A creative blog by Corey Mason on The Whole 9

worldOne blesstival

Blesstival …. Restival …

worldOnelove sunflower power was in full blossom and effect in El Cerrito Cali this July 3-4 …

THANK ya’lll to all who made the trip to the Bay Rim  ….  for a glorious couple of days together grazin in the grass …. Appreciation to Rocky Dawuni and Dwight Tribble, Lisa Schultz and Willow, who otherwise reside in LA …

A festival is a rather huge undertaking, and this year we again grew incrementally all around .. which means beautiful and sometimes painful lessons …. sound and staging, managing thousands of people, and some unruly pets, and the unexpected golf cart crash  …

Thank you City and citizens of El Cerrito !  and for all the extended positive vibrations and well wishes ….

Highlights are many, and different for everyone. From the intimacy of the opening solo performance of Folkster John McCord through all the scene and sound changes all day  …. through the evening salsa jam …. kids frolicking and crowd skankin ….  vacilando !

I’ll mention here that, at one point in the day … Gamelan Sekar Jaya had assembled on stage .. in royal purple “Nehru” jackets  and sarongs and flowered head wraps …  and had EVERYONE enthralled in shimmering Balinese musics and classical costumed, nearly fantasmagoric  dance … on a neighborhood baseball field … the spirits had been invited and descended/emanated,  palpably …

I almost could not believe my ears and eyes … the trees, flags, light and breeze seemed to conspire …. Everything was taken /caught up in it …. my beloved wife and co-producer Debra Sue came into the sound tent … and burst into showers of unrestrained, exultant tears …  we kissed and swayed .. and engaged in deep sparkly eyes technique …

Country … Reggae … Hip Hop … Berber … Jazz …. eye to eye and soul to soul allaround  … nice nice nice ….

As Michael Roman said …the festival was a worldOneradio show in 3D ….all the messages and musics unfolded into a life affirming beautiful spectacle …

Been repairing and repacking all this last week … its nearly a wrap …. and finally getting some much needed non-list oriented sleep  …. What a blesstival … now,  restival ….. = : ) ~

Corey…you truly outdid yourself this year. Hard to believe that the worldOne Festival could possibly become more beautiful, but it did. Thank you for your vision, hard work, and faith. Can’t wait to see it next year…and to do one in LA sometime soon.

Oop…posted two of Dwight Trible…and while he certainly deserves double billing, I meant to post one of Rocky Dawuni as well…

Where’s the Dwight Trible? Love that guy; incredible singer!

He’s the double image in my first comment…

Wow, when was this photo taken? I’ve never seen him looking quite like that.

12th worldOnefestival circle .. Rumba in the Urban Jungle

Here comes the sun and I say.., its alright  … George Harrison

.. and the sunflowers …

Flower power , power flower of love … Stevie Wonder …

in a glorious celebration of musiculturarts .. and the rumors and conditions of peace …

Stop de war … increase de peace … violence only leave us in silence, me a tell dem … Shabba Ranks

If you have been patient enough to bear with this blog column  … thank you .. walk in beauty,  and axé …

Earthy context …. cataclysmic environmental disaster bubbling in the Gulf,  and the World Cup …  what respective spectacles of the moment  …

watching (muted) USA England at the moment .. cannot figure out what fan-generated sound-maker is making that amazing/distressing droning sound … its less “annoying”  via Univision …  just clipped a NYT /Clive Mason (distant relation?)  photo of Siphiwe Tshambala delivering a ninja-like balazo, to make it 1-0  for RSA over Mejico … a hard fought game … again … amidst a global backdrop of epic pairs of opposites ….

South Africa spent nearly 6 billion to host a ball game .. THE ball game … while nearly 1 in 10 South Africans are afflicted with HIV/AIDS … and we are busy producing /buying/using petroleum-using vehicles as if oil and nature/time will never “run out” … to the tune of BILLIONS in private profit taking in direct inverse proportion to perilous environmental degradation ….

Life is like a dream and you are the dreamer … Lucid Living / Timothy Freke

I have spent this year laboring deeper, and longer as a public school teacher… and worldOneradio producer …  its all ONE thing for me now .. I am honestly not quite sure, after 12 full time years,  if I, mi organismo, can endure the public school system … swelling class sizes, institutional corporatisms, educational status quo,  posing that we are all about reform, blazing trails … daily I have been immersed with keen, social action-aspiring and  thoughtful (and too-often, apathetic, unsupported) youth, many of whom I admired and got to hug at graduation yesterday … and then battled in air hockey at Grad Night last night … ( Lisa Schultz! looking forward to a an overdue rematch)  writing protests appeals to Clear Channel/ Cox etc…  where else to be? …

Look up Hannah … Look up !     Charlie Chaplin

It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood … if you are in, or can make your

way to the neighborhood , won’t you be our neighbor ( here on the  SF East Bay Rim) ?  …

It was a good day in LA ….. throwin up a peace sign …. WAR ..

please see the website for full details www.worldoneradio.org … and if you can be here with us July 3,4 … e komo mai …

I am particularly pleased to have this opportunity to gather these artists in this 12th annual festival circle …. folkies, blue grassers, gamelan, jazz, reggae, berber, hip hop and latino-tropicalistas …visual, and creative artists and carnavaleros .. youth and elders … Fletcher Oakes’ and Heidi Rand’s floral mandalas, Lulu’s and  Orange Crush’s soaring flags, Corey tipping his high hat while Michael Roman’s rides the symbols …Marc Canepa’s metal arts totems …

The City of El Cerrito has been stellar, and committed to an enduring vision and community celebration, despite a harrowing budget climate … and we have overcome many obstacles and hurdles already …. It couldn’t happen without a lotta help from our friends and like-minded community-enlightened-enterprising sponsors  ..

Gracias a la vida … que nos ha dado tanto … Mercedes Sosa …

Festival season is here in North America … music festivals abound in the Cities .. to help folks shake their beauty and the blues … healings of sorts , certainly …. camping festivals in the country  and Sierras … Pow Wows in the heartlands and plains  ….  to wit … the first annual, and inaugural Richmond Community is  June 26th this month … which will affirm more than spaghetti straps and cold beer …. ( with all due respect to cut offs, crop tops and flip-flops)  …

Whether its red white and blue and/or  red, gold, and green or all the colors and tastes in between …

One love, one heart, let’s get together and feel alright … Robert Nesta

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has… Margaret Mead

What’s on your radar this summer, on or off the beaten path?

Vips … absolutely enraptured here this week with Emerson Quartet renderings of Bach and Mozart, the soundtrack to Soloist,  mixed and assorted Ibiza-centric / Pacha vibez ( Kiko Navarro), Alice Coultrane ( Universal Consciousness) , Pharoah Sanders ( Jewles of Thought) Best of Brazilica and African Beats ( each a triple disc compilation), and Bhood( Bollyhood  sic: Bolly wood+ Hip Hop ) …   Chico Trujillo ( Barbes records) is spinning right now in our salon, eliciting peals from my gorgeous and beloved wife, down the hall …  on so on and so on,  and scoobie .. yo0bie knowin the rest       = : ) ~


I dig your music, I appreciate your concerns and I think I like your ideas, but with this one being a bit of an exception, I often find your posts to be so chaotic they’re almost impossible to read. And I really want to be able to read em! Now I’ve got nothing against using string of consciousness and tangential evolution of one’s thoughts to communicate. Some of my favorite writers and poets, like Kerouac and Joyce, often do this. But man, I gotta tell you, sometimes reading your stuff makes relaxing my ears enough to understand ital-speak on the streets of Kingston seem easy by comparison. Maybe it’s just me. Love ya bro.

LOL ..

I know Brother .. appreciation … and thank you … LOVUback …

I feel the same way about them … circular …. after-glow of listening to Mssr. Sanders ? IDK …. definitely not linear strings, more like my nocturnal dreaming … which I let bubble up .. and ponder … and then refer to our Voyager Tarot .. and the sun/shadows in the back yard …

IRIE BOM BOM !

Are ya stayin cool today … hope so …

= : ) ~

See, that’s what I’m talking about. Yes-i, Pharoah and his master plan I presume, as begat by the mighty Arkestra and Trane’s love supreme. Of tarot I know little, but those cards sure are pretty. < ;D

have a good one this weekend. it’s a biggie for you.

Gracias Hermano … worldonedercats are a-gogo ! = : ) ~

Dark Dreams Bubble … Toil and Trouble

Bad Dreams > Pay Attention > DisAster in 3-D

Our nocturnal dreams project our anxieties, fears and detunements … expose emotional realities akin to the process of manifestation of our earthly circumstances .. and we notice, discuss, decode, pay attention or we don’t

should we not heed … round we go again, with the ante stackin up until we have a day mare, bad star, disaster instead of a nightmare …. health crisis or cataclysm ..  oily explosions … nature / our bodies don’t lie …   the dark side is a juicy teacher .. with its own looking-glass language .. in the journey of the soul …

In the year 2010, disasters abound .. stress and social disorder .. its all connected … and some wildy unholy sh– … our exponentially expansive (personal) media network ( nervework) is responsive, though on tilt due to heavy commercialization / glamor/ clamor, and otherwise  …  twisted or oppressed by various powerful commercial interests and propagandists …

This world is movin much too fast we’re race babbling …. Stevie Wonder  / Secret Life of Plants

extreme capitalism meltdown …corporations vs labor/ regular folk / public education   …  Wall Street vs everycommodity and everybody as a commodity  …. wealth vs commonwealth …economy vs ecology, private vs public (education!)  …  oil / natural gas wars ..  religious tribal wars, crusades vs jihads,  church sex-scandal implosions  ..  Malawian bible-stoked  homophobia .. Chinese group-sexophobia  and infobia….  … bizarre attacks on children … drug-lord border wars,  manifest-destiny-nationalists vs  browner-redder mo’melanin  humans ….  tea party? people vs  gente de color cafe  … epic myth-steeped movies and epic earthy turmoils  .. junk food and junk media … social? media which can drive teen suicides  … post 9-11 collective trauma  echoes of the T-word … villagers vs aristocracy … students vs police …insurance companies vs health …  military industrial complex …  prison industrial complex  …. destroy and build for profit … . greedia, advertising-entertainment complex  …

Bad dreams are good .. in the great plan …. Joni Mitchell / Shine

all quite convenient to industrial-political purposes … Monsanto vs Seeds … Bechtel vs Water  …  BP et al vs the Oceans (Yemaya)  ..  HAARP vs  Shango …. Red vs Blue ( Nortenos /Surenos,  Dems / Republicans)  …  … Aliens vs Predator …  us vs them ..  cars vs bikes … television vs hearth, polarize and blame ,  …  mockery of hope or change  …  everyone on blast … “you’re the Hitler” … AHHHHHHHH !

Devil on the dance floor thirsty for a partner, stay off ‘m .. Mos Def + Talib Kweli + Hi Tech

Let’s rewind the mind .. mind the soul …

Classic, commonly agreed upon virtues have all been distorted, while the dark side is amped in a wicked masquerade  …  The Mahatma’s seven deadly sins …

  • Wealth without Work                       ( Wall St  -  thievery corporations)
  • Pleasure without Conscience     (  grab and go, use-it-up-toss-it mind set, i god)
  • Science without Humanity           ( relentless resource grabs, gadgetricks )
  • Knowledge without Character    ( Egoism, socio-pathology, me me me )
  • Politics without Principle              ( Divisiveness, exclusion, you’re the Hitler, they gotta go)
  • Commerce without Morality       ( unbridled capitalism, enviro-degradation)
  • Worship without Sacrifice             ( Narrow zealotry, intolerance, violence)

In the face of so many disasters, self made, and so much trouble in the world  … we really need to wake up  ..  to have brighter eyes … indeed,  genuine sparking eyes technique …..

I want you to go the window and open it and yell “I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take it anymore  … Howard Beal

Any pairs of opposites or stressors you’d care to point out/ exorcise?

We are finding audio insights inspiration this week, among others, with Damian and Nas (Distant Relatives), The Craze, Elizabeth Ayoub ( Oceanos y Lunas), Beat Dimensions          (Compilation)  Alex Theory (Emergence 2012), Little Wayne (Tha Carter III), Chris Rock’s film Good Hair, and Jennifer Baichwal’s Act of God,  the Best of Boston, Mercy Me, Mary Mary, The Great Dictator,  and Flying Lotus Cosmogramma.

Those with eyes like the dawn .. ride on and turn the people on      … Finley Quaye  / Maverick a Strike   = : ) ~

“Excess is excrement… Excrement retained in the body is a poison.”
— Ursula K. Le Guin – The Dispossessed

I Want More Porn
-Tom Willett
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiyTY9kgpiQ

NICE !

TOM ! what a back yard hoot ! LOL …

How would I begin my day , if not deleting dozens of boner-med ads, first thing in the morning, in between personal missives and gleaning news items … over a strong (stiff!) coffee …

The internet if for porn … Avenue Q

This week, Its apparently also for allowing the Dalai Lama to tweet @ 8000 Chinese tweetees , who are otherwise summarliy banned from hearing his words … jampa ninjay ! = : ) ~

Cory, what a great poem to a dying cause. I recommend In the Wake at the Berkeley Rep. A play for the day.

Enviro-Mental ..

Dear Mssrs. Mays,

I am sorry to trouble you with this email. It seems necessary.

I feel I must call you attention to its content, otherwise addressed to Mr. Pugh in San Francisco.

I must appeal to you as Owner / Operators to review the standards for overt content and innuendo.

Songs / lyricisms can stir powerful emotions.

Your company clearly had insight into the emotions of the Nation,  after the tragedy of 911, and clearly edited stations’ content accordingly.

Repetitive messages, lyrical, commercial, and otherwise  certainly have a net effect.

Your entire business keeps this as tenet, as an advertising/ entertainment corporation.

So, one would infer that you clearly can have the additional level of insight and sensitivity to explore the themes and critique in my complaint, attached.

I hope you will not discard this critique and go right back to being busy, but instead, engage your staff in meaningful internal dialogue, respectful of you communities of license, and our collective highest ideals and aspirations as American Citizens.

Previous appeals to KMEL have been summarily disregarded and unanswered.  Yes, my previous appeals have been feisty, reflecting the roiling content I too often hear via KMEL.  I have filed same with the FCC.

There certainly must be higher ground for FCC licensed American broadcast entertainment, common and uncommon sense,  and public service.

Best wishes …

Corey Mason

HS Educator / Parent / Citizen / Fellow Broadcaster

El Cerrito, CA

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ April 22, 2010

Mr. Dave Pugh

Clear Channel / Regional Market Manager

340 Townsend Street
Fourth Floor
San Francisco, CA 94107

Who the f—k are ya’ll  …  who are these bi—ches…

(Transcribed   lyrics …  In excerpt,  1:45 pm, 4.21.10,  broadcast via 106.1 KMEL )

And otherwise, Good Day Mr. Pugh,

Offended?

Ya’ll some stubborn, incommunicado folks.  I have written and called several times to your company / office, and have yet to receive the favor of any reply at all.

Whose people’s station ? The most hip hop and R&B?

Both are fabrications, propagandas, easily shattered by the merest inquiry.

I have learned I will likely NOT hear from you.

I write to you as a Citizen, Parent, Educator among adolescents, (perhaps adolescent executives), and fellow broadcaster.

You must believe in the power of a :30 or a :60  repeating as you sell them daily, all day, all night,  for top dollar and claim results for the sponsor of the message.

Songs, with the catchiest lyrics and beats must be among the most compelling material on your station  (songs echoed by ring-tones and videos).  NO ADVERTISER could afford the 60-80 spins a week you give these lyrical messages. In effect, each hot rotation delivers 60-80 transmissions of the ideational content, usually highly emotional/tantalizing.

This writer is no prude, rather full functioning, and certainly foibled, adult. This is not an artistic critique of Drake, who rocks it his way, for the Club, car, stereo or I Pod.

This  IS another query of your company’s broadcast moral/values compass.  Slippery slope, and on the downhill slide.

Daytime-all-ages –access-radio is NOT A NIGHTCLUB. Young children and adolescents are exiting schools at the hours you broadcast this kind of material.

Edited or not, virtually everyone learns song lyrics faster than I can teach Spanish 1.

Editing out overt cuss words, or lewd content accomplishes little. Neuro-linguistically, the bleeped content is there, blanks filled-in, inside the listeners’ head.

Again, Drake gets to record it, and I have respect for that.  It’s a free speech country, and I am flexing mine right about now, too.

You get to decide on broadcast merit. So do I.  I feel you need to examine your standards for same.

The lyrics to this song are readily available on-line. A casual perusal of same will reveal the (promotion of the) following themes, while I have added a counterpoint for some reflection:

Mental / emotional confusion (not clarity )

Disrespectful profane speech, toward fans and women ( egoism and sexism, not graciousness)

Intoxication and tobacco use (not taste / moderation )

Celebrity /narcissism ( not service /generosity )

Braggadocio /based on money (not upon merit of the work /society-family-community dividend)

Outfits / Clothes as vital ( trumps character?  )

Looks?  as vital determinants for an (intoxicated)  sexual liaison ( not character/relatedness)

Music as anesthesia (not inspiration)

N-bomb salted (have we had enough racist constructions/deconstructions, yet ?)

En toto, I suggest the song should rather serve as a warning for excess, though that point is summarily missed in the environment in which you present it. A didactic presentation is certainly possible. Maybe an artistic interview with Drake, to context  the song?

Drake himself finally resigns /sighs, “ I’m really too young to be feelin’ this old .” Bravo.

Am I doin’ too much ?  I do not think nor feel so … I work daily among Youth who you reach, Target, cultivate as consumers. Your FM reaches into my classrooms and my neighborhood.

I LIVE and WORK in the area you pollute. Yes, pollute, akin to discarding, for example, solvents ( which have their utility, merit, and place)  errantly, into a storm drain, where it does not belong, and is a pollutant/killer.    

Finally, I suggest that economy and ecology and psychology and musicology  and broadcast are inextricably linked.

You need to find some higher ground on which to make and take money, with some greater social, spiritual dividend for you community of service and business.

With best wishes for continued success , not excess, on higher ground.

Sincerely,

Corey Mason

Citizen, Educator, Parent, Broadcaster

1334 Lawrence Street

El Cerrito, CA    94530

CC:  Lowry Mays, Mark Mays

Read both your letters to Ms. Mays and Mr Pugh.

Am I to understand that this station (KMEL) is dropping the F-bomb and the N-bomb and does so with utter disregard to it’s listening audience. Not to mention the obvious provocation?

What type of sponsor/advertiser would stand for this?

Tuned in~

R~

Good Morning Good Morning Buenos !

yes, the same .. and there’s several hundreds of antennae sending out the same bad vibes this week, whether unClear Channel or Cox, and this tune is relatively tepid, really.

While my letter of Feb 09 went unanswered, Mr. Pugh HAS responded, by phone, and insisted that he takes no umbrage at all with my “letter nor its intent, nor tone, point for point”. I have sent him another missive to his personal email, which he afforded me. No substantive comment yet. At least he hasn’t ducked me. He is dancing though, managing 7 radio licenses here … McRadio…. If he spent some genuine time actually among urban adolescents, parents, folks and social/health workers, instead of advertising executives, he might awaken and change his tunes. Ojala!

I will press the conversation .. and i hope that hundreds of others are doing the same in their respective neighborhoods…

With respect to the juicy profane dark side, it has its place and domain ..

that said … there is so much higher ground, in the daylight, in the daylight ..

( thank you Stevie Wonder and Alison Krauss) = : i ~

PACHA PACHANGA

Earthday 2010 …

Even in recent decades, used to be a controversial act, considered kookie,  even heretical or criminal to speak up for the rights of  creatures, birds n bees.  We now instruct youth on environmental principles in kindergarten.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ah, kinder garten …

… the invention of a serious, philosophical teacher of teachers, Friedrich Wilhelm August Froebel, born in 1782.

Froebel himself was largely self-educated and therefore escaped the grim, rigorous drills that passed for education in his day. He was thus free to dream of a different ideal, and he dedicated his life to providing children with an education that developed their spirits as well as their bodies by making use of a child’s natural playfulness and creativity. He was already noted as an educator when in 1837 he started the first preschool embodying his principles of guided play. Three years later, on May 1, 1840, he invented the name for it. Looking for a word to describe a sunny experience that would cultivate children like plants and let them bloom like flowers, he called it a children’s garden, that is, a Kinder-Garten.   (www.answers.com/topic/kindergarten).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lamentably, in important ways, environmentalisms, protections of indigenous lands, peoples, creatures, plants and biosphere are still considered fair game for unfettered capitalism, to disastrous ends.  Ask Monsanto about seed stock , or Bechtel about water.

For that matter lets keep it localer .. and ask a salmon about The American River(s), or Dolphins about sushi, or anyone about water bottles, or riding a bike or public transpo.

I had a onederful time at West County / Richmond,  CA Earthday on Saturday. Right smack dab in / beside the recycling plant. Along with all kinds of recy hands-on art for youthful citizens … a TREE Man worthy of an ENTmoot, Ballet Folklorico, Hula Halau, Classroom Safari,   all kinds of info on gardening / composting, waste reduction and tours of the enormous ( and rather sparkly) facility via tram … a la Disneyland (without the Disneying aggravations).

When I am playing djmc  .. it’s always supa-kul when folks approach me with that wide- eyed look on discovery  .. what’s that song on the speakers ? This Earthday, the booth was happily charged by a few folks when we bumped  Tiempo Libre (Bach en Habana), and Chuck Mangione ( in between the Dramatics, Beatles, Latifah, Lucky Dube,  Marley, Owl City).

All well and good good vibrations ….,  the show stealer was LIVE ( over a track )  … a pocket-MC, 7 years old,  named Lil Yanni … “Where’s The Money At?”…   a catchy hip-hop bounce  .. that crows “ This Capitalistic System Is Whack  … poor can’t can get loans while the banker is fat”  ….    penned by Lil Yanni’s stage granny … tough–as-nails,  with a deep light in her eyes, full of grand-maternal love, fire,  hope and aspiration… at some point I had Yanni in a wraparound hug, with him in his wraparound shades, while his littler sis grabbed, delightedly,  at my braided-chinny …

On the way home after packing up other community booths with collaborators,

I herad a taoster on our own radio station, in a Carribbean themed show hosted by dj Dale. OMG … I was driving, listening intently for details or lyrics,   and holding onto a pen and paper, scrtitching away … DAMN no back announce …  and came up with my prize after a few web searches back at la casa     ..

Snagga Puss.. can’t wait to get my ears on some extended material .

When  was the last time you had to know what was on the radio/ soundsystem, digged for it,  and got you some fresh ?

And Happy Pachamama Day…    every day ….                                                                                               = : ) ~

More explorations, among ther faves  this week include : Pablo Aslan (Tango),  Klezmer Buenos Aires, Iomos Marad and Eulorhythmics ( All Natural Hip Hop label)  Leftism ( dub electronica jaz) , soundtrack to Departures (Okuributo), and mash-ups of excerpts of “Men Who Stare at Goats”.

Passover .. Come in .. Come Over

Pesach + Giving Thanksgiving

Our spunky-brilliant-wry-lively-septuaoctogenarian friends invited us as guests to share their family Passover Seder this week. It’s been awhile for me. And I like Pesach, the ceremony.

Betty met Debra Sue, at our local float-a-go-go, ( Angela’s water-aerobics class at our community pool) and offered help at our festival. What a mitzvah! Betty and hubby Herb, two sprites, were responsible for the Sonoma County Folk Festival for decades (no “A Mighty Wind-o”), and these days they volunteer, usher, and mush for all kinds of bay rim musicarts organizations.

Herb likes to ad-lib an abbreviated version of the Seder, with all ceremonial /symbolic displays and gestures in place, accompanied by readings, choral responses and songs from the Hagadah.

It was an honor, and a joy, to sit beside him. His stories, anecdotes, and gentle

wisdoms are always non-stop. To absorb him, I usually have to just, well, listen. (Upon reading that last sentence, my dear friend Lisa, likely has sparkling water shooting-out-of-her-nose-bout-now. yUP.

Herb leveled me, with a casual alighting, a perusal, as he was just opening, thumbing the Hagadah, not quite as an official opening invocation, but so it was.

He just opened the book, and this is what he said, in the tone and cadence, warmth and depth, that Jewish men utter these things …

“Each drop of wine we pour is hope and prayer

That people will cast out the plagues that threaten everyone

Everywhere they are found, beginning in our own hearts.

The making of war,

The teaching of hate and violence,

Despoliation of the earth,

Perversion of justice and crime, neglect of human needs,

Oppression  of nations and peoples,

Corruption of culture,

Subjugation of science, learning, and human discourse,

And erosion of freedoms “….

I ponder the turbulence and distortions of our times .. reflected in every line …

And so for the moment, as I reiterate these words here …

I am quieted … turning inward …. reminded … rewinded ….

remaining quietly stirred …  into gratitude … and resolve …                    = : i ~

Bumping the worldOnewoofers, among others this week  : Miles Davis ( electronic), Bone Thugs + Harmony,  Jimmy Carter addressing the Nation on NRG and SPIRIT/ WILL  looped with (Lush Life)  Electronica, Jorge Drexler (Aamar la Trauma) , Joni Mitchell ( Shine),  Deep forest (w  Marta Sebastyen) Mo’ Latifah, John Fogerty + Blue Ridge Rangers, Tiempo Libre ( Bach to Havana) Sean Lennon, and Bob Sinclair.  And we still can’t get enough of Eliza Gilkyson ( Beautiful World)  … reminder .. you’ll find a program archive of several hours in a loop @www.worldoneradio.org

Ha! I did laugh (hard) when I read this, but luckily I didn’t have sparkling water come out of my mouth. Beautiful…thanks for sharing the love.

MATRIOT(ISM)

Patriotism+ Matriotism ? …

I consider my daily runnings,  my very own personal vehicle / universal learning in this crucible of co-creation.

There’s intuitive tools and practices, dreams and tarot, nature, skies,  web,  and other media.

If I can frame a question, I can receive an answer, sometimes right up in my face, and sometimes a flicker or a whisper.

Seeing  hundreds of people every day, for about 6 hours every weekday, I am in the mix with 30 – 40 bright young adolescent (maturing) minds. Generally a herd of cats, with emotions /qi, joy, crankiness and drama running high,and the room is bugged for bullshit detection.

I realized that we have created a “compass” and even a glyph for the radio class … peopleovepeacecopowerunity.   I realized that otherwise, we had complex set of school ESLR’s  (expected school-wide learning results)  and our school site Gaucho logo … while cliché and tired, they are still useful and important to young minds/hearts.

I recently asked my students how they feel about the absence of a Pledge of Allegiance in their (daily) lives.

Most said they don’t miss it, as it has been rendered meaningless. An equal number said they felt sad about that very reality. Not a small number commented that they wish they felt otherwise, that we should take time to state our pride in ourselves, our nation .  Some said once-a-week, or once a lifetime is quite sufficient.  I learned that even in a casual high school anecdotal survey.  So there is an absence, a lament, and a yearning ….

The history of the officially adopted US pledge has a few interesting core ideas and twists/turns in it, including the presence or absence of the concept/word “god”( Poseidon? Ravan? Odin? )  and even the manner of salute ( hand extended a la Nazi, was re-conceived by FDR’s admin to hand-over-heart).

Remember John and Yoko’s surrender and declaration of Newtopia ?

I had a first pass at a Citizen’s pledge  … how about crafting your own ? See what WE’ALL come up with ?

a “ Millions of Persons Free-Spirited Open-ended Pledgitation ?

This one is kind of matriotic..

I pledge my awareness, LOVE, and positive action …

On behalf of all Peoples and the Lands of our Nation

And to our precious world itself, its Flora and Fauna,

in which we are each a vital citizen-collaborator .

All Nations, in Respectful Co-Creativity, Interdependent,

With conscientious Work, Service,  and distribution of the

Conditions of Peace:

Equal Rights, Justice, Mediation, and Liberty ..

through the open sharing of  Knowledge and Practice

in Nutrition, Health, Education, Ecology, Enterprise,

Information, Technology, Culture, Imagination, ReCreation,

Arts and  Entertainment, and the Conditions of Happiness for all  ….

We’re throwing up a peace sign … ( War / Good day in LA)

Have a beautiful day in your neighborhood  …     = : ) ~

ViPS .. this week,  we are spinning along with, among others,  with Loop Guru, Joanna Newsom, Bob Sinclair,  Shoshan, Owl, Sean Lennon, Tony Allen, Jorge Drexler ,Nasio Fontaine, Sidestepper, Slim Whitman, and LATIFAH

It’s funny how many people think that the pledge of allegiance can do more harm than good.

I wasn’t around in the 50’s when the “black list” came ’bout in Hollywood (screenwriters, actors, directors, musicians, and other U.S. entertainment professionals who were denied employment in the field because of their political beliefs or associations, real or suspected) or when the Comics Code came about in response to public concern about what was deemed inappropriate material in many comic books.

Correct me if I’m wrong but weren’t the 50’s Happy Days?

I mean Richie Cunningham, Ralph Malph and Potsie (the first official nerd) Webber were all sympathizers?

Weird Astonishing Tales indeed…

With every iota of my being:

I pledge to keep on rocking in the free world

March to the beat of a different drummer

Shout to the devil and whisper sweet nothings

Hear no evil, speak no evil but watch Evel Knievel jump Snake River Canyon again and again in slow motion

and to the republic that gave us burger stands

One nation under GOD

with money that bears his name but somehow isn’t enough to feed the world

Positivity and Health Care for all.

peace and light~

R~

Bollywood Swingers

I have walked the streets of Delhi and Mumbai (Bombay) …  and have been utterly overwhelmed .. I’d love to immerse there again … that said, I found out again, like Dorothy, ( and akin to Earth Wind and Fire’s “Fantasy”) … there’s no place like home, for me to study the universe (one turning) .

In recent years, @ 10 % of the students I greet daily, are of South Asian ancestry. Just a few years ago, they fired up a SASU on campus to join our on-campus LSU and BSU, and our GSA, and all now march-behind-banners in the El Cerrito homecoming parade. Our health center offers a quiet space, to honor the needs/ wishes for students who wish to be observant of prayer requirements.

It was with great enthusiasm that I looked forward to a SASU sponsored Bollywood feature last Friday in our Performing Arts Center Auditorium : The Three Idiots ( not quite released on DVD and advertised in a poster-blast all over Little India in Berkeley).  A three-hour epic, with twists and turns, a love story, wealth, poverty, culture and schlock, musical interludes,  slapstick, predictable camp, high moral arcs and several genuine story line shocks and scenes which left me agape.  The overall experience was ultimately uplifting. I was giddy upon exit. Maybe like any lifetime itself?  Highly recommendable (another favorite Bollywood to date is “Swades”).

Curiously, while we watched a pre-reel of pop videos, I was astonished at the overt violence and sexuality portrayed in what are apparently contemporary young adult pop music videos. Pistol- brandishings, male-female predation, and martial arts scenes are kinda randomly spliced in front of the otherwise cabaret-sexi- Bollywood dance features … the violent depictions were clumsy, spliced-in, out of any perceptible story/media context, (or I was)  and I was a bit bewildered.

The scenes seemed to be there to simply provide some kind of dark intoxicating juice. I am still dealing/feeling with it … you know, you cannot know your strength/virtue without an enemy …. Does broadcasting the darkness have the net effect of promotion of same ?

Or is the net effect a warning … akin to works by Shakespeare, Greek Tragedies, The Ramayana, happy and sad mask side-by side?  Beatles vs Rolling Stones ? Burning Man ? Sex, Drugs Rock n’ Roll …. Peace Love and  n HIP HOP Soul ….

During the video pre-roll, I had a concurrent rolling dialogue with my colleague, a head-covered Muslim female.   Apparently, we were noisy, and we were shushed by a Chinese man,  seated a few seats to our right.. he urgently asked us to “Calm Down !”. LOL. While the  videos themselves were designed to amp and titillate.

I do plan to take it up with SASU, and learn what I can from a very thoughtful bunch of students with whom I enjoy rapport. Khizer, SASU Prez and the event’s producer, is one of our brightest student broadcasters.

In the pre-dawn twilight …. reviewing weekend-produced worldOneradio programs … a musical mash up of Michael Moore’s film “Capitalism: A Love Story” …  …   my ears have just been treated to John Lennon’s “Mind Games” , Tony Allen’s “Asiko”, and Eliza Gilkyson’s “Party’s Over”,  Kaya Project, and Nagore Sessions  …while my dear wife gently sleeps.  Walk on the Wild Side in the remix, Latifa’s UNITY, Easy Star All Stars’ Lonely Hearts, Jonah Sharp, Stevie Wonder’s “A Seed Is A Star” and Finley Quaye’s “Broadcast”, Bone Thugs and Harmony “ Get UP”, Owl City,   Palo! y mas y mas hasta el subito del sol .

Incidentally , you’ll find a recent archive of radio flows on www.worldoneradio.org… Home page .. top right … green button “Listen Live”  … enjoy …   Holla !    = : ) ~

Thanks for sharing the Bollywood film review. When I hear a title like The Three Idiots I immediately think; tragic comedy starring Dubya, Cheney and Rumsfeld, not to be mistaken with Moe, Larry and Curly. ;)

Pls help me with a few abbreviated group names. South Asian Student Union (SASU) LSU (Latino Student Union?) BSU? GSA? This health center and observance of prayer is very interesting. I’m curious.Do the students pray as a group or in private?

peace~
Rosendo

Hola Hermano …

Yes .. BSU: Black Student Union … GSA : Gay Straight Alliance … who will be attending our Wednesday 3.24 radio interview with HellaGay.com

the Muslim students are invited to enjoy a quiet space, as individuals… how they have chosen to use the time ( as a group) in unknown to me .. asIi am teaching other students at that/ those times … i will keep an ear pealed … and share what I learn .. it is an experiment ( insperiment?) in progress …

and yes, here’s to NO sequel of tragic tale of the Three Enemigos ….
(and then, if they hadn’t nearly killed the nation, how would we know our strength? )

while we know there are armies of health? industry executives, actuaries, lawyers, and derivative calculators going to work this AM to vampire the new health care legislation … here’ to our HEAL-th = : ) ~

Gracias amigo~

I knew I was on the right acronymic track ;)

I like the Dem’s chances in this fight. This Health Care Reform has got some legs. Watch for the Prez to lower the boom come November elections

Fight the good fight~

R~

Dia Gnosis : There is a cure

Economic-Social-Psychic-Cancer ..

Curing cancer is at some level, a change in molecular/atomic vibration. A change in electromagnetic, light, sound vibration.

Lets all tune in to the same frequency so we don’t get confused … Mad Professor.

1500 words follow … not exactly a walk in the park … more like a blogazo…thank you for the favor of your reading, reading and any comments …

I tuned through a few commercial radio stations yesterday for @ 15 minutes @ 2 pm. If I were tuning in from a saucer, I’d would surmise we are feeling self-possessed, sexy-thing-crazed, and/or drunk.  And yes, I do believe in miracles since Debra Sue came along.

While we find that  peoplelovepeaceecopowerunity is reasonable, fun, and urgent, our little keCg voice is, at the moment, marginalized by “deregulation” which gave rise to megalocongolerate commercial / celebrity media.

I do love musics, and the evolving place of sonic art form in coffee/ chai houses, clubs, festivals, headphones, radios, and zeitgeist.  Its how  my mind focuses and my heart pounds. You certainly will have noted, this space is largely dedicated for other(parallel) purposes than reviewing /waxing about recent live musics, recorded releases  … and for this, I apologize.  I would love to retire, to a gorgeous meadow,  giggling with my beloved, and sing with passerby birds.  There is something  vastly more important pressing on me in what I actually do every day, including this  SUNday morning .

Its because our beautiful land/peoples/nation/we are in a CRISIS … and the radio / media industry is part of largely dysfunctional GREEDIA … its functioning under extreme capitalism, as Dr. King articulated … dysfunctional and failing to  WAKE US UP, and get us UP …and get us MOVING ….  and this blog is after all, is a tendril of worldOneradio … another bump in the VU meter, photon torpedo … another urging-in-progress … and we thank you again, for reading, listening .. forwarding .. doing what you do in your canoe.

We are broadcasting and working daily with young minds here on the East SF Bay Rim to build skills, skilled optimism, positive civic sense and global citizenship.  Our District is nearly bankrupt from its own internal demons  redoubled by the state / national conundrum. Our station currently has NO BUDGET associated with its continued operation under the auspices of the School District.  I regularly spend ( personal /household) money on school / program supplies. I spend thousands and get to write off 250. a year. worldOne is considered a “hobby” under tax law, and I have been funding it for 15 years. I hustle sponsorships and trades.  Despite the overwhelming odds , our 12th annual worldOnefestival is indeed on the way.  Sponsorships, small donations and philanthropy welcomed.

Here’s to a Billion Amorista March …. in every village, town, and city  … Collaborating working with our co-beings in nature and the SUN …To chant down the DARK SIDE  … cancer … maelstrom …

Millions of mind guerrillas,
Putting their soul power to the karmic wheel,
Keep on playing those mind games forever,
Raising the spirit of peace and love, not war,

(I want you to make love, not war, I know you’ve heard it before)   ….   John Lennon

Modern propagandists are using the same techniques already darkly employed over hundreds of years. And are using their modern institutions of politics and media to drive a relentlessly destructive agenda against indigenous and regular folks everywhere, including themselves

SIC(k): Ye olde slaverye dayse ..  Separate the light-skinned from the dark-skinned, and the men from the women…..  Destroy family, community, and affinity.  Change the music, language, religion, food, clothing and anything that relates to genuine ethnic history, roots and culture.. much less a hopeful and  egalitarian vision of the future.

Extrapolated for 2010 , North America, USA  …

The plantation-owner manifest-destiner has morphed, insidiously into deeper layers of ownership of legal / mental real estate.  They now own the “Federal” Reserve, the Treasury,  corporations and contracts, and utilize new overt and covert tools to commodify nature and we the people.  Redefine and reshape it, appropriate it, (de)regulate it,(advertise inside it), enforce it with the force of and collusion of convenient law/ lawyers, militias…

And where necessary redefine it, obfuscate it , lie, cheat, and steal outright. WE’ VE SEEN IT ALL IN THE LAST TEN YEARS, PLAYED OUT LIKE A GIANT SCREENPLAY.  The problem is the lack of focus by our people/population. The over-class is defining the field of psychic battle and confusion. Remember when Maharishi Mahesh suggested mass TM to decrease violence in American cities?

Let’s break  down oppressive  strategy  some more.  Best if you divide and conquer.  Separate the PEOPLE on any variable that will keep them at each other’s throats…fighting / blaming among ourselves ( a la Jerry Springer?, who ushered in a thence new ” (whose?) reality tv” low ).

Use any tool necessary to create any irreconcilable polarity us /them, right wrong  :  Socialism/ Religion / Sexuality / FEAR/ Terrorism/ Force .. ENTERTAINMENT …. any quick psychic-emotional FIX ….

Associate the results of the any abuse, mayhem on the victim. Offer a savior, and/or install your own . Deeper psychic angst hot buttons to exploit  .. “they are coming to get us  ….  I am not good enough( to be loved /saved) … I am / we are powerless, and cannot save ourselves,  SAVE US!”

Colonial, uber-capitalist, plutocrat class has been eager and able to manipulate religious fears, supplies and demands, and  militate overt and covert wars against communists, socialists, relatively poor ( agrarian) developing nations in Central/ South America and Arab lands over the last 50  ( and several hundred more) years, while ..

Domestically , clear, repeated and authoritative warnings were enunciated in nation-wide addresses by FDR , Dwight Eisenhower, JFK ,  Martin, Malcolm, and Jimmy Carter …. While transparency and hope were enunciated and incarnated by Barry.  He needs our help on every street, school, and workplace.

Tyrranies perpetuated elsewhere, will be and are perpetrated here. I suspect they will stop at nothing.

Its good for WARLL Street, after all.

Good news: WE HAVE THEM SURROUNDED.  But its not common knowledge due the shite storm they create and advertise.

They. IT, the dark side, has reared and directly assaulted this Presidency, the public, and the persona of Barack Obama.

Plutocrats exist in every culture and are bound by their goal of amassing wealth and power. In order to accomplish this goal, they must posses the wealth of the moment/ decade and they will stop at nothing, and their lust is a cancer consuming the world and everything in it. Up to and including its own host biosphere/world/ creatures/citizens. Fox and Foxisms are a pawn in this scenario. Just a chess piece in the game of mass manipulation to perpetuate confusion.

These same dark forces are relentlessly at work and openly unleashed in our own country. Nearly two trillion dollars ( that we know about ) have been transferred to private hands with virtually no accountability and no tangible plan for results.

How are things where you live ?

My Teacher paycheck and benefits is newly cut by @ 13%, and the propagandists have the temerity to attack social works and workers as acts of dreaded  and maligned socialism ( sharing and caring?) I am teaching 30 % more students with the unpaid OT and stress that goes with it. Private school kids/teachers are doing fine in small, well- funded classrooms ( paid for by comparatively well-heeled households).

The bailout committed every man woman and child in the US to a pledge of  @ $4000. each,  to “rescue/revive”an economy, driven to ruin by the banker – manipulator class. I have not had a single bank fee waived.  Lots of ‘em got million dollar bonuses for fucking up, or calculating manipulative derivative formulas to bamboozle us, legally.  Regular folks have been evicted out of their homes by these same bankers, whose parent corporations evade taxation and civic or ecological responsibility.  They are driving an agenda which foments planetary degradation, and will eventually choke themselves. CANCEROUS MALEVOLENCE.

Filling the voting public’s head with lies and or mush and keep them working- working- working, deluded, medicated, intoxicated of shopping  for the pile of material possessions that was  sold them- sold them- sold them as happy pills since the 50’s … along with the use of ( high and higher interest credit ) to acquire same … and lots of illusions( movies/media) in between. Cultural strip-minding.

We work more and more for less and less ,  and greedy-ass companies are taking bonuses and golden parachutes while    cutting pay and benefits and blaming any losses on the workers .  What a brain wash and mind- fuck.

We bought into the bank hype about owning HOMES as a commodity so that individuals could play banker / land baron .. all the while paying back the loan with decades of work for the favor buying in  … we have collectively helped banks drive home prices / ownership  increasingly out of reach … they promise a little piece of the pie ( a Masterful slight of hand) and yank the promise anytime the small lawyerese print will serve them.

Cities are laying off public workers and laying the problems and cuts at the feet of the employees instead of the managers  (another spBanking /corporate trick). Irony of Ironies … the uber-economy is cannibalizing ( with intent to corporatize / commodify EDUCATION AND HEALTH CARE  … flying right up in the face of … life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness .

IIlusions and fantasies are not genuine freedom. As we select and broadcast musics , they are woven in between ruminations and critiques.

WE ourselves believe in beauty. We trust these united rhythms help you on your way.

WAKE UP AND LIVE   ….. GET UP STAND UP ….     Bob Marley ….

We write, produce, work and write, educate youth daily to precipitate palpable wonders and signs.  Lets get busy.

Holla               = : ) ~

A Night at the Opera

A small and significant miracle, in trying educational/arts times…

Berkeley Opera now makes its home adjacent our keCg radio studios /classroom,  in the Performing Arts Wing, of the taxpayer-funded-rebuilt El Cerrito High School.  A thrilling development!

Since I started volunteering and subsequently working on the school site, we’ve been through a demolition (I literally strode/rode through 2 inch puddles and sewer shite in the dilapidated original building), and then we endured three terms in boxy, cramped, dark portables).

BiG UPS to Verilux (full spectrum natural light) and IKEA for helping us out with donations to brighten up those sad environs.

A partial review of a recent staging of a contemporary spin of Don Giovanni (complete with I phones and computer-projected lists of seductions :

Ginormous kudos to the entire ensemble and orchestra .. SENSATIONAL SOUND , VISUALS ….  Aside from being personally exhausted on Friday nights … the evening was nothing short of an epiphany … the theatre, sight-lines were delightfully intimate .. great acoustic quality …  felt like I was sitting in front formidable, brilliantly balanced,  expensive Magnapans  …. Brancoveneau as the Don is marvelously vain, comical, destructive and self-possessed … deliciously evil…I nearly burst / soiled myself ( you may quote me ) over flawless singing-thru-the-sushi … is that a genuine conservatory discipline? or self-taught  ?( while he deserved a riotous standing ovation, we gently note that  70% of the crowd was probably 70 +)   ..  and I am sure he received one, albeit imaginally)  Eugene is genuinely and gigantically anti-heroic … and this morning we are still throwing flowers at his boots… while I keep my wife at a safe distance …  I want to kiss him, and slap the sh—out of him …. the bastard! Aimee Puentes’ voice and kinetics / antics were sheer genius …. I hope she lives here, and will be part of the ensemble for  worldOne festival 2011!( I have proposed a Global Village People Ensemble) . I cannot call out every stage performer this AM, but to congratulate the entire ensemble … and fountaining orchestra. Their group work was simply riveting and delight of collaboration and swirling harmonics  …..

BRAVA / BRAVO ….  Encore !

I have attended full blown productions in Venice, Milan, LA, and SF .. and I can say that I enjoyed this production as much as any … and …. Oh, Aunty Em .. there’s no place like home..

How about you .. care to share reflections on Opera joys ( or pains) ?

Musical notes ; Yes.. opera is featured in worldOneradio  mixology .. while these weeks we are featuring/revisiting, among others: : Alex Theory, Bjork, Las Rubias del Norte, Gentle Giant, Spoon, Dave Mathews, Lama Gyurme + Jean Phillipe Rykiel, Sean Lennon, Manu Dibango, Black Seeds, Sweetwater, Lou Reed,  Rolling Stones, Tito Gonzalez, and various selections from “ Whip It” film soundtrack  …  on and on  till the break of dawn    …                                                = : ) ~