radioboise #4 show highlights

to start with, a poem from Edith Moore...

White people and their identity
crisis
Society's requirement for
license
So hard you cant even get your own food without a crisis
And now everybody
fights it
bow your head and make good with
Isis
The goddess that is, Fuck terrorists
Put some holes in a box and save
feral kits
Buy used clothes and make them fit
to save your soul from the bull
shit
I'll spit
To the day that we fit
all the freaky people like a
puzzle
cuz not a single one of you is better than
the other
If you think you are you got another thing
comin'
Give it up or give some Lovin'
Hon.

here's to the day we fit all the freaky people together like a puzzle!

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another spectacular ranchfest has come and gone.  especially notable was finally getting to see two bands that i had been itching to see for a long time.

marshall poole... they've been my fav local band since i met them at treefort and picked up their "grade aa rock and roll" cd.  two months later, here i finally see them play.  and man!  these kids, i can can call them that...i'm just a kid in quotation marks. these three kids are, barely, if even, old enough to enter the venues they play. accordingly, they are students taking to heart all the lessons the music industry has to teach. but they are not sloppy rookies either. they're down right dirty blues rockers with soul that buddy guy might be proud of.  out of everyone that played ranch, marshall poole was the band most talked about, during and after the festival. here's to seeing legends of the local scene grow up right before our eyes!

hallowed oak... i would like to remind and/or make aware the fact that on my top 14 albums of 2014, hallowed oak was #1. the band had relocated from fort collins to boise last summer, so with my being in eastern oregon (at the time), i kind of assumed i was being biased. that was until i realized that not one of the 20+ lists from radio boise or record exchange had hallowed oak anywhere on their lists. (never mind what that might suggest about my qualifications and just listen for yourself.)
one of the most exhilarating feelings is to stumble through a field of  sagebrush and slip up a muddy hill with the anticipation of seeing something live that moved you so much thru headphones and then walking into a barn, straight up to the front of the stage while the intro to the first song plays. and you just stay floating there the entire time. that's the magic of music. hallowed oak made magic.

another thing to remember about the ranch is how amazing something so inauspicious can be. i'd like to share (to the right) a piece my buddy dave in ste. genevieve, missouri, sent in from the ste gen herald letters to the editor.

all i can say about this is...
exactly! if you're not part of the planning, you can't complain about the results. in boise, we kind of have a red carpet as far as events constantly going on, but that all takes a lot of hard work by people that really want nice things. once you get out of town, it becomes easy for people to complain that there's nothing to do. but, i'll tell you what. if a little unheard of festival in a desolate sagebrush prairie in camas county can be the coolest thing to do all year no matter where i go, that's testament to the fact that the only good things that happen are the things you make happen. if you're bored or if things aren't going next way you think they should, then by all means get involved and change things.
get ranchy!

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r.i.p ~ lynn "twinkle" ripley (july 16, 1948 - may 21, 2015)

the UK teen pop star of the mid 1960s had a quick rise to fame with six singles on decca records. she wrote her first single "terry" at the age of 14. the song about a boy who died in a motorcycle crash was a popular theme of the day and similar to the shangri-las' "leader of the pack" which was released a few months after twinkle's song.  "terry" was banned by the BBC and the tv show ready steady go for being in poor taste.  that attention helped "terry" shoot up the charts, sending twinkle on tour with the rolling stones and making her an overnight sensation. but as quickly as fame came, it was gone and she retired from the music biz at the age of 18 in 1966. the unnerving nature of performing live, touring with dirty rock and rollers and especially pressure by record execs took the thrill out of the craft.  music producers pressured her to record songs that were written for her, instead of by her, to attempt to achieve the commercial success of "terry."  twinkle had said, “after golden lights [her self-penned second single], nothing i have ever done has been to my liking.”
twinkle made a few well received comebacks over the years, but mostly kept out of the public eye. she passed away on may 21 after a five year battle with cancer.

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indie rock band surfer blood has a new album out, 1000 palms, on joyful noise records. they also, unfortunately have a band member, guitarist thomas fekete who has quit the band due to a rare cancer that has been spreading. the band has taken on many fund raising projects, such as a benefit concert at bowery ballroom and started a gofundme site to help with expenses. they also have been accepting cash donations at concerts on tour. while passing thru illinois last weekend, this happened in a whole foods parking lot...

Dear Fans,

We deeply regret having to inform you this, but our van was broken into today in Schaumburg, Il just outside of Chicago. Not only did we lose thousands of dollars in personal items and show settlements, but we also lost all cash donations we collected for Thomas over the last 8 shows at our merch table. This last detail is perhaps the most heartbreaking of all in that so much positivity and amazing generosity could be ruined by one bad person(s).

Most of our large musical gear was not stolen and the shows will still go on as planned.

There are a few one-of-a kind guitar pedals to please keep an eye out for-- not for their specific value, but for the fact that these are unique and recognizable items. If they are found at a pawn shop or private seller, everything else including the more serious items are likely there or somewhere nearby.

Thank you for all of your support. You help us all stay positive in the midst of something so discouraging.

                                                                  Much love,
                                                                  SB

luckily the show can go on and only about $700 of the funds for fekete were taken. but man, junkies and thieves sure are worthless. to steal from a person's livelihood, not to mention their ability to continue living, is the lowest of the low. that money and those effects get the thief nowhere. in the best case scenario, a person can only make their life more unstable by setting the earths energy against themselves. no one can possibly be desperate enough to resort to this kind of theft. yet, it happens. i'm not sure whether to feel worse for the band or the thief. godspeed be with surfer blood and thomas fekete.

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rabble rouser of the month will be a person from oregon. and for the first time in a while, there will be a vote. recall last week, the story of makaila ragan, a tillamook high school student who responded to homophobic protesters with her own sign and ended up garnering the support of the entire town. the power of the protest is one of the most wonderful things of the ridiculous times we often live in.

well, this week, we have a more sarcastic form of protest from pendleton. recreational marijuana will become legal in a matter of days in oregon, but not all communities must treat legalization equally. pendleton city council has imposed a code for fines if a neighbor complains about the smell coming from a smoker's property. well, peter walters, a very conscious and concerned citizen, sent a letter to the editor of the east oregonian to request that they now place a ban on the far more noxious smell of farts. huffington post picked up the story, and then peter let off some steam on lars larson. thanks to peter for calling ridiculous laws into question. here's hoping it makes brainless city leaders come to their senses.

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i'll leave you with some contemplative thoughts.
from l'envoi, oscar wilde's 1882 introduction to rennell rodd's rose leaf & apple leaf ... "one's real life is often the life that one does not lead." or, in a similar vein, as yoko ono tweeted on tuesday, "is reality always more real than what we create?"

#3 show highlights

now that i've started to get my feet wet at radioboise, the third installment of the rabble rouser show should be as much a treat to listen to as it was a treat to put together. hope you'll enjoy. the archive will  be available by monday on the internet archive site or the mixcloud site for a short time.

r.i.p. Ian Curtis (may 18, 1980)
singer of the legendary underground new wave both industrial band joy division, i'd like to think frankebryan, host of monday night's return of the disco witch hunt for turning me on to the fact that this week was the the 35 anniversary of curtis' passing. it seems like every year i learn this and then it slips under the rug again, but alas 5/18/1980 is famous for more than just the mt. st. helens eruption, its also the date that ian curtis committed suicide and the goth world in particular has not been the same.  often imitated, never duplicated, joy division was a one of a kind acted still revered 35 years later.

r.i.p. BB King :')

the blues king left us last thursday.  i don't want to undercut the legend, though i'm not so quick to refer to him as the greatest. think: robert johnson, willie dixon, howlin' wolf, bo diddley, muddy waters, mississippi john hurt, etc etc etc.  there have been so many greats, it's nearly impossible to pinpoint a best one. if cornered in a dark alley, i'd probably defer support to willie dixon as the king of the blues. but the man before us today, the venerable bb king illustrates well one of my frequent claims. the period from 1966/67 to 1972/3 was the ultimate golden era of music. almost everything recorded during that period was the best music ever made. and since 1972/73, the music world has rested on those laurels. bb king truly exemplifies this fact as well...

king had made a name for himself since the 1950s, but it was in 1968 he first crossed over into the mainstream. this was partly due to the burgeoning psych rock movement that was paying homage/stealing from the great 50s blues artists, but king certainly cashed in on this exposure to another crowd. it also seemed to have correlated with his rise in the r&b world as well.  the r&b charts were newly established about 5 years previously, which is a different story in its own right, but bb's 14th album "blues on top of the blues" (rel. 1968) featuring classics "heartbreaker" and "paying the cost to be the boss" went to #46 on the r&b charts, marking his first appearance on a music chart. later in dec 1968, he released "lucille" named for his distinct brand of gibson es-355 guitar that seem to produce the prototypical blues sounds on their own. thru the extra exposure king received by playing live with eric clapton and then being the opening act on the rolling stones 1969 u.s. tour, king's popularity rose dramatically for his 1969 album "completely well," raising the ante on his career with his most legendary tracks "thrill is gone" and "confessing the blues." trying to up the ante, his producer brought in an all star cast for his 1970 album "indianola mississippi seeds" about his hometown. bb always considered it to be his finest work and, indeed, the album reached #26 on the pop charts, #8 on the r&b charts, and #7 on the jazz charts.  after a couple well received live albums, king came back with "l.a. midnight" in 1972 featuring taj mahal that was a focused blues/jazz album that is perhaps my favorite of all. by 1973, when the rest of the music industry committed suicide, king hit the superstar circuit and basically toured on the strength of his late 60s/early 70s output for most the rest of his career.

i do certainly that when buddy guy passes on, the world looks back on him with as much admiration and gives him as much retrospective attention as they gave bb king this past week. buddy says bb was the best, but bb probably said buddy was the best. not to get carried away mourning the dead, buddy is a legend still with us. he is also still touring and will be around the pnw this summer. not coming  to boise, to my knowledge, he will come relatively close.

spokane, july 7 at the martin woldson theatre. and in billings july 31 at the magic city blues fest.


maiden voyage by herbie hancock

a jazz staple turned 50 years old this week. most every jazz aficionado touts it in the top 10 albums of the 1960s as do many listeners of other genres. the atmospheric concept album of sea faring, was a quintet of five of the greatest jazz musicians of their time: hancock on keys, freddie hubbard on trumpet, george coleman on tenor sax, ron carter on bass and tony williams on drums.







rabble rouser of the month nominations:
#sHELLno #PaddleInSeattle

photo: reuters / via common dreams

hundreds of people took to the waters of elliot bay over the weekend to stage peaceful protests vs shell oil, who has been granted conditional approval to drill in the arctic this summer.  one of shells's oil rigs for the expedition arrived in port recently, while the other waits for clearance in everett. the port commission recommended the vessel stay out while the port challenged a ruling to keep them out. the seattle mayor has lobbied hard to not allow shell to moor in the port.

alli harvey says, "science is as clear as day when it comes to drilling in the arctic - the only safe place for these dirty fuels is in the ground." a day of peaceful disobedience on monday attempted to block shell's presence in terminal 5 at port of Seattle, a major point of contention between the city and environmentalists all year long.  activists have pointed to shell's failed attempts in 2012, which aborted their 2013 drilling, as evidence shell couldn't respond to a spill. shell has "unleashed a very robust opposition movement," said eric de place.

the stranger followed some of the action with a collection of tweets, including  "TV is up there. we're down here. follow alternative media." renny reep of seattle's raging grannies was quoted, " we're building a movement. and this is how it starts."

jennifer pawluck
the montreal instagrammer has been given 100 hours of community service and 18 months probation for posting a picture she took of a piece of graffiti that features a policeman with a bullet in the head. one has to wonder if they get probation for posting a pic, what would be the punishment for actually getting caught making the graffiti?

makaila ragan
a tillamook high school student started a somewhat unintended wave of support by joining an anti-gay protest with her own pro-gay support at the main intersection in tillamook.

other interesting facts:
on this date in 1924: bobby franks murdered by leopold and loeb in what the pair intended to be the "perfect crime" that turned out to be less perfect in leopold's pompous attitude about the facts of the case.
on this date, two major crossings of the atlantic. in 1927, charles lindberg completes his solo flight and in 1932 amelia earhardt completed her solo flight.
fats waller was born 111 years old today.
mr. t is 65 years old today.