April 29, 2009

CONCERT CALENDAR, 4/29

Point Reyes Dance Palace
Friday, May 1 - The Kathy Kallick Band, 8 p.m.
Saturday, May 2 - David Freiberg and Friends, 3rd annual Bread and Roses benefit: retrospective concert with vocalist Linda Imperial, Starship pianist Chris Smith, and Kurt Huget on guitar, 8 p.m.
Sunday, May 3 - Del Sol String Quartet: Mestizaje, 4 p.m.

19 Broadway, Fairfax
Wednesday, April 29 - Batrhyme / 7:00 p.m., 8086 - 9:00 p.m.
Thursday, April 30 - Stymie & The Pimp Jones Luv Orchestra / 9:00 p.m.
Friday, May 1 - First Friday - reggae and dancehall / 9:00 p.m.
Sunday, May 3 - Critical Measures Trio / 9:30 p.m.

Phoenix Theater, Petaluma
Friday, May 1 - Mystic Roots Band, Top Shelf, A Red Cup Affair and Hillside Fire / 7:30 p.m., All ages

Ranch Nicasio
Friday, May 1-The Rancho Allstars / 8:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 2 - The Zydeco Flames / 8:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 3 - Jeffrey Halford and The Healers Unplugged! / 5 p.m.

Mystic Theatre, Petaluma
Friday, May 1 - Wonderbread 5 / 8:45 p.m.
Saturday, May 2 - Cornmeal, Or The Whale / 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, May 3 - Hard Truth Soldiers Tour 2009 Featuring: Paris, Talib Kweli, Pete Rock, Planet Asia, Conscious Daughters, Kam, T-K.A.S.H., Sellassie / 7:30pm

The Old Western Saloon, Point Reyes Station
Friday, May 1 - Bluesetta, Lynnette Shaw Band / 9:00 p.m.

Bolinas Community Center
Friday May 1 - 7th and 8th grade Talent Show.
Saturday May 2 - Dinner, Dancing & More, Caribbean Roots & Culture
Sunday May 3 - First Sunday Potluck and Poetry, 7 - 9 p.m.

April 27, 2009

Blank Blue at the Egg, SF - 4/23


“Till the slow sea rise and sheer cliff crumble”

Elvin Estela, aka Nobody, has been an All Day Music favorite since his Soulmates single, “Outbreak.” This time Estela joins Niki Randa in Blank Blue, a very young band building on Estela’s psychedelic perversions. Their album describes hypothetical Armageddon: a massive earthquake off the west coast of the United States sometime in the future. The quake triggers a separation of the west from the rest of the country, creating a whirlpool of devastation in its wake.

Nobody’s independent approach captures something classic in the California sound. Estela agreed in an interview with L.A. Record, “How we live is how we listen. Stoned? I don’t know if stoned means necessarily high on pot all the time, but it’s a little murky, a little slow… that’s how music out here sounds. The world is not really mellow and slow now—that’s why people like New York—but soon they’ll come back to us... Subtly heavy, not gothy or satanic—it’s heavy-hearted.”

The latest installment shows-off Estela’s live guitar chops in “DJ Nobody Presents Blank Blue: Western Water Music Vol. 2.” You’ll probably want this if you plan on surviving the summer to come.

Deacon’s Player Piano

This is one of many sweet digs coming to me from Pardon My Hindi:

Dan Deacon has been getting a lot of positive press for his “Bromst” tour, highlighting his large ensemble, solo performances. He was featured twice on NPR (1 and 2), in his hometown Baltimore Sun, or you can read the SFist review of Deacon’s one-handed performance at the Great American Music Hall last weekend in San Francisco.

Deacon attended the Perchase Conservatory studying electro-acoustic and computer music. He also played tuba for Langhorne Slim. But his big break came when Pitchfork listed his 2007 album, “Spiderman of the Rings” in their 50 best albums list for that year. Part of this album was recorded at a Montana studio, with a MIDI Piano. Here it’s producer, engineer and SnowGhosts’ chief cattle prodder, Brett Allen who takes the cake.

April 25, 2009

10 Year Anniversary and Art Opening






















Flyer by Gwen Meyer

Join us at KWMR’s tenth birthday party Saturday, May 2 - 5 to 8 p.m. at Toby’s Feed Barn in Point Reyes Station. This event is free, with live music by Stefanie Keys and Jelly, no-host bar and donut cake!

The party also marks the opening of the annual KWMR art show: Original artwork will be exhibited at Toby's Gallery during the month of May, generating revenues by auction, sale, and raffle. On display will be nearly 100 figurative and abstract works contributed by Bay Area Artists. The proceeds from the sale of the artwork will benefit KWMR.

April 24, 2009

Get a Grip

Boasting what are probably the most scandalous, “FCC Clean” lyrics we've played in a while, Mtume's “Juicy Fruit” was the lead track from the bands 1983 recording of the same name. James (Forman) Mtume was a hot, hot producer back then, having played percussion with Miles Davis during the early ’70s, and worked with Donny Hathaway and Roy Ayers among others later on in the ’70 and ’80s. He also produced Warren G's “Regulate...G Funk Era” in the ’90s.


Mtume - juicy fruit

This tune was made even more famous by the Notorious B.I.G., aka Biggie Smalls for his rap version, “Juicy,” on the 1994 epic “Ready to Die.” Biggie's treatment laces in lyrical cameos by Mister Magic (aka Grover Washington Jr.) and DJ Marley Marl, who teamed up with MC Shan for the hip-hop classic, “Scratch,” which we also heard Wednesday. Another case of Biggie predicting the future before it happens, he also raps on this track about the now-popular lumberjack/hipster look and blowing up the world trade center. Remember, this is 1994. Check the uncensored version.

April 23, 2009

Bo Bay Today, April 15










- Jon Moore

Oh, the beauty of this place
That stretches ‘cross the sea
Perched on pole, old buzzard soul
Warms his wings, gingerly

Silent morn without gull squawks
No shrieks or dog-like barks
On Stinson Beach one person walks
A cormorant pokes from the dark

Blue sky
Feeding fowl
On the wing
The squawks start now

Laughing gulls
Caw caw crows
Buzzard banter
Dogs at canter

Crisp ‘n clear
Sounds amiss
If this were earth’s lips
I’d plant a kiss

Right here today on the Bo Bay

April 22, 2009

CONCERT CALENDAR, 4/22

Phoenix Theater, Petaluma
Friday, April 24
- The Parlor Mob, MMFM 7:30 p.m. / All ages
Saturday, April 25 -
Blaming Johnny, The Hit System, Keep It Simple and Pitchfork Rebellion 7:30 p.m. / All ages

19 Broadway, Fairfax
Wednesday, April 22 - Buddy Owen, Buxter Hoot'n
Thursday, April 23 - Flanelhed, Renegades, & Turning Point
Friday, April 24 - Wonderbread 5
Saturday, April 25 - Soundproof Presents Winstrong & Lady Passion

McNears Mystic, Petaluma
Saturday, April 25 - Evolution, The Ultimate Journey Tribute and Petty Theft

Rancho Nicasio
Friday, April 24 - BIG B and his SNAKEOIL SAVIORS 8:30 p.m.
Saturday, April 25 The Return of CHROME JOHNSON 8:30
Sunday, April 26 - HOUSTON JONES

The Old Western Saloon, Point Reyes
Friday, April 24
- 4 9 Special 9 p.m.
Saturday, April 25 - Dennis Mc Gee & Friends
9 p.m.

Smiley's Schooner Saloon, Bolinas
Wed. April 22, 8-12 / LARRY'S KARAOKE
Thurs. April 23, 8-11 / THE MUSHROOMS
Fri. April. 24, 9-1 / ELVIN BROWN BAND
Sat. April. 25, 9-1 / SNAKE PLISSKIN QUINTETTE
Sun. April 26, 8-11 / OPEN MICw/New Moon Players
Mon. April. 27, 8-12, rec. spin, reggae SUCKER FREE

The Stationhouse Cafe
Sunday, April 26 - Doug Adamz & Trio Bravo / 5 p.m.

Point Reyes Dance Palace
Friday, April 24 -
West Marin Dance Party, grades 6, 7, & 8 / 7:30-10 p.m.
Saturday, April 25 - The Puppet Company: Mae Lin and the Magic Brush / 3 p.m.

142 Throckmorton, Mill Valley
Thursday, April 23 - Ronnie Schell & his North Beach Rookies 8 p.m.
Friday, April 24 - Cabaret D'Amour 8 p.m.
Saturday, April 25 - Bill Kirchen, Hammer of the Honky Tonk Gods, 8 p.m.
Tuesday, April 28 - Mark Pitta & Friends 8 p.m.

April 20, 2009

Paul D. Miller's Gift Economy

Maybe you know DJ Spooky, but not everyone knows Paul Miller. He's been an advocate for sample-culture in digital media for a long time. He's also a prolific music producer, and DIY graphic designer.


Paul Miller's latest book, Sound Unbound

The book includes examples of sample-culture that span some 500 years of history. Was Bach's style influenced by his job copying Vivaldi scores? Probably. What about Muslim influence on early hip hop? Other essays compiled in this book consider the role of bells and their mathematical patterns in human culture by Brian Eno, and an exploration of the term 'Emptyv' by Public Enemy's Chuck D.

Oddly, only a few of the chapters are available for sample. Hey, somebody’s gotta get paid!

Spooky compares music samples–motifs–to the snapshots which make up motion pictures. Scale-up remix culture, look at it across time and you can see larger patterns in “mediated communication” and artistic expression.

Still not sure what sample culture is? There's a lot to catch up on, and this book is good entry point, but here's another pretty well known example from the hip-hop world, just one of many involving legal dispute about sample clearance.

Miller explains...



Now, that’s using your media.

Bo Bay Today, April 10










- By Jon Moore

Cruise through town
Few folks around
Dan’s at the bar
In front, by a car

Sprinkles on the roof
Parked at end of Wharf
A walker on the hooff
Blocks my view, of course

Only one is all it takes
Deep breath…then sit ‘n wait
Soon they move so all is cool
Outbound pelican soars to the gate

Golden, yes…that’s the one
Over there, inside the clouds
Hidden strong, tall and long
Buried in the foggy shrouds

BoStin channel’s in mid-tide
Filling slowly, rise surreal
Bobbing, gloating, in the floating
That pelican stopped for a meal

Right here today on the Bo Bay

April 17, 2009

Everybody Loves the Sunshine















When Nina Simone sings “O-o-h child, things are going to get easier,” I get a little worried and confused. Her voice offers an unnerving concern that she might be lying just to make us all feel better. But, ironically, it doesn't get any better than this. This tune might have been the highlight for this Wednesday, but there were some other important contenders this week, with help from the amazing Fleamarket Funk:

- The First Cut Is The Deepest was the dope reggae cover from Barbara Jones, right up front
- The 5th Dimension's California Soul
- Yolanda, by Joe Bravo
- Johnny Otis' 45, Country Girl
- What Can You Bring Me, by Charles Wright and the Watts 103rd Street Band
- Canned Funk, by Joe Farrell
- This Rage Against the Machine cover of Killing (45 Mix), by The Apples
- Double Dutch, from The Keystones
- Freeman King, Brass Monkey

All great tunes, but here are the big guns, a few that should have gone into the Spring Mixtape, but didn't:

- I'm Gonna Love You Just A Little Bit More, Baby, by Kellee Patterson
- Uno Esta, Bobbi Humphrey
- Everybody Loves the Sunshine, Roy Ayers



April 12, 2009

Remixing Youtube

Léon Theremin made the first electronic musical instrument and named it after himself. The Theremin, as it's known today, (or thereminvox) was first unleashed way back in 1919.

The sound is created with the use of radio frequencies (RF): It is played without physical contact and the performer's distance from two antennas determine the pitch and volume. According to Wikipedia, Léon Theremin built these machines in New York during the 1930s while experimenting with other musical instruments and inventions.

Sound weird? Imagine what people of the 1930s thought.

Heinrich Hertz invented his first antenna receiver in 1886 . but it was Guglielmo Marconi and others who applied and advanced the real power of the technology, experimenting with potential uses of electromagnetic radiation (radio waves) in the first decade of the 1900s. Marconi's facilities still stand within the Point Reyes National Seashore and elsewhere.

Using RF to make sound music directly seems space-age, even today, but the Theremin has always been something of a novelty, and the musicians using it have a hard time being taken seriously. Critics will fight till the end about what music is, what art is, and what constitutes a musical instrument – don't pay any attention. It's like what they say about porn: You know it when you see it.

Youtube, for example, probably isn't a musical Instrument. Or is it?

Musician or not, Kutiman is perhaps the best of the Youtube remixers. So here's an introduction if you don't already know. It's called Mother of All Funk Chords, and if you watch closely, you will see two theremin(s?) being remixed. In fact, better just go watch the whole “ThruYOU” thing. The Credits section is especially good.



As Theremin didn't invent radio, the now-trendy Kutiman didn't invent the video remix, and neither did these guys, but they're an old favorite I caught at the now-defunct ResFest design conference when it passed thru San Francisco a few years ago. Check out how Ninja Tune's Coldcut and Hexstatic use native audio and video in this critique of the logging industry and consumerism.


Now, that’s using your media.

April 11, 2009

Gettin’ Sprung

Everybody loves Springtime, especially here in the Bay Area, where we have some of the best weather and food anywhere. But Springtime also sounds different. So here's our spring mix: Get outside and enjoy it.

1. All That You Give, Cinematic Orchestra




2. Wake Up Everybody (Part 1) Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes














3. For You, Barbara & Ernie














4. Fantasy, Pi-R-Square







5. Joy, Isaac Hayes














6. Action Speaks Louder Than Words, Chocolate Milk














7. Love Music, Sergio Mendes and Brasil 77














8. I Wouldn't Change A Thing, Coke Escovedo














9. Mother of the Future, Norman Connors














10. Latin Strut, Joe Bataan














11. That's what friends are for, Madeline Bell
maybe just buy this one - here














12. In The Name Of Love, Kenny Rankin















13. Lovely Day, Bill Withers

As the man says, great song, good remix, laughable delivery. Are you lip syncing here, Bill?





April 8, 2009

Who's Idea Was All This?

WAR has just been nominated for induction into the 2009 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, affirming the band's status as part of the collective consciousness of American culture. Still, I'm going to go ahead and blame these two...






Antenna Wilde and Carson Bench

Find out why : Dig WAR playing the ’70s soul classic, All Day Music – live (via youtube).


CONCERT CALENDAR, 4/08

Old Western Saloon
- Friday, April 10 - Buckaroo J. Bonet
, 9 p.m.
- Saturday, April 11 - Turning Point, 9 p.m.

Mystic Theatre, Petaluma

- Friday, April 10 -
Junior Brown and the Rhythm Rangers
- Saturday, April 11 - Dar Williams and Melissa Ferrick
- Friday, April 17 - Devendra Banhart, and the Healing Curse

Phoenix Theater, Petaluma
- Wednesday, April 8 - Tomorrow's Bad Seeds, A Red Cup Affair, Blaming Johnny, Top Shelf (Reggae/Rock) – 8 p.m., All ages
- Saturday, April 11 - Funeral Dress, M.L.E., Resilience, NFFU - Strike to Survive, Donner Party (Punk/Rock) - 8 p.m., All ages
- Wednesday, April 15 - The Crystal Method, LA Riots DJ set (Electronica/Breakbeat) - 8 p.m., All ages
- Friday, April 17 - Fang, Capitalist Casualties, Verbal Abuse (Genre: Punk/Hardcore/Thrash) - 8 p.m., All ages

19 Broadway, Fairfax
- Thursday, April 9 -
Moonlight Rodeo & Tres Mojo
- Friday, April 10 - Colin Brown Band
- Saturday, April 11 - ScareCrowe & The Unauthorized Rolling Stones
- Sunday April 12 - 19 Broadway Second Sunday Jazz Series

Smiley's
- Thursday, April 9, 8 p.m. - midnight, R&B LUCKY OTIS
- Friday, April 10, 9 p.m., WTJ2 (Americana)
- Saturday, April 11, 9 p.m., BLUESETTA BAND (blues/rock)
- Sunday, April 12, 8 p.m. - midnight, New Moon Players OPEN MIC
- Monday, April 13, 8 - midnight, SUCKER FREE (spin, reggae)

Rancho Nicasio
- Friday, April 10, Ed Earley Band
- Saturday, April 11, Sun Kings

American/Sandinista

On Wednesday (4/01/09) we heard from documentary filmmaker Jason Blalock. His documentary American/Sandinista follows a small group of young American engineers traveling and working in Nicaragua During the 1980s.

Despite the danger, thousands of Americans disobeyed White House warnings and descended upon Central America, determined to lend their skills and labor to the revolutionary Sandinista cause.

Using a mixture of rare archival footage, still photography, and contemporary interviews, Blalock's explores revolutionary activism, and the costs of idealism.

American/Sandinista won the film & video category of the Eisner Prize, and has shown in L.A., Portland, Chicago, Palm Springs, Nevada City, Denver and... Arkansas, enjoying it's Bay Area premiere at the (awesome) International Latino Film Festival last November in San Francisco.

It hit screens again last week at the 10th Fairfax Documentary Film Festival, Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Fairfax Theater.

Now, that’s using your media.

Celebrating Ten Years.

Raising $30,000 in ten days isn’t easy, but as they say, Many hands make light work.

During our pledge drive you may have heard talk of KWMR's Ten-Year Anniversary. The All Day Music Show has been around since the beginning.

KWMR is, no doubt, a special radio station. Listeners and volunteers are our lifeblood. We'd be nowhere without you. Your donation is essential to basic station operations and you can be sure that you've made a sound investment: You're money stays “in the family,” coming right back to you – instantly – with KWMR's diverse range of music shows and lively talk/public affairs programming.

You deserve the best! So swing by the office and pick up your premiums, drop off your cash or check.

We're especially grateful to Chris Giacomini for hosting our remote broadcast from Toby's Feed Barn, Stellina mastermind Christian Caiazzo, Adrienne Pfeiffer, David Cook the Coast Cafe.

As usual, we also owe a huge thanks to the mayor of Bivalve for wielding a hot waffler in one hand and the remote gear at once.

Now, that’s using your media.

p.s. - Stay tuned for more on KWMR's Ten Year Anniversary, but for now, here's to all of you.