Monthly Archive for April, 2007

Top Ten List: 27 April 2007

Published
by
Bryan
on Friday, 27 April 2007
in Music and Personal
. 0 Comments

I’d really like to thank Jeremy Scahill for coming to Santa Barbara and speaking at Isla Vista Theater last night as a benefit for KCSB. The discussion of his book, Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army, was really fascinating, and his support of community radio is greatly appreciated by folks like me.

On a side note, Scahill is a bit of a personal hero of mine. I’ve worked in community radio now for 10 years, and very few people are as approachable and personable as Jeremy. He was the keynote speaker at the first community radio conference I attended back in 2000 - a keynote that had a pretty profound impact on me as I was just starting my “real career” in community radio.

YouTube Preview Image

If you have a chance to see him speak, I highly recommend it. If nothing else, you should definitely check out his book.

On to the TTL:

Song, Artist, Album

10. You think I aint worth a dollar, but I feel like a millionaire, Desert Sessions, Vol. 5 & 6
9. It’s My Turn, Bellyachers, 200 Lucky Feet Move The Dragon
8. Starfishing, The Pooh Sticks, Optimistic Fool
7. Get a Shot of Rhythm & Blues, Flamin’ Groovies, Rock Masters Vol. 3: ‘Sneakers’ EP and the Rockfield Session
6. Fade Away, Dynamic, Photosynthesis
5. Just A Closer Walk With Thee, Corey Harris, Greens From The Garden
4. Area, The Futureheads, News and Tributes
3. Blue Suede Shoes, Jimi Hendrix, Loose Ends
2. People Often Tell Me I’m Good At What I Do, Astronautalis, You And Yer Good Ideas
1. Life in Disguise, The Slip, Eisenhower

Insane in the McCain

Published
by
Bryan
on Wednesday, 25 April 2007
in Political and Watch This!
. 0 Comments

So if you managed to dodge the big story about Rosie O’Donnell leaving The View, a story that should be filed under Who Gives a F*&@?), you might have heard that John McCain has officially announced that he is running for President of the United States of America - and thus, increasing by one, the list of candidates for whom I will not vote in 2008. Sorry John, you lost me a Bomb Iran. Actually you lost me before that, but I was being cute.

Of course, things really don’t bode well for you when, on the day before you officially announce your candidacy, you get slapped around by Jon Stewart on The Daily Show.

I really want to like McCain. He’s an ally in the low power FM battles, and the McCain-Feingold Act was, if nothing else, I step in the right direction. Then, however, he plows right into continued support for a war that has never made any sense.

After watching McCain’s appearance on The Daily Show, I made it a point to catch Bill Moyers Journal: Buying the War last night - a report about the media’s complicity in the Bush administration’s push to invade Iraq. I highly recommend it.

Hippie-ki-yay!

Published
by
Bryan
on Monday, 23 April 2007
in Notes
. 0 Comments

Highlights for Jennifer and I this last weekend included a run down to the Earth Day Celebration at the Sunken Gardens just outside the Santa Barbara Courthouse. Despite the light rain, we still managed to check the festival out. No, we didn’t drive.

The highlight of the weekend, however, was a Saturday night dinner at the Spiritland Bistro - an organic friendly restaurant that specialized, but is not limited to, vegan and vegetarian friendly cuisine. The food was amazing, but even more amazing was Woody Harrelson (yes, THAT Woody Harrelson) walking in and taking a seat directly behind us. Jennifer had a view of the back of Harrelson’s head, and apparently Harrelson and I both suffer from the same type of male pattern baldness. Things you didn’t know…

Top Ten List: 20 April 2007

Published
by
Bryan
on Friday, 20 April 2007
in Music and Notes
. 2 Comments

You can send a student to college, but you can’t make them think.
–Anonymous

stossel.jpg So Libertarian icon John Stossel is coming to UC Santa Barbara. And here’s a sign advertising, not just the appearance of Stossel’s mustache, but an inability to spell the word capitalism correctly. I guess his UCSB supporters haven’t purchased Stossel’s Teaching Tools for Economics DVD. I’ll just give them a break.

Hey, does the fact that admission to his talk is free mean the market is working?

Normally, I would not find John Stossel speaking at UC Santa Barbara all that interesting - except that one of my favorite television moments is “Dr. D” David Schultz laying the smackdown on someone who would go on to host a one-hour special called “Stupid in America”. You know what’s really stupid, John? Telling a 250lbs. pro-wrestler, who is obviously already irritated with you, that what he does is fake.

Maybe he hit you so hard that he gave you brain damage, and hence, you became a Libertarian.

TTL for this week:

Song, Artist, Album
10. Car Trouble, Adam & The Ants, Dirk Wears White Sox
9. Please Remain Calm, Cloud Cult, The Meaning Of 8
8. The Way It Goes, The Randies, At The Friendship Motor Inn
7. Jackson, Brakes, Give Blood
6. Sick, Otis, (self-titled)
5. Proofreading, Oxford Collapse, A Good Ground
4. I’m So Tired, Say Hi To Your Mom, Numbers & Mumbles
3. Sad As A Truck, Mugison, Mugimama Is This Monkey Music?
2. Baby I`m Drunk, Reverend Horton Heat, Holy Roller
1. Make U Fly, Zion I & Grouch, Heroes in the City of Dope

Never Forget

Published
by
Bryan
on Tuesday, 17 April 2007
in Notes
. 0 Comments

My heart goes out to those people impacted by the tragedy that occurred at Virginia Tech. Jennifer and I lived less than a mile away from the Goleta Postal Shootings, and I lived just blocks away from the street on which David Attias ran down four students six years ago. While no one I knew was killed in either, I do know how such a tragedy can impact a community. I cannot imagine how the Virginia Tech and surrounding community is dealing with such an event. Again, my heart goes out to them.

I do have to say that I grow more and more frustrated with an opportunistic media. I have no doubt, working in media myself, that this is a difficult story to cover, but there seems to be a lot of outlets taking advantage of these students. I have no interest in being a voyeur to this tragedy, and while I do wish to remain informed, I’d prefer to do so outside the expense of the victims. Asking questions that are clearly designed to elicit emotional responses, as CNN did with one particular student, is completely inappropriate.

As usual, someone smarter than I has already voiced this view quite articulately - Gary Corseri at Dissident Voice:

Frankly, I hope we cannot heal from this tragedy in Virginia. I hope the wounds of domestic violence, the festering sores of our ghettoes, the despair of men and women who have had their jobs shipped overseas — I hope these will stay with us always. And I hope the “dogs of war” we have unleashed upon Iraq will bark and growl for the rest of our lives — just as the wounds of Vietnam, the assassinations of the Kennedys and King — those long-ago events of my 20s have stayed with me these hard, blistering years.

We shall have light again, and perhaps we shall earn joy and laughter. But, soft you now, not yet; and not for a long time while so many friends, neighbors and good and innocent strangers suffer here and here upon our planetary home. Let the pundits and the doltish President and the professional commentators shut their mouths and still their pens and cancel their photo ops so the people may dwell in dignity in their shared community of suffering. Then let us ponder how foolishly and mindlessly we have abetted the suffering of ourselves and our fellow creatures, and in what wise ways we may abate it.