portland cello project*
desperation, alberta - eamon mcgrath*

july 23 - carolyn mark! folk fest!

On this edition of the derby I was lucky enough to have emcee extraordinaire Carolyn Mark and her pal Tolan McNeil come by the station and help us ring in folk fest. We had a lot of fun, shot the breeze, and played a few tunes. Thanks to all you awesome people that make the folk festival happen every year, and thanks to all you tarp-nazis for mostly keeping it cool (except you jackasses who called the heat in on reverend ron when all he wanted to do was move with the spirit on sunday morning...)

Tuneage:

i was standing at the bedside of a neighbour - sweet honey in the rock
touch a hand, make a friend - staples singers
wild life - papa groove
untold stories - sinead o'connor
summer dub - king selewa & his calypsonians*
hidden treasure - dj vadim feat. sabira jade & kwasi asante*
doni doni - woodchoppers association feat. jah youssuf*
north america - hank pine & lily fawn*
flyin' saucers - dry branch fire squad
plateau ramble - the acorn
jesus at tim's - nancy white
old virginia block - devon sproule
rocket piano man - carolyn mark & amy honey
will he be waiting for me - sarah harmer
the cabin song - t nile*
brother blues - forest tate fraser*
cliffs - brock geiger*
til the morning - mark berube & the patriotic few

Okay, that's it. We're back up to speed. I'll try to be more regular in my posting habits, but you all know how that's gone in the past...

Speaking of speed - me and my friends at the Bike Root are going to build you a bike for funding drive! More details to follow - stay tuned!

Sunday, July 12, 2009

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

Sunday, June 7, 2009

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

Thursday, June 4, 2009

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

Friday, May 29, 2009

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

Monday, May 25, 2009

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

Monday, March 30, 2009

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

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

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

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Sweet Grass, Grain Exchange, and Potato Guns! Jan 22, 2009 set list



Above is a sneak-preview of the Decidedly Jazz Danceworks production "Skyscraper", that is happening as part of this year's High Performance Rodeo. Thanks to Kim Cooper at DJDW for calling in and telling us a little about the dancing history of the Calgary Grain Exchange Building - if you're able, get yourself some tickets and check out a supercool performance! There's all kinds of nifty stuff happening in Calgary this weekend, including the international festival of animated objects - get out and get some culture in ya!

It was a busy week on the derby - Kim called in, and we had a visit from local lapsliding, pickin' and grinnin', dobrolicious dog-lover Sam Masterton. Sam came by to play us a tune or two and to promote his gig thursday night, which was a fundraiser for his dog Felicia. Felicia needs an MRI and Sam was trying to raise enough dough to cover the $2-3K expense. Thanks to Sam for coming in, I hope the benefit show was a success (I was laid up and couldn't make it down to the ironwood), and best of luck to l'il Felicia for a speedy and complete recovery. If you want to touch base with Sam to find out how things are going, or to contribute some cash to Felicia's treatment, check out his web site.

In the midst of all that, I managed to spin a couple of platters for y'all:

1. the things we love - josh furey*
2. soul brother, soul sister - the capitols
3. red, white, and mali - eccodek*
4. new babylon - tim williams
5. macka splaff - steel pulse
6. pitchy patchy - junior byles
7. journey to anywhere - ugly duckling
8. united minds - arrested development
9. quadrature - squarepusher*
10. lorsqu'ils essayerent - abdal malik*
11. hadiya - emmanuel jal & abdel gadir salim
12. luck in exile - geoff berner*
13. paperclip ring (live at CJSW) - sam masterton
14. sweet grass (?) (live at CJSW) - sam masterton
15. untitled track (live at CJSW) - sam masterton
16. not fire, not ice (live) - ben harper
17. shallow grave - the tallest man on earth*
18. quiet creek - old man luedecke
19. the death of edward appletree - edward appletree*
20. step - remote kid*

There ya go - posted inside of 48 hours. I'm not going to set myself up for failure by suggesting this is a sign of things to come - suffice to say, I'll try to stay on this path.

Sam and I were talking about potato guns (please don't ask me to recall the context), and I said I would try to find some online resources for y'all in case you wanted to make your own potato projectile accelerator. I looked at a lot of web sites and how-to videos, but this one took the prize for numerous reasons: the thoroughness of the instruction and materials list; the warning issued in a real live gun shop; the clear demonstration of outstanding marksmanship; the right amount of twang in the dude's accent; and lastly, it looks like this might have been submitted as a class project somewhere! A++!



Okay - it's a crisp sunny day and my dog needs a walkin'. Talk to you later, and thanks for tuning in/stoppin' by.

PEACE,
greg

Monday, January 19, 2009

four setlists, a sweater, some lapslidin', and a half-assed apology.

WINNER! Mike Prystajecky sports his new sweater, courtesy of the soapbox derby! Congratulations, Mike, and thanks for supporting CJSW.

Well, another long time has passed since I've posted anything on this blog. I just get distracted so easily and find other things to do. Anyway, I will continue to try to do better at posting on the regs, and you will continued to be amazed and disappointed at my severe inability to do so.

So that you don't have to read through a jillion setlists before I get to the current news, here are a couple of notable soapbox derby developments:
  • On this week's show (Thursday January 22nd), I will be hosting a fine local lapslide guitarist and singer-songwriter by the name of Sam Masterton. I read about Sam's musicmaking (literally - he makes and restores his own guitars!) in this month's BeatRoute, and about how he's holding a benefit at the IronWood on Thursday night to raise money towards an MRI for his canine co-conspirator, Felicia. It's a great cause, and one that tugs at my heartstrings; I hope you will all tune in to hear Sam tell us about his music and his mission and play us a couple of tunes, and also that you'll find some time on Thursday night to slide down to the IronWood, get your grub on, dig on some fine tunes, and support Sam and Felicia. There's going to be an auction too!
  • At least for the next little while, and hopefully much longer, we have found a partner-in-mischief for the soapbox derby! If you tuned in last week you would have heard my buddy and sometimes host of ArtsLink, Tuesdays 6:30-7:30pm on CJSW, Mr. Bryson Montgomery. This is something of a media leak, but word on the streets is that Bryson is willing to trade weeks with me into the foreseeable future. So listen for him, and look for (hopefully more regularly) blog postings from him in the next little while. Thanks to all the peeps who filled in alternating weeks for me over the last few months.
JANUARY 8, 2009 SETLIST - HIGH FENCES
My first show of a new year! On this show we just mostly chilled out and listened to tunes, and I told you all the most embarassing story I've ever told on the air, about getting a blue-and-white taxi ride home from three doors down, after falling (rather, being pushed) off a fence and rolling out into the street right in front of the fuzz. My mom said I painted an unreasonably dragon-like picture of her in the telling of this story, and I offered to issue a retraction of sorts: My mother is not a dragon - she is however, given the choice between her and my dad, odds-on favourite to come down harshly on a fella when the cops bring him home at 4 in the morning. Here's what y'all might have heard:

morning scapes - jazzanova feat. bembe segue*
machine gun (live at fillmore w, nye 1969) - band of gypsies
do the rock steady - the termites
54-46 (was my number) - ernest ranglin
night shift - sounds from the ground*
outside inn - dragon fli empire feat. cadence weapon & lynn olagundoye
rollin' - people's eatery feat. moka only*
touch your toes - grand analog feat. kiyomi*
no rest for the weary - blue scholars
33 degree - thievery corporation*
mal estar card - curumin*
sparkle city - shuggie otis
rock in the rain - money mark
three more springs - ghostkeeper
fences are high - jenny omnichord*
your guitar, my undoing - priya thomas*
comme des enfants - coeur de pirate*
eloise & alex - devon sproule
cool it down - velevet underground
spreading the blues - the grass*




DECEMBER 25, 2008 SETLIST - IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE XMAS DERBY
Every seven years or so, it falls on a given CJSW programmer to do his or her show on Christmas Day. After a little persuasion from our program director Jane, I decided it might be fun to spend Christmas morning with all y'all, and to share with you what I think the holiday should be all about. We listened to lots of tunes about hope in humankind, peace and good will, and a better world if we will it. Oh yeah, and junkies.

skating - vince guaraldi*
spirit in the dark (live reprise) - aretha franklin & ray charles
there is no end (live) - israel vibration
one foundation - bob marley & the wailers
aish tamid (live) - matisyahu
(rock the) belz - socalled
santa got a bag of soul - soul saints*
who too the merry outta christmas? - staples singers
we shall not be moved (live) - mavis staples*
the junky's christmas - william s. burroughs & disposable heroes of hiphoprisy (click here for coppola's claymation video, parts one, two, and three)
let us rise, brothers - canora doukhobor choir
king of kings - ladysmith black mambazo
africa 178 - the innocence mission*
the telling takes me home - bruce "utah" phillips (r.i.p.)
glory, glory - odetta (r.i.p.)
here i am lord, oh send me (live) - mississippi john hurt
last thoughts on woody guthrie (live) - bob dylan
there's a better world a comin' - woody guthrie
just a bum - greg brown
christmas in prison - john prine
how to make gravy - paul kelly
xmas in february - lou reed
fairytale of new york - the pogues
brave captain - firehose (dedicated to the worst president in US history)


DECEMBER 11, 2008 SETLIST - SHINNY ON THE ICE!
On this show I ranted a bit about global economic unravelling, Alberta's wholesale abandonment of anything remotely resembling consideration for the environment as soon as the price of oil started to drop, and probably some other stuff that I can no longer remember. Also, I extolled the virtues of dawning your woolies, getting out, shovelling off a pond, and playing some shinny with your pals.

adeus batucada - virginia rodrigues
golden section - isotope*
time tough - toots & the maytals
rivers of babylon - typhanie monique
pressure tones - burning babylon
hit and run - reefer*
the bizness - de la soul
tree blues - olu dara
still? yes! - nightmares on wax*
before mecca - divine styler
busy man (sem voce) - carlinhos brown
koneh pelawoe - s.e. rogie
a short life of trouble - dave alvin
see line woman - olabelle
shinny on the ice - buddy wasisname & the other fellers
kissproof - bob wiseman
for now, i will sleep... - slow down, molasses*
enclave - mr. pine*
gin soaked boy - tom waits
that light - dark dark dark*
shoppin' at the dump - alex ferguson school & friends*
radio don't go - red datsun*

NOVEMBER 27, 2008 SETLIST - SWEATER DRAW!
The big thing on this show was the draw for the sweater - to be honest, it was long enough ago now that I can't remember what else I was on about (oh yeah, now I remember - I took the piss out of the wacko anti-abortionists who had a display on campus comparing abortions to the holocaust, genocides in rwanda and yugoslavia, etc.). Congatulations again to Mike for winning the sweater, and to all of you for pledging to CJSW during the soapbox derby and funding drive - I'll start knitting next year's big prize any day now, and will keep y'all posted.

the magic of a kind word - belle & sebastian*
cicle intro/will the circle be unbroken (live) - mavis staples*
day tripper/she's a rainbow (live) - bad brains
step it - burning spear*
hey now now - michael franti & spearhead
memphis soul stew (live) - king curtis
femme fatale - digable planets
people people - souljazz orchestra*
tired of fighting - menahan street band*
one fine day - david byrne & brian eno*
the love cats - katrine ottosen (call me kat)*
hot black blood - the rocky fortune
men of good fortune (live) - lou reed*
boxes and bottles (live at CJSW!) - ghostkeeper*
broke - leopold*
black door - the black keys
when putting it all in order ain't enough - nomeansno
arboretum arboretum - shanker & romps*

Whew.

That's it for the (hopefully) longest and most delinquent blog posting I shall ever have to muster. Please tune in this week and catch Sam Masterton, for the love of DOGS!

























flip-flop, wig-wag, & zig-zag,

greg