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

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