FUNNNNNNNNNNding DRIVE!

Hi Everyone;

Well, it's that time of year again - CJSW's annual funding drive is going on this week, and ends at 6pm this coming Friday (October 29th). I'm writing to encourage you to do what you can to support this vital hub of the Calgary Community, and one of the best little independent radio stations on the planet.

It costs a lot of money to run a radio station - even one that is fuelled almost entirely by volunteer people-power. We're trying to raise $200,000 this week, which would cover the station's capital expenses this year and give us some cash to invest in a new transmitter, bringing more "wattage to the cottage", a broader reach into Calgary's rural hinterland, a clearer signal in the downtown core, and less interference from our neighbours on the FM dial.

CJSW has celebrated some major successes this past year:

• After years of hoop-jumping, skulduggery, and inches of hairline recession on our station manager's scalp, in November 2009, we moved on UP! If you haven't already done so, Funding drive is a great chance to come check out the new digs and be blown away by our swanky, professional-looking (but still down-homey and honest!) studios. The new CJSW has been built almost entirely through the generous support of listeners just like you!
• There have been a lot of changes to the CJSW broadcast schedule, and it's helped us become more dynamic, inclusive, and representative of the vast panoply of Calgary culture.
• CJSW's news and spoken word programming has jacked it up several notches, including the award-winning daily "Today in Canadian History" segment and podcast, and unrivalled coverage of the 2010 Calgary Municipal Election. We interviewed every mayoral and aldermanic candidate that ran!
• CJSW continues to build community through sponsorship of lectures, films, festivals, and concerts, including the flagship CJSW Summer Concert Series.

It's been a big year for the Soapbox Derby too - now in a new time slot (7-10am MST), the show has been honoured with sponsorship from the Arusha Centre, has started a collaboration and monthly feature with Alberta Views Magazine, and has hosted countless interviews with musicians, politicians, rabble-rousers, and the awesome people in your neighbourhood. Kat Lord has just started as an alternating host of the show, and she's all fired up to make things even better on the derby.

We'd love for you to pledge on our show this Thursday morning. As with the past few FD Derbies, our goal will be to get 50 pledges during the show - help us get there! Kat and I have prepared all kinds of special incentives to encourage and reward your pledge - here are just a few highlights:

• This year there will be two grand prizes - custom knitting from me (choice of two: toque, mitts, or scarf), and a custom-made quilt from Kat and her Grandma. every $25 pledged on the derby gets you one entry in the draw. The draw will take place on air in early December, and the first name drawn will get first choice.
• The good folks at Alberta Views are offering up a free 3-issue mini-subscription for every single person who pledges on our show! Holy smokes! They've also offered up two full-year subscriptions.
  
• Other home-made goods including a dangerously delicious bottle of crabapple wine from me, some hand-painted stoneware from Kat, and hand-knit toques from my Auntie Annie.
• Mix CD's from me (1) and Kat (2).
• All kinds of other goodies: some clothing from Element, lots of commercial CD's and books, gift certificates for yoga, food, booze, etc.
• Probably some other stuff that I can't remember right now!

Please Please Please, call 403.220.5000 and pledge your support for CJSW during this week's funding drive - you have to call during the Soapbox Derby to get at the extra incentives listed above, but I hope you call some time before Friday, and get behind radio that matters for Calgary and beyond! You can also pledge on-line at www.cjsw.com.

Thanks a million for supporting independent radio in Calgary - and thanks a million more for listening to/coming on/supporting my radio endeavours in kind or in cash!

Talk to you Thursday!
PEACE,
greg

PS Please pass this on to your friends and family who may also like to support the Derby/CJSW!

out of the blue...

Howdy y'all;

After a long hiatus, I think it's time to revive the soapbox derby blog. There's a lot to say if I want to cover everything that's happened since the last time I posted here, but for now, I'll just tell you what's coming up on the show.

Here's what's on deck for this week's soapbox derby (Thursday September 30, 7-10am) - it's gonna be a busy show:

7:30 - Today in Canadian History! (in all likelihood*)
8:00 - Michale Lang, Executive Director of the Whyte Museum in Banff, is coming by to talk about the Whyte, and the role of art/museums in enabling social discourse. Heavy.
8:30 - I'm in a one-man tag-team (obscure cjsw programming history reference) against Mayoral Campaign front-runner and brow-furrower, Ric McIver. Oil and Water, my friends! Or hopefully, rubber and glue...
9-10 - My friend and Alberta Views Editor Peter Worden is coming by for the hour to co-host our regular monthly segment and talk about the upcoming October issue of ABViews. We'll also be talking (by phone) with two of the issue's feature authors: Sheila Pratt (about the muzzling/emasculation of the Province's outgoing Auditor General), and Ian Urquhart (about whether or not AB is a "petro-state"). And wanna know something cool? This ABViews hour of the show will be syndicated, at least to CKXU (in Lethbridge) and maybe to CJSR (in the "City of Champignons"). Any more pinko radio dominance by CJSW and CSIS is gonna start tapping telephones...

Hopefully I'll find a minute to spin a tune or two somewhere in there....

In other Thursday morning news (maybe this is no longer really news, but anyway...), Ola has flown the coop, and has headed over to Beijing for an internship. Kat Lord is the new alternating host of Thursday mornings (welcome Kat!), so look for awesome new stuff from her. Ola and I talked about maybe having her phone in once in a while to touch base, so hopefully we can make that happen.

Talk to ya Thursday,
greg

* TICH will be on, provided Joe doesn't get hammered on Wed night and drop the ball. That would be a low blow, if it hadn't already happened to me. Twice. Okay, in fairness, Marc was the culprit one time. And I wouldn't really care except TICH is really cool and I'm bummed when I can't air it.

Funding Drive CD

Hey Everyone,

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

Whoot whooot!

Ola

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

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

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!