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!

=========================================================

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!

=========================================================

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.

=========================================================

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.

=========================================================

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.

=========================================================

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?"